Trip to the market in Karbala

A few of us from the base took a trip into Karbala to go to the market today which is only a few blocks away. We loaded up in the humvees and drove over there...I wanted to walk with the military who went ahead of us but I wasn't allowed to. It was my first chance to be out and about just observing normal life in the streets. Well...as normal as life carries on when you have all these humvees pull up and fully armed U.S. soldiers (with huge guns, grenades, all kinda of weaponry hanging off their vests) circle around us civilians as we walk up and down the street. It seemed very normal to me...fruit stands, butchers, household supply stores. The kids gravitated towards us and when they got their courage up they would practice their English and ask my name. After a few minutes the cell phones popped out and they wanted pictured with me and the soldiers. It all seemed very cordial to me and I didn't get any bad vibes...but of course my understanding of the situation is limited since I don't speak Arabic so when I got back to the base I asked our translators who were with what their impressions were. They said people weren't hostile towards us but certainly weren't happy to see us. The basic sentiment they observed was pretty much that the Americans havent done anything to help Karbala and they should pack up and go home. Not only have we not done anything to help but every time we make a movement off base we snarl traffic and i'm sure in some cases we pull down power lines (if we're in the mraps) or cause other headaches and minor damage. The PRT here in Karbala (me and the other civilians) have done many projects and spent a lot of time and money in the area in many different sectors but it seems like the effects don't trickle down to the average person on the street. One of the interpreters told me that he thinks the problem is that our projects aren't centered in the neighborhood that we live...we do things in far flung places in the province while not working with the people in our immediate surroundings. In their eyes we are at best a headache. It's a conundrum...I'm supposed to be working to empower Iraqis so if any progress is made my goal would be to get the Iraqi nationals working on it the credit and kudos and not me or the Americans, but if we here on the PRT don't get any credit or recognition we're seen as useless occupiers.