Iraq Today

September 22, 2008
Rebuilding Iraq: Anbar ProvinceBy John Matel
RealClearWorld presents a special series of original, exclusive blog posts by the boots on the ground in Iraq - Baghdad, Anbar Province and beyond. These bloggers include American Marines, soldiers, support personnel and government administrators. The posts also feature exclusive, on-location photographs of Iraqi lives as seen through the lenses of the bloggers.
These posts are provided exclusively to RealClearWorld by the U.S. Department of State. The views expressed in these posts are the bloggers' own sentiments.

Rebuilding IraqPart One: Anbar Province
My name is John Matel and I am the leader of a U.S. Provincial Reconstruction Team in Anbar Province, Iraq. A lot has changed in Western Anbar since I arrived here almost a year ago and as my assignment comes to an end, I can appreciate them.
The first big difference is the physical appearance. Last year much of this province looked like what it had recently been – a war zone. Shops and homes were boarded up, in ruins or flattened. People looked shocked and sullen. Anbar is still not up to what most of us would consider acceptable standards, but improvements are phenomenal and the change palpable.

Along the whole Western Euphrates River Valley (WERV) and into the desert oasis cities of Nukhayb and Rutbah markets are open; streets are busy; the shops are full of goods; things are happening. We used to use a “banana index” where we looked at produce in the shops as a proxy for goods being available. Bananas available that were not green or brown indicated a decent distribution network. Today that index is overtaken by events, since shops are full. We now are thinking of going over to a “gold standard” since we now see gold and jewels in shop windows and assume that the owners must feel safe enough from both insurgents and ordinary crooks to be so confident.
Security is increasingly taken for granted by many people and now they are moving on to other concerns, such as economy, traffic and building their lives.
We have much more freedom of movement. I didn't do my first market walk until January of this year. Now we walk in the Iraqi markets on almost every trip, talking to people and finding out about their hopes and problems.
A year ago there were serious fuel shortages. While problems remain (many resulting from government controls on prices and supplies), the refinery at K3 in Husaybah is up and running. This seemed like an impossible dream when I first saw the place a few months ago. K3 produces naphtha, kerosene, benzene and heavy fuel oil. It is still not up to 100% production, but it is way up from ... nothing last year.The crude oil arrives from Bayji by rail. This railroad was not working and was not secure just a few months ago. I remember flying over the rail/highway route in a Huey, with the narration being that it could work, but there were lots of challenges. Getting the rail system up and running is another great accomplishment of the past year. This will essentially clear the lines all across Anbar.
I don’t often see this progress reflected in news reports. I recently saw a CBS segment from 2007, which I suppose reflected the situation at the time. But it is amazing how much things have changed and some mention of that in the follow up segment might have been nice.
The segment shows the bad old days in Hadithah. They said that most people in Hadithah are hostile to coalition forces. Back then maybe; today things are different. I walk through Hadithah a lot. If people are hostile, they don’t show it. People smile and wave at us. I frequently stop to talk to shopkeepers and pedestrians. Not only have I encountered no hostility, but many people thank us for the security we have brought to the place. I have featured pictures of my walks through Hadithah on many occasions.
Sometimes dumpy; no longer scary.
We accomplished a lot. We have created options. At the end of 2006, it was hard to believe success in Iraq was possible. Some thought that our only option was to get out as soon as possible – to end the war by accepting defeat. I disagreed at the time because the consequences of failure in Iraq were too terrible to accept, but I admit that I did not see a clear way forward. I greeted the news of the surge with more hope than real expectation. By the time I volunteered to go to Iraq, about a year ago, I thought that things had turned around, but I expected to be thrust into the middle of a war and I was not sure we could be successful. I never expected that only a year later we would have almost annihilated Al Qaeda in Iraq, neutralized the insurgency and seen such progress and prosperity return to the towns of Anbar - back then called the most dangerous place on earth. Of course, I didn't really know the Marines so well back then and I didn't know the people of Anbar at all. THEIR achievements have been astonishing.


Rebuilding Iraq: Muthanna ProvinceBy Aaron Snipe
RealClearWorld presents a special series of original, exclusive blog posts by the boots on the ground in Iraq - Baghdad, Anbar Province and beyond. These bloggers include American Marines, soldiers, support personnel and government administrators. The posts also feature exclusive, on-location photographs of Iraqi lives as seen through the lenses of the bloggers.
These posts are provided exclusively to RealClearWorld by the U.S. Department of State. The views expressed in these posts are the bloggers' own sentiments.

