I met a Halliburton contractor while waiting for a flight at Hartsfield-Jackson International in Atlanta.

Recent bad publicity of Halliburton tends to overshadow the people - American people - working its contracts. This man had served 10 years in the army, from ‘78 to ‘88. In spring 2003, he left a family here and set off to work in Iraq.

I noticed his desert vest from the next table at a restaurant in the terminal. It was a faded brown, marked with his last name on the right breast and Arabic writing on the left side.

His cheese steak sandwich and fries arrived, and I couldn’t contain the questions.

“Are you a contractor?” I motioned to the vest.

He lofted a square pouch around his neck in a practiced answer. The slender envelope, clear on one side, bulged with credentials.

In between bites, he explained that he worked for Halliburton, and that he dealt in fuel supply management. (Ed. note: I did not note his name. This wasn’t an interview so much as an informal fact-finding mission for my own benefit.)

The management of the war topped my mind. He characterized it as a “clusterfuck,” but drew a fine line between organization and motivation. Though our forces, as the core of the “coalition of the willing,” clumsily tumbled a vicious dictator, he’s still gone. That’s a net gain for freedom.

His take on George W. Bush’s presidency took shape, I think, from his fourth-generation military family values. The President, this 50ish black man from the South told me, had made some mistakes. Those mistakes didn’t merit turfing him out of office - “changing planes in mid-flight,” he said.

He agreed that a Kerry administration would have to maintain the current course. There is no backward, only forward.

I asked about six months from now. He replied that I should ask about five years from now, and described beautiful palaces built in Kuwait from oil wealth. Iraq, he said, will model itself after Kuwait. Iraq, and other countries like it, have no alternative but to join the global economy, he said. Iraq’s new leaders have the choice now to join it on terms supported by Iraqis.

We chatted for about 45 minutes over a few drinks, and I went away feeling a bit less removed from events in Iraq. It’s helpful to get a direct account now and again.