Iraqi Communities Benefit From Projects

Defend America News ^ | Spc. William Jones

[SandRat]

Iraqi Communities Benefit From Projects
Local contractors, civilian work force, local neighborhoods benefit from Civil Affairs projects.
By U.S. Army Spc. William Jones 133rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment TIKRIT, Iraq, July 17, 2006-- One Iraqi community after another is benefiting from the efforts of people working together to improve the infrastructure of Iraq after years of neglect and war and at the same time putting the labor force back to work. "This helps to improve their infrastructure and it gives them an economic base." Capt. Jonathan Walden These behind-the-scenes people are working closely with the local Iraqi leadership to decide the order community improvement projects need to be completed and how much funding is available. Maj. Christine Nagy, Projects Purchasing Officer, 402nd Civil Affairs Battalion, attached to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, stationed at Contingency Operating Base (COB) Speicher near Tikrit, Iraq, is a key player in deciding which projects will be worked on first. She also has her hand on the proverbial purse strings. “I manage a pot of money called [Commander’s Emergency Relief Project]”, said Nagy. “I recommend projects [to the brigade commander] to approve and the task forces go out and execute these projects.” Nagy attends regular meetings at the Provincial Reconstruction Development Committee which meets in the city of Tikrit to discuss the status of ongoing projects and to decide which projects are next on the committee’s agenda. The committee may discuss everything from roads and bridges to water and sewage. Standing members on the board are members of the 402nd Civil Affairs team, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Anthony Carman, Finance non-commissioned officer in charge, pays an Iraqi contractor upon completion of a phase of work. U.S. Army photo by Spc. William Jones	U.S. Army Maj. Christina Nagy, Projects, Purchasing Officer attends a Provincial Reconstruction Team meeting in Tikrit, Iraq where they are discussing infrastructure improvements for the province. U.S. Army photo by Spc. William Jones local provincial leaders. And whatever the project may be, a local contractor will likely be doing the actual work with a Coalition Forces member overseeing it. The end result is a higher standard of living for the residents of the province and more money for the local economy. Capt. Jonathan Walden, Projects Officer, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, ensures contractors who have completed a phase of work are paid. In a trailer on the edge of COB Speicher, contractors have lined up to receive an honest days pay for an honest day’s work. One of those present recently completed work on a school and another completed a sidewalk project in the nearby city of Ad Dwar. “This helps to improve their infrastructure and it gives them an economic base,” said Walden. “Since Desert Storm [in 1991], a lot of destruction happened in the country of Iraq and not a lot or reconstruction happened. We get a chance to put money into the economy, give jobs to the people and repair a lot of the destruction that happened.” Several ongoing projects and new ones that are still in the planning phase will ensure an improved standard of living, but just like stateside projects, there is a process. “I would like to think of projects working their way up through the provincial council, up the chain of government, just like back in the States where your municipality has its group of people that work it up to the governor’s office,” said Nagy. Possible future provincial projects include a water bottling plant, textile mill, plastic manufacturing plant, which will produce syringes and blood plasma bags, and a vocational school to prepare students for work in these factories.

[SandRat]

Making progress happen.

[Ma3lst0rm]

Good post. The nightly news could run stories like this end to end and never report all the good our soldiers have done in Iraq.

[earplug]

Fort Carson soldiers toured the local Colorado Springs sewage treatment plants prior to deploying to Iraq, wanted to learn the in's and outs of water treatment.
Of course our Colorado Springs infrastucture tends to leak sewage into Fountain creek that runs into the Arkansas. Pueblo is not happy. Pueblo's sewage plant is in need of A major upgrade too.
I suppose we need a invasion due to Pueblo's WMD leaking chemical munitions, then we can get some infrastuctre help. Or do we need a UN sanction and Oil for food program and some carpet bombing first?

[mojo_the_migo]

Is there any good website that specificaly talks about the good that is being done in Iraq and comparisons of before and after the war?

[SandRat]

Defend America - BACKGROUNDon the right hand side and you have a whole selection of resources.

[Allegra]

The nightly news could run stories like this end to end and never report all the good our soldiers have done in Iraq.

And yet, they refuse to report anything at all that might be seen as positive. Go figure.

But the progress keeps going forward whether the media wants it to or not.

[Ma3lst0rm]

They do report some but the problem isn't so much that they don't go out of their way to report the good but that they go out of their way to report nothing but the bad.