Character Analysis
Literally the wise old man in the corner, Jamil often sits off to the side of the soldiers' tent, spouting truth that the Americans don't always appreciate.
The army has orders to hire Iraqis to do small jobs on their camp in Baghdad, and Jamil is the man assigned to Birdy's unit. He is "supposed to be Saddam's fourth or fifth cousin" (6.14), but if he is, he's no well-off rich guy. He's really old, and his hands shake sometimes. He smells like garlic and cigarettes, and his main job is to clean and sweep.
For the soldiers, Jamil's the main character that's able to give them an Iraqi perspective on the war. And—wait for it—it's not always positive. When Harris asks him what he thinks of the Americans invading, Jamil says:
"When you kill a camel it is better to cut off the body than the head," the old man said. '"f you cut off the head then the camel doesn't know what he is." (6.23)
Jamil is able to point out what the American soldiers can't see yet: that the fight has only begun. With the dictator Saddam out of power, the next fight will be between groups vying to control the new Iraq—the camel's head.
He later shares another opinion: that most Iraqis want to continue on with their lives in peace.
Later, the soldiers take Jamil with them on a mission to find and return a missing boy to their parents, as a translator. Jamil's able to take them around the city and offer some more brief windows into Iraqi life along the way.