The Foreign Service Journal, November 2003

took him to be the man in charge and did what he told them to do — anoth- er of Sergio’s hallmarks. The soldier who kept watch over him where he lay crushed confided later that he could not figure out why Sergio kept asking him about everyone else instead of worrying about himself like a “normal person.” One of the last to be extracted, he died shortly before a crane finally lifted the wall of concrete that had pinned his body down. A few days before the tragedy, Sergio had been visiting my husband Michael Gfoeller in Babylon, where he is headquartered as governor of the south-central sector of Iraq. Michael briefed Sergio and his 15- member delegation extensively regarding the situation in his sector. (Every one of the men and women in that delegation was killed Aug. 19.) The working portion of his trip over, Michael took Sergio on a visit of the archeological sights in the vicinity, including an ancient synagogue Michael had rediscovered. Believed to be built on the tomb of the Prophet Ezekiel, it is still revered by Moslem, Christian, and Jewish Iraqis alike. Michael told me later that Sergio had been uncommonly moved by that site. “It’s so peaceful here,” Sergio had said. “Could you imagine the rest of Iraq like this one day? As for now, I don’t want to leave.” But an hour later he was back on the road to Baghdad. ■ Tatiana C. Gfoeller is studying Arabic at FSI to prepare for her next assign- ment, as principal officer in Jeddah. An FSO since 1984, she has served with her FSO husband Michael in Warsaw, Riyadh, Manama, Moscow (twice), Brussels, Ashgabat, St. Petersburg and Washington. Most recently she served as director of multilateral affairs in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. Ms. Gfoeller is a member of the Foreign Service Journal Editorial Board. 52 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 3 A P P R E C I A T I O N He was that rarest of people who succeeded in bringing chivalry and gentleness into modern international diplomacy.