Rebuilding IraqPart Two: Muthanna Province
Muthanna Province, roughly the size of the State of Maine, has a population of 700,000 and is Iraq’s second largest province. Though large in size, it is the nation’s least economically developed. Sharing a border with Saudi Arabia, it is in the Deep South where temperatures can reach 140 degrees. Unemployment is high and agriculture (livestock, dates, rice, and wheat) support the livelihood of many of the province’s residents. Cement, brick, and salt factories comprise the industrial capacity of the province.
While the residents of Muthanna, like almost all Iraqis, certainly wonder when the U.S. will leave Iraq, the question that is first on the minds of folks here is, how can the U.S. help us? The province was largely ignored by the Saddam regime. This means much of the work the PRT is doing to help the people here is well received. Whereas essential services were destroyed or disrupted by war and sectarian violence across much of Iraq, Muthanna simply did not have these essential services to begin with; in many cases, we helped provide these essential services to the residents of Muthanna for the very first time.
PRT Public Diplomacy Officer Aaron Snipe hands food to a widow in Rumaytha City, Muthanna, during the holy month of Ramadan.
Understanding Iraq and the development challenges at the provincial level is a Herculean task. While I cannot speak for the policy-makers in Washington, I can speak for the members of my PRT when I say that we are making a difference in the lives of the residents of Muthanna. I have also come to know that the contributions we make here will probably never reach the ears and eyes of most Americans back home. Providing Arabic books to needy schools in rural Iraq won’t make headlines back home, but it makes news in Muthanna, and more importantly, a real difference here on the ground. Food distributions to needy families during the holy month of Ramadan is common in Iraq and across the Middle East, but when a U.S. diplomat welcomes the needy ��" in Arabic ��" and is the one handing out those bags to widows, people here take notice. Clearing fields of garbage and scrap metal to make way for soccer fields for the youth of Muthanna is a small monetary investment for our PRT, but one made in the name of Iraqi youth that is, without a doubt, worth any amount of time and effort.
Muthanna is an agrarian society at heart and some of our most meaningful efforts are focused in this sector. An example of a project that is making a significant difference in the lives of local Iraqis, but not making headlines, is our effort to help farmers replenish their fleeting livestock numbers. Decades of neglect under Saddam, years of war, and other economic factors have forced many of Muthanna’s farmers to slaughter their livestock for food to feed their families, while stripping them of their main source of income.
The dwindling numbers of breeding bulls have created an agricultural and financial crisis for Muthanna’s farmers. With a PRT-inspired, Iraqi-led program in place, the numbers of livestock will certainly increase. Now, I am painfully aware that this is not a story that sells itself. How do you turn this project into a high-gloss "success story?" Answer: You don’t. But guess what? We don’t really care if the folks back in Washington can’t make a brochure out of this one. Just ask the Iraqi agricultural officials who recognize that this program is helping revitalize a vital part of their agricultural sector, and their economy. They’ll tell you this vital program is no BS.
I know books, soccer fields, and food won't solve all the problems of Iraq. But our mission here is to supplement Iraqi efforts, not solve every problem. We are here doing important work and, in a short amount of time, I can see with my own eyes that we are making a difference. I am happy to report that Muthanna continues to be an oasis of stability in these turbulent times.


Rebuilding Iraq: Babil ProvinceBy Ken Hillas
RealClearWorld presents a special series of original, exclusive blog posts by the boots on the ground in Iraq - Baghdad, Anbar Province and beyond. These bloggers include American Marines, soldiers, support personnel and government administrators. The posts also feature exclusive, on-location photographs of Iraqi lives as seen through the lenses of the bloggers.
These posts are provided exclusively to RealClearWorld by the U.S. Department of State. The views expressed in these posts are the bloggers' own sentiments.

