David Karmol ’78, on Assignment in Iraq
David Karmol can still remember the day he graduated from the Moritz College of Law. “At the time," he says, “I had an old ‘67 Chevrolet Impala convertible, bright red, with a red leatherette interior. And the day I graduated in May was warm and sunny and I put the top down, and took a ‘victory spin’ up High Street.” From this sunny beginning it’s been a long road to working for the National Institute of Standards and Technologies (NIST) in Iraq, where one receives “stark reminders that we live and work in a war zone.”
The “Perry Mason Show” initially inspired David to be a lawyer, because Perry Mason, he remembers, “almost never lost a case.” While attending the Moritz College of Law, David was instilled with the attitude that lawyers have a duty to give back to society. “I think Moritz fostered a view that those who practice law have a higher calling, and should give back to society, for the gift they have been given to practice law.”
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Waiting to board the helicopter
at BIAP-Liberty base |
David started fulfilling this duty as an Assistant Prosecutor in the
Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for Franklin County (Ohio) after law
school. But it was his 10 years at the National Spa and Pool Institute
(NSPI), as general counsel and director of public affairs, that put him
on track to his current position. In the 1980s, NSPI adopted standards
for building pools and spas, using the process required of
American National Standards Insitute (ANSI)-accredited
standard developers. David explains why, “The new standards insured
that safety experts would be involved with the development of NSPI swimming
pool standards, because ANSI requires a balance on the accrediting committees
that develop standards under its process. It also requires procedural
due process in the development work, right of appeal, and periodic review
of the standard’s content.”
David notes, “It became obvious to me that the use of a transparent and robust process for standards development offers significant legal and practical advantages. For example, if a standard is challenged in court, when an accident occurs, the standard developer can show the due process, balance and transparency, while the manufacturer can show he used, and relied upon, a standard developed with safety and user interests represented.”
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David (right) with new US Iraqi
Ambassador Ryan Crocker |
It was a natural fit when David was recruited to work for NIST, a division of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Responsible for maintaining weights, measures and time standards, and producing standard reference materials used by industry in thousands of applications, NIST also maintains laboratories engaged in high-technology research and development, as well as analysis and standards work in areas as directed by the Congress. Currently NIST has projects in voting system standards, bio-fuels, nanotechnology and computer security. It is also a member of ANSI, currently has a seat on the ANSI Board of Directors, and participates actively in ANSI programs on an equal basis with ANSI’s corporate, organizational and other governmental members.
David is now working on two major projects in Iraq with NIST. One is assisting the Iraqis to adopt a uniform and legally enforceable building code, “to make buildings safe and predictable” he says. David is also working on the Basrah Children’s Hospital, a project David says “is a new pediatric oncology hospital badly needed in Iraq, where childhood cancer has a higher incidence than in most other countries, and there are few advanced facilities for treatment.”
David decided to go to Iraq out of his sense of duty. “I think that when this opportunity presented itself, it was one of those situations where I said to myself, there must be a reason that this opportunity is presented at this time in my life, when I can leave home for a year, and help in the effort to rebuild Iraq.”
David also has the interesting opportunity to work in one of Saddam Hussein’s old palaces. One of the benefits of working in the old palace is the chance to swim in one of several large pools as the weather warms. David says wryly, “It’s obvious that he liked his pools.” David also says it is interesting to see that when Saddam Hussein expanded the palace, “the bricks used included bricks with his signature on every 20th brick.”
As for life outside of work David says, “There is not a lot to do outside of work, so we tend to spend a lot of time working.” But when he does have some free time, he can swim or watch movies in Saddam Hussein’s old video room. He can also relax at the Green Bean Café, which is an old dining room in the palace, where, he says, “I am told that he used to have big dinner parties.”
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David’s trailer—his
living quarters while stationed in Baghdad |
Ultimately David feels this is “an incredible opportunity to be a part of history, in a country that itself is the place where recorded history began, some 5,000 years ago.”
Classmates and friends wishing to get in touch with David can email
him or visit his blog.
