Las Vegas Marine veteran laments aid not reaching war victims in Iraq

"ISIS is like a Slinky. It expands and contracts."

That was the observation Tuesday of Las Vegas Iraq War Marine veteran Luigino Lobello.

He just returned this weekend from a humanitarian mission in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq where he met with United Nations and World Health Organization officials on behalf of his nonprofit Squadbay group over the plight of refugees driven from Syria by Islamic State militants.

Lobello, 35, is a graduate of Durango High School and holds degrees from UNLV's sociology program and the California Western School of Law.

He attended UNLV after serving with the Fox Company "Saints and Sinners" Marine infantry unit during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. It was that experience that prompted his effort to reach out to the innocent victims of the war.

He said international aid meant for refugee camps in Kurdistan is squandered and pilfered in Baghdad before it reaches refugee camps. The reason, he said, is because there are no managers at the camps.

"There are no managers because Kurdistan is not considered a country yet," Lobello said. "Therefore all of the billions of dollars of aid money have to be funneled through Baghdad. Once it gets to Baghdad, it's either siphoned off and heading to ISIS, or it's staying in the Baghdad coffers, or it is being siphoned off by other criminal enterprises.

"Barely any of it is getting into Kurdistan, including no money for their soldiers who are fighting ISIS on the front lines right now. They haven't been paid in four months," he said.

Lobello spoke exclusively to the Las Vegas Review-Journal at the UNLV Military and Veteran Services Center in advance of his Feb. 9 UNLV Forum lecture: "War, Redemption, and the New State of International Aid."

Squadbay's goals

Lobello founded Squadbay to deploy civil affairs and media professionals to provide humanitarian aid to areas of natural disaster or conflict. The nonprofit, which operates on roughly a $30,000 budget, has grown from a few volunteers to up to 100 who travel in small groups to places such as Iraq, Nepal and Guatemala to facilitate relief.

His recent 8-day venture with two U.S. Army veterans who fought during Operation Iraqi Freedom was his third trip to Iraq's Kurdistan region where "there's a lot of conflict going on right now."

"ISIS is pushing east and they're pushing down from the north, up from the south. The Kurds in general are the largest ethnic minority without a nation of their own," he said, adding, "If we play our cards right I see them as being a counterpart to Israel in the sense that they could be our second best friend in the region."

He first visited the region 15 months ago during the onset of the Islamic State uprising. At the time, ISIS was expanding.

"They were taking over large swaths of land without much of a fight and that allowed them to gain enough territory and enough equipment and supplies to where they could really hunker down," Lobello said.

"My original impetus to go over there was this very slick media campaign that ISIS was pushing," he said. "They're cutting off the heads of journalists; they're kidnapping people; and it got me so fired up that I realized there had to be thousands of vets that felt just like me, that they fought there and they want to go and want to help in any capacity they can."

Now, ISIS is in its contracting Slinky mode, as he puts it.

"In the last six months what you've seen is less ground being taken. Their defensive positions in some cases have been overrun. But I don't think in any way that translates to ISIS being lessened in their capacity to do damage."

Off the bat he learned that ISIS "was not a ragtag bunch of guys with their granddaddy shotguns."

"They have very sophisticated equipment. Their communication devices have been wreaking havoc on the Kurds," he said. "They have drones, long-range aerial reconnaissance drones. ... ISIS has night vision. ISIS has thermals. ISIS has sniper rifles. ISIS has everthing that the Kurds need. They have all of the U.S. equipment that was left behind."

He said the mood is "bittersweet" at the Syrian refugee camps.

"They're happy to not have gotten killed like some of their family members but also quite displaced. Are they going to get asylum? Are they going to be able to integrate into Kurdish society and get a job?"

Redemption call

Squadbay evolved from Lobello's quest to cope with war stress through an act of what outsiders call redemption, but what he says "was just being a Marine" to complete the mission to find the family of innocent men who were killed in a crossfire. The tragedy occurred when he and other Fox Company Marines opened fire on vehicles driving toward them at high speed to return to their home in a Baghdad neighborhood in April 2003.

"Our company radio operator was shot by a sniper through the forehead. It sounded like a Mack truck crashed into a plate glass window. ... Everybody took positions, returned fire and I would say within 2 minutes there was 13 wounded," he said, describing the firefight that preceded the crossfire tragedy.

Because there had been reports of attacks involving vehicles rigged with explosives, "we took no chances."

After the deployment, while attending law school in San Diego, he used social media to locate one of the women survivors of the Kachadoorian family, Margaret, who had relocated to Glendale, Calif. He sent the family a video message and received a short philisophical reply.

"This was not an atonement for my sins. This was not an apology. This was me being a good Marine and finishing my mission," he said. "We're supposed to be no better friend and no worse enemy. I knew if I could find this family, I could lessen the chance that their child, or their grandchild would hate Americans and maybe one day would fight against Americans."

Lobello said the U.S. government is not supportive or disapproving of Squadbay's unsolicited humantarian aid campaign.

"They've maintained this very middle road, saying you're operating in a gray area and we would rather have you not go," he said. "However it's not illegal for you to go. So keep us posted on the actions and remember that you don't represent us."

While the Kurds are absorbing refugees and fighting ISIS, they are also seeking independence.

"We're witnessing the birth of a nation," Lobello said. "There are so many similarities between the Kurds and the beginning of our country. ... They went through civil war. Now they're looking around and saying, 'Why can't we be independent?' They are the largest ethnic minority without a homeland."

His goal is to continue to go to the Kurdistan region "not just to offer the traditional type of humanitarian aid, such as mobile hospitals and supplies, but also to do additional work "with our leaders here in Nevada, our congressmen, our senators, across the states to put together another shot at directly supporting the Kurds.

"It's got to start being political aid as well," he said.

Contact Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308. Find him on Twitter: @KeithRogers2