Rebuilding IraqPart Three: Babil Province
SECURITY IMPROVEMENTS PALPABLE BUT FRAGILE
I arrived in Al-Hillah in the beginning of March 2008, and the changes since then have been notable. The gains in security during that time are reflected in an improved quality of life for the province's citizens. Babil -- the most populous (1.6 million) province in the south central region -- is the keystone for the south central region. The U.S. maintains a Regional Embassy Office (REO ) in Al-Hillah, one of four in Iraq (together with Basrah, Kirkuk and Erbil). Babil is largely located between the Tirgris and Euphrates and has been Iraq's breadbasket as well as an industrial center. The northern part of the province lies within the so-called "Triangle of Death," south of Baghdad. This was a Sunni area lying on the Sunni/Shia fault line and the stage in which active fighting was still taking place until early 2008. An embedded sister PRT is paired with U.S. forces in northern Babil, where the changes of the last 10 months have probably been most starkly visible. A place like Jurf as Sakr, a Sunni majority town in northern Babil, was the scene of terrible destruction one year ago. I walked down the main street early this summer and was able to visit stores and talk to shopkeepers, escorted by only two soldiers at a distance.
NO SUBSTITUTE FOR ENGAGEMENT ON THE GROUND
The Al-Hillah REO supported three other PRTs, which for security reasons were not able to deploy to the provinces of Diwaniyah, Najaf and Karbala. This year all three of those PRTs are now based in their respective provincial capitals working closely with the provincial authorities to build governance capacity, pursue reconstruction and promote political reconciliation.
SOME IRAQIS RETURNING TO BABIL
Just a few weeks after my arrival in Al-Hillah, the REO compound was shelled twice. The REO compound adjoins a U.S. Army Forward Operating Base, where a battalion of the Third Infantry Division/Fourth Brigade is located. There were also several unsuccessful attempts to rocket our compound.
During the early weeks of spring, the Sadrist Militia, Jaysh Al-Mahdi (JAM), also known as Mahdi's Army, tried to destabilize the situation in southern Iraq with Iranian support and training. Militia groups attacked government and offices of the governing political parties, especially ISCI and Dawa. The Iraqi Security Forces responded forcefully and effectively, disrupting JAM's organizational structure and operational capabilities. It was at this time that Prime Minister Maliki decided to take back control of Basrah.
The fighting in Babil was not nearly as intense as in Basrah, and the ISF never lost complete control of any area of the province. Since that time, the incidence of IED and EFP attacks has dropped by several orders of magnitude. Stores remain open in the evening, and people no longer hustle home after dark. For the first time in several years, some women walk the streets of Hillah without headscarves. Numerous restaurants have opened and you now hear pop music in the streets that the Sadrist militia would prevent, preferring instead religious music. This year, 10 Iraqi expatriates returned to Hillah to take up faculty positions at Babil University, and several others have expressed an interest in doing the same. While we don't have good statistics on the rate of return, this is one indication that Iraq's intelligentsia, which had the ability and good reason to flee, are beginning to come home. WITH IMPROVEMENT COMES NEW CHALLENGES
To be sure, there is a real revival of economic activity in the province. Construction projects are ubiquitous. Numerous housing projects have popped up this year around Al-Hillah like desert wildflowers after the late winter rains. This has been both a blessing and a curse. As the economy revives -- with no small help from increased oil prices over the last two years -- the demand for electricity has grown sharply in Babil. Although the supply of electricity has also grown consistently this last year, the rising demand has maintained the shortages that plague much of the rest of Iraq. Power was available this summer sometimes for no more than six hours a day.
The PRT has been active in helping Iraqis kickstart their economy. At the PRT's initiative, a contractor helped the Iraqi Society of Fish Producers to reenergize this key economic sector with a targeted grant. Fish farming traditionally was a big money maker in Iraq, and Babil has been at the centerpiece. As a result, over five million fingerlings found themselves distributed throughout the province and in neighboring ones too, providing gainful employment to many young males who could otherwise be tempted to work for AQI or JAM.
Caption: Iraqis harvesting carp fingerlings in May 2008 outside of Hillah, as part of a PRT-inspired fish farm project.
A SHIFT IN PRT FOCUS: IRAQI MONEY FOR IRAQI PROJECTS
Until recently, the PRT's work focused on capital projects, using U.S. funding to build schools, roads, water treatment plants. That has changed. For a variety of reasons ranging from poor governance capacity to bureaucratic inertia, the provinces have not in the past succeeded in spending all of their budgets. We have now begun to use Iraqi funds to do this, while we provide the expertise for long-term planning, and operations and training in operations and maintenance of key infrastructure. This shift has not always been easy for the Iraqis or Americans, accustomed to doing business in the past, but it reflects the new reality. Fortunately for Babil Province, it has one of the best records in executing its budget, spending nearly all the funds allocated to it.
Caption: Women with their children line up to receive medical attention at a mobile clinic organized by the PRTs Civil Affairs Unit, in collaboration with Iraqi doctors.
THE TOWER OF BABIL: WHERE IRAQ'S PAST AND FUTURE COME TOGETHER
Today, the PRT's focus is to help the provincial government succeed in providing essential services to the population. Our aim is to strengthen the provinces capacity, not to be a substitute. We have established joint working groups to do long-term planning -- from capital infrastructure projects and water and sewage master plans to investment promotion and the development of tourism. Yes, there is potential for this. It's now possible to envision that one day Americans and others will visit this province -- the site of the Babylonian ruins, of the prophet Ezekiel's grave and of Abraham's home -- as ordinary tourists. It is a land that has witnessed death and destruction for several decades now -- several thousands of Shia were killed in Babil by Saddam Hussein's forces during the 1991 Shia Uprising -- but this is also a land with an incredible history to share with the rest of the world. The Babylonian ruins are just two miles from where I sit writing now, a reminder to me of what was and what could be.
Caption: A view of some of the Babylonian Ruins, which have not been excavated, or maintained, for many years long before 2003.

