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BAGHDAD, July 10, 2008 – Summer days in Baghdad often rival the hottest days around the globe, and until recently, many residents of central Baghdad’s Karkh district did not have a place they could visit to escape from the heat. The Zawra Park public swimming pool in central Baghdad reopens, July 5, 2008. The park recently went through a thorough revitalization with the help of Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Jason Thompson, Multinational Division Baghdad  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. But a cooperative effort between...

RAMADI — Ramadi was regarded by many to be one of the most violent cities in Iraq for much of the last five years. The thought of rebuilding the troubled city during that time was improbable, the risks were too high. Now, Ramadi is much safer and rebuilding the city is no longer just an impossible idea but an everyday reality in the recovering region. The country is now transitioning from violence and fighting, to healing and freedom. The focus in Ramadi, and all of al-Anbar province, is no longer on warfare but on reconstructing the region’s damaged infrastructure. “Ramadi...

In late 2005, a suicide bomber stepped inside Qadori, a renowned restaurant nestled alongside the Tigris River, and detonated his explosives-rigged belt. The blast killed seven employees and 22 customers and shattered a totem of Baghdad life. "It all happened in a single second," recalled Alaa Hashim, a 30-year-old cook who began working at the restaurant when he was 10. His brother died in the attack. After two years of unemployment for Hashim, the restaurant is back in business, having reopened last year on a quiet street in a fortified part of the capital.

It was meant to be the rising tide that would lift the Iraqi economy out of years of war and sanctions, to finance reconstruction and guarantee cheap global supplies. Yet, five years on, big oil is only just starting to move cautiously into Iraq and, despite record prices, experts caution against another false dawn of optimism. Four oil giants - Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP - are to announce next week no-bid contracts to start servicing the creaking Iraqi oil infrastructure, crippled for decades by lack of investment and often targeted by insurgents. The deals came as the Oil...

BASRA, Iraq, June 20, 2008 – The provincial reconstruction team for Iraq’s Basra province, along with the Gulf Region South district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the United Nations Development Program concluded a two-day budget execution support workshop June 18 at the international airport here. The event provided a clear understanding of how the international community can support the provincial governor’s office and technical directorates for the design and implementation of projects for the rest of the year, said Army Maj. Daniel George, a PRT engineer assigned from Gulf Region South’s...

(Newser) – European and Asian investors are taking advantage of the recently stabilized Iraqi business climate, USA Today reports. US firms still regard Iraq as too dangerous to invest in, but that attitude may cost them the best opportunities. The firms “who are getting in on the ground floor are not American," says a Pentagon official. "It's ironic." Iraq has attracted $500 million in foreign investment just this year. Many of the countries with the largest business presence—such as France, Russia and Turkey—did not take part in the initial invasion. Americans' cold feet perplex some. Says a Washington-based Iraqi official:...

Democrats no longer talk of the 18 benchmarks for measuring progress in Iraq because so much progress has now taken place. Way back in the dark days of 2007, when the only popular question about the Iraq war concerned the degree of tragedy, Congress’s Iraq “benchmarks” were all the rage among Democrats. Every argument against a continued U.S. presence in Iraq was constructed around the Maliki administration’s apparent inability to meet the political and security-based milestones as outlined by America’s Democratic-majority Congress. Then something happened. The gains of the troop surge allowed the Iraqi government and citizenry to implement the...

We Won!The rest of the world apparently doesn't read the U.S. Mainstream Media. Or listen to Congressional Democrats, Harry Reid or Code Pink, either. Companies from around the world are rushing into Iraq to do business, due to the improved security climate in that country. Over a half-billion dollars worth of investments from countries that, in many cases, didn't support the U.S. in its efforts to improve Iraq's security. European and Asian companies are beating their American rivals into Iraq now that security has improved the investment climate, Iraq and U.S. officials say. "It's starting to turn … and the...

An L.A. Speculator Plans a Disney-Style Park in BaghdadWhat a blast By DAVID FERRELL Wednesday, June 4, 2008 - 6:19 pm Only five years after U.S. warplanes rained down “shock and awe” on Iraq, decimating towns and families, a few rich Californians have figured out how to counter the mortar attacks, suicide bombings and other acts of terrorism that continue to ravage the capital city, Baghdad. Build an amusement park. Not enough excitement in machine-gun fire and cars blowing up? Soon, thanks to some Los Angeles–area venture capitalists, Iraqis may have what every adrenaline junkie really craves — thrill rides....

"French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner discussed investment projects to help rebuild Iraq on Saturday on a visit to the country whose 2003 invasion by U.S.-led troops Paris strongly opposed."

FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU — The Village of Hope graduated its first class of students May 8 in a ceremony held at Patrol Base Stone in Hawr Rajab, south of Baghdad. The 42 graduating students spent the past three months learning plumbing, electrical and construction skills at the Village of Hope training facility. The program is aimed at teaching local citizens valuable career skills, with the added benefit of rebuilding their community. The students, many of them former Sons of Iraq, will continue their training outside the classroom by renovating structures in the area. Hawr Rajab was devastated last year...

Local leaders cut the ribbon signifying the opening of the Salman Pak Girls Secondary School, April 24, in Salman Pak, Iraq. DoD photo. FORWARD OPERATING BASE HAMMER — The only secondary school for girls in the Salman Pak area opened its doors with a ribbon-cutting ceremony April 24.Leaders of the Salman Pak Council, the Iraqi Army, the 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment and 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, gathered in Salman Pak for the ceremony, which marked the completion of a $200,000 project initiated Feb. 28.Members of the Salman Pak Council brought the decrepit school to the attention of 1-15th...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE MAHMUDIYAH, Iraq, April 28, 2008 – U.S. civil affairs soldiers assessed fish farms in the Lutifiyah, Iraq, area April 23 to gauge their progress. Army Capt. Mike Fisher, commander of Battery B, 3rd Battalion, 320th Field Artillery, and Army Pfc. Timothy Perkins, communications specialist with Company B, 411th Civil Affairs Battalion, speak with a fish farmer in the Lutifiyah, Iraq, area April 23, 2008, about the progress of his ponds. Photo by Army Pvt. Christopher McKenna, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “What we are trying to do is...

Families stroll the park's sidewalks and picnic in the shade as laughing children clamor to see the main attraction - lions once owned by Saddam Hussein's son, Odai. Damaged after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, the Baghdad Zoo has made a startling comeback, and thousands of Iraqis are flocking here to escape the city's grungy streets. The zoo, located in the sprawling Zawra Park in the heart of Baghdad just outside the U.S.-controlled Green Zone, has been held up as an example of American reconstruction efforts. The military brought in new animals, rebuilt damaged exhibits and worked with international zoos and...

U.S. Embassy in Baghdad Declared Ready, With Nudge by RocketsBy Glenn Kessler Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, April 18, 2008; Page A19 The troubled effort to build the giant U.S. Embassy in Baghdad seemed to be months away from completion when a team of top State Department officials flew to Iraq on March 20 to meet with senior staff from the prime contractor, First Kuwaiti General Trading & Contracting. But as insurgent rockets began to rain down on the flimsy trailers housing diplomats inside the Green Zone, the two sides suddenly found ways to settle many of the major issues...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, Iraq, April 7, 2008 – When an Air Force engineer first stepped foot in Hawr Rajab, it was an al-Qaida in Iraq safe haven. The thought that came to mind was a scene from an old western movie. Airmen from the 557th Expeditionary Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineers, or RED HORSE, Squadron teach masonry to Village of Hope students at Patrol Base Stone in Hawr Rajab, Iraq, April 2, 2008. Two hundred Hawr Rajab men, in four classes of 50, are scheduled to graduate from the vocational school. Courtesy photo   (Click photo...

The Baghdadis caught between these extremes know that the only thing standing in the way of another sectarian conflagration is the U.S. military. This may explain why every Iraqi who offers me a view on American politics seems to be praying for a McCain victory.

An Adwaniyah middle school student receives school supplies during the school's grand opening. Some of the supplies were donated by American students to Iraqi students. The remodeled school will hold traditional and religious classes. FORWARD OPRATING BASE KALSU — Adwaniyah citizens who were once afraid to leave their homes because of al-Qaeda in Iraq, freely gathered last week to celebrate the grand opening of a middle school and health clinic. Much of the work was done using Commander’s Emergency Response Program funds. Coalition forces assisted in rebuilding the school and clinic but the Government of Iraq was key to the...

SALAH AH DIN PROVINCE — The town of Tuz, Iraq has played a significant role in Coalition operations since 2003, and today more of its 15,000 residents have reliable electricity. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in northern Iraq completed an electrical network project in February that brings electricity generated at the Bayji power plant to approximately 3,000 Iraqi homes in this village located 110 miles north of Baghdad. “We expanded the existing distribution system so that the same amount of electricity could be provided to more homes in the neighborhood,” said Oni Gomez, resident engineer in the Gulf Region...

An Iraqi worker adds a fresh coat of white paint to one of the buildings comprising the al Nassir School in al Buaytha, March 25. Coalition forces are funding repair of the school's four buildings. Before al-Qaida was driven from the area, the school was hit several times by mortars, causing structural damage. Photo by Sgt. Kevin Stabinsky, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division Public Affairs. FOB KALSU — The al Nassir Elementary School is once again a kid-friendly place where area children can go to study.The school, which suffered severe damage while al-Qaida dominated the area, is now...