ARMY RESERVE Ohio prosecutor works to help bring peace to Iraq

Ohio prosecutor works to help bring peace to Iraq.
MCCONNELSVILLE, Ohio (AP) -- Trying to persuade Sunni rebels to end violence against the U.S. military in Iraq is a far cry from serving as prosecutor in a small county in southeastern Ohio.
But Morgan County prosecutor Rick Welch, a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, is eager to do what he can to help bring peace to Iraq -- even if it means sitting across the table from insurgents who have had a hand in killing his friends.
"It's difficult, sometimes, to maintain your objectivity," Welch said in a telephone interview with The Columbus Dispatch last week from Baghdad.
"But when you're at the table talking and you want to find a solution, you have to remain objective, because you don't want more people to die."
Welch, a senior civil-military affairs adviser with the 1st Calvary Division, describes himself as a "bridge between the [Iraqi] people and the military."
He said his job since January 2004 has been to reach out to religious, political and tribal leaders in Baghdad.
People from opposition groups also have approached him to get their issues on the table.
Some insurgents are discussing terms for a cease-fire in the conflict that has killed more than 1,500 U.S. troops. Hard-liners such as Al-Qaida in Iraq's Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, are pressing a holy war and will never drop their fight against the U.S. presence, but it might be possible to strike a deal with the Sunni insurgents, Welch said.
He said the new Iraqi government is key to reaching an accord with the Sunnis.
"If that government forms in a way that reaches out to these groups that shows they can participate or benefit from the government in a meaningful way, I think we will have some stability," he said.
Background
Welch, 53, began his military career as an enlisted man in 1972 and has been an Army Reserve officer since 1974.
He was also called to active duty in 1990 for the Gulf War and then served as a special-operations officer at Fort Bragg, N.C.
Morgan County Commissioner Ron Moore said Welch is compassionate and "one of the most intelligent guys I have ever been around."
Welch, a law graduate of Capital University in Columbus, was elected prosecutor in 2000 and was unopposed for re-election last year. He and his wife, Huynh Joa, have three children.
The prosecutor is scheduled to remain in the Middle East through at least June, but is eager to get back to Morgan County.
"Reaching out to people, talking to people, that's what I do back home in solving problems," he said. "They're just different sets of problems. I hope I can take some lessons here and help with the challenges back home."