Return to the ArticleSeptember 29, 2008
Rebuilding Iraq: BaghdadBy Conrad Tribble
RealClearWorld presents a special series of original, exclusive blog posts by the boots on the ground in Iraq - Baghdad, Anbar Province and beyond. These bloggers include American Marines, soldiers, support personnel and government administrators. The posts also feature exclusive, on-location photographs of Iraqi lives as seen through the lenses of the bloggers.
These posts are provided exclusively to RealClearWorld by the U.S. Department of State. The views expressed in these posts are the bloggers' own sentiments.

Rebuilding IraqPart Four: Baghdad
It’s 117 degrees, you’re 8 or 10 years old, what’s the most fun thing to do? Go in the water, right? Or you’re 20 years old, madly in love, and desperately want a place to go and sit with your boyfriend/girlfriend without all the relatives around. Where can you go? How about a big park with lots of open space and benches? With plenty of places to hide?
Down at the end of the Karada peninsula, right along the Tigris river, the Iraqi government built a park in 2003, just before the war, that quickly became a popular entertainment destination for Baghdad residents. They came by the thousands to enjoy its two large lakes, playgrounds, open areas for walking, kiosks selling food, and even music festivals at night. Damaged and then looted during and after the war, the park was reopened by the Ministry of Tourism sometime after the initial fighting stopped, but the violence of 2005-06 made it impossible for people to get out an enjoy such luxuries as a park.
Again, the facilities were looted and deteriorated to the point that the lakes drained out into the river, rusting paddle boats and jet-skis collected in a corner graveyard, and nobody could enjoy it.
The brigade I work for set out to do something about this and put together a reconstruction project to renovate the pumps, refurbish many of the facilities, and get the park ready for people to use it again. Our contribution was to help broker a deal between the Ministry of Tourism and the next door University of Baghdad to resolve a property dispute, and then to help in several small ways to get the project completed.
Finally, on Friday August 22, everything was ready. This was in Karada district, and the district council there organized a big district festival. Officially, it was called Karada Day, although it really took place in the late afternoon and evening. (We fondly called it Karada-palooza, although Karada-vaganza was also thrown around.)
The festivities started with a “marathon” -- actually an 8 kilometer run through the streets of Karada ending up at the park. We got there around 4:30 in the afternoon and the first runners began arriving around 5:30 p.m., having run for the better part of an hour in 115 degree heat!
The only-in-Iraq part of the run came next. After the first few runners crossed the finish line, here came several hundred more, escorted by a phalanx of motorcycle cops and police trucks belching fumes into the air for the runners to breathe.
Everybody -- strong runners, wheelchair runners, kids gasping their way to the finish line, motorcycles, police trucks, even fire trucks -- tried to fit through the narrow finish line. Runners were careening off of pick-up trucks, wheelchairs collided with motorcycles, and race officials desperately tried to orchestrate the finish while dancing around the vehicles and runners.
Miraculously, nobody was hurt, and the runners were soon parading around proudly to the applause of many guests.
The inclusion of so many wheelchair runners was a nice touch, though it was sobering to realize that most of these participants were men who had lost one or both legs, most likely to terrorist violence.
Once the race was over, there were the usual speeches and ribbon-cutting that you would expect at an event like this. A small marching band played an Iraqi anthem, kids in costumes danced an Iraqi folkloric dance, and artists showed their wares at a small exhibit set up in the grass. Many of the runners, at least the boys, decided to test out the lake and found it greatly to their liking! One enterprising young man managed to get one of the jet-skis working and took turns giving rides to the younger kids. And once the formalities were over, people stayed for hours into the evening, and as we were leaving just after the sun went down, we could see hundreds of parents, children, and people of all ages streaming into the park.
In the language of post-conflict reconstruction, this was an important “return to normalcy” event. That residents of Baghdad could and did gather in such large and enthusiastic numbers for such a visible event really brought home how much security has improved in the capital and how strongly most of the people here want to live their lives free of worry over their basic security. We were not sure how this big event would turn out but as we left we knew it had been enormously successful in ways we couldn’t have predicted.

