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Paul Holton


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Paul Holton, better known as “Chief Wiggles,” is the founder of Operation Give, a humanitarian organization that ships toys, medicine, and educational supplies to children in war-torn and devastated nations throughout the world. 

Many became acquainted with Chief Wiggles through his detailed and inspiring wartime “blog” on the internet. As a chief warrant officer in the Army National Guard with 34 years of service, he has served as an interrogator and Korean linguist. He has been to South Korea more than 50 times, functioning as an interrogation team chief, interpreter, and debriefer of North Korean defectors He was called to the Middle East in 1991 during Desert Storm, where he interrogated dozens of Iraqis. Saving Babylon recounts his experiences in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom, from the start of the war through the capture of Saddam Hussein.

Paul has worked for FedEx for the past 15 years, and is currently a World Wide Account Manager. He has taught supply chain management and operation management at the University of Utah and at Brigham Young University. He is the father of four children and resides in Salt Lake City with his wife Keeyeon.

Saving Babylon: The Heart of an Army Interrogator in Iraq

Paul Holton
Perihelion Press (2005)
ISBN 1933434007
Reviewed by William Phenn for Reader Views (11/06)

Read the review on ReaderViews.com

When Chief Paul Holton returned from Iraq in 2004 he couldn’t believe what he was reading in the American press about the war.  It certainly didn’t match his experience.  Every story seemed to be about the misbehavior of US soldiers or the successes of the insurgents.  War is tough.  But American soldiers, who were willing to do that incredibly tough job, were paving the way for a free Iraq.

"Saving Babylon" is not the perspective of the all-too-frequently co-opted embedded reporter from the major media. This is the firsthand account of an Army interrogator who worked hand-in-hand with Iraqis at all levels in building a new nation Saving Babylon is a must-read for every American.  You will learn what the media refuse to report. Saving Babylon is the gripping story of Holton and his soul-stretching personal battles in the War in Iraq as an Army Interrogator. 
 
His job was to interrogate the enemy.  His job was to extract intelligence.  His job was to crush the adversary.  But something happened as he fulfilled his assignment that changed the outcome of Operation Iraqi Freedom.  It changed the course of history.  And it changed this one soldier forever.

This is a side of the War in Iraq that Americans rarely see.  Holton faced down Iraqi Generals and didn’t wince.  Holton stood up to corruption in Baghdad and didn’t flinch.  But when he saw a suffering Iraqi child standing at a barbed-wire fence…he wept.  He also went right to work. OPERATION GIVE, a global humanitarian organization, was the result.

His story is insightful, appalling, frustrating, and inspiring. It will take you to a place in Iraq you’ve never been.