Return to the ArticleSeptember 29, 2008
Rebuilding Iraq: Baghdad IIBy Vicente Valle
RealClearWorld presents a special series of original, exclusive blog posts by the boots on the ground in Iraq - Baghdad, Anbar Province and beyond. These bloggers include American Marines, soldiers, support personnel and government administrators. The posts also feature exclusive, on-location photographs of Iraqi lives as seen through the lenses of the bloggers.
These posts are provided exclusively to RealClearWorld by the U.S. Department of State. The views expressed in these posts are the bloggers' own sentiments.

Rebuilding IraqPart Five: Baghdad II
Our ePRT 4 works in southern Baghdad province in a district (Qada) known as Mahmudiyah and includes the sub-districts of Yusifiyah, Lutifiyah, and Al Rasheed as well as Mahmudiyah. After 2003 and until early 2007, the area became known as the triangle of death because of the extreme violence carried out by Sunni and Shia extremists and assorted terrorists and thugs. Until last year, it was rife with kidnappings, murders, bombings, and other mayhem.
What a difference a year makes. Today, the 450,000 inhabitants of the district reside more or less peacefully together. Of course they are concerned about security and stability, but they now have time to think about making a better life for themselves and their families. Our Embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team (ePRT) works with Iraqis and help them to improve governance, foster economic development, provide essential services to the population, and promote the rule of law. We are embedded with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 101st Airborne Division, the Rakkasans, on which we rely for security and other support.
Because of the greatly improved security, our team is able to operate relatively freely throughout the region, or Qada. I won’t kid you. This is still a volatile area. A few months ago, for example, a young female suicide bomber blew herself up near the town of Yousifiyah, killing an Iraqi Army captain and wounding several others. But security is vastly better. This Ramadan, in the past a time of increased insurgent activity, has been noticeably calm.
We have been taking advantage of this increased stability, and are partnering with the Iraqis in providing essential services to the population of the province.
The district will not be able to satisfy all the pent-up demand for basic services anytime soon. But it’s making progress. The government has just finished installing a 9-kilometer pipeline connecting the principal town of Mahmudiyah to a water treatment plant in Al Rasheed that will provide 25% of the district’s water. This was a joint project: the US provided the pipe, and the Iraqis laid it. On power, and water, and sanitation, we are helping the Iraqis develop long-term development plans to address shortages and advising on them on shorter-term, interim solutions, e.g., using smaller diesel- or solar-powered water treatment units. We’ve also brokered agreements with government officials and local sheiks to facilitate the cleaning and rehabilitation of canals for use in agriculture.
Yusifiyah Number 1 Pump Station on Tigris
We’re proud of a project to revive the poultry sector, a critical element of the region’s economy. This is a perfect example of the “day-to-day” projects that don’t make headlines, but make real economic progress in the country. When fully launched, this project should generate thousands of jobs. And it has brought together different tribal and religious factions in a way that only a successful business venture can. Under Saddam, Mahmudiyah district was a big poultry producer, but it was a command-economy style of production. We set about fostering a private, market-based poultry industry. With the Iraqis, we created a poultry association and gave it a jump start. We imported 90,000 eggs that hatched into chicks, rehabilitated 20 poultry houses, used high-protein feed, and sent ePRT experts to work with the farmers to raise the chickens under the right conditions.Vaccination of day-old chicks
The results have been positive and our support has been limited to providing technical support and advice. The plan is to expand to at least 100 poultry houses and to integrate the industry with a parent farm, hatcheries, a feed mill, and a processing plant. We’re working with the association to find credit and investment and to benefit from agricultural extension services to continue its growth.
Broilers Nearly Ready for Sale
We’ve provided loans and grants to small service businesses and factories in the area and helped to form business associations to foster economic activity. We’ve supported job training programs, particularly those focused on assisting women. Several markets in the district, some of which had been closed for years, are thriving again.
Evening shoppers in the Mahmudiyah market
We’re also working to revive several medium-sized industries in the area, e.g., helping a clothing factory to win supply contracts that have allowed it to grow its work force. Even more exciting, we’ve worked with the National Metallic and Bicycle Factory (NMBC) and a U.S. Task Force to build a special wheelchair for Iraqi children under rigorous specifications. This project could eventually help up to 150,000 Iraqi kids. We’re helping with other contracts for a heavy-duty adult wheelchair (the “Rough Rider”) and skateboards.
Rough Rider Wheelchairs
This is only the beginning. There is so much more that can be done here to promote agriculture and economic activity. We are planning a business expo with the Mahmudiyah Business Council to showcase the district and attract Iraqi and foreign investors. Sure, there are plenty of frustrations and challenges, but this is an exciting time to be working with the Iraqis and watch them continue their amazing progress.