"1,550 construction projects are under way throughout the country -- compared to just 200 projects under way in June [2004]...
"These reconstruction projects include large, long-term capital projects that address water and sewage treatment facilities, power plants and the oil- distribution infrastructure. They also include smaller community projects that are more visible to the Iraqi people and have an immediate impact on their lives, he said. The focus of these projects is schools, clinics, hospitals, rail stations and police stations, many being rebuilt with funds from Commander's Emergency Response Program funds...
"He estimated that some 130,000 Iraqis are working on the wide range of projects under way throughout the country. The true number is actually larger, he said, when factoring in the behind-the-scenes workers who manufacture the products used on the construction sites."
"Brig. Gen. Jeffery Hammond of the 1st Cavalry Division, says Sadr City is the safest place in or around Baghdad. About 18,000 people have reconstruction jobs, he says, earning about $6 a day. 'Sadr City is what the future of Iraq can look like,' he says. Those who were once taking up arms are now talking democracy. 'Before, the men were buying black cloth for their (martyrs') banners. Now for the election, we are buying white cloths' for posters, says candidate Fatah al-Sheikh." Even the Iraqi Islamic Party is now cracking: "Iraq's principal Sunni Muslim political party conceded... that its effort to delay Iraq's parliamentary election had failed and that it was preparing a strategy to influence the elected government following the vote on Jan. 30."
Power infrastructure is also on the agenda, often on a micro level, supplementing the large scale civilian reconstruction effort. For example, "soldiers from Company A, 426th Civil Affairs Battalion, brought electricity to a village in northern Iraq. The village of Alkishki is a small rural community of approximately 250 located in the mountains of northern Iraq. The people live in mud hut homes and make their living primarily in agriculture. The $50,000 project involved erecting electrical poles and placing wiring in addition to adding a junction box and transformer to connect Alkishki village to the nearby villages' power grid. Local contractors were hired to complete the project."
The 411th civil affairs public works team together with the 1st Division engineers and the ministry of electricity has recently completed the construction of a chemicals warehouse at the Bayji Power plant. "This facility meets specifications needed to minimize both the chance of an accident and the impact if one occurs. The site is able to hold at least 14 days worth of supplies for all needed chemicals, a significant improvement over previous stores."
And in Mosul, soldiers of the 133 Engineer Combat Battalion (1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) are working with local contractors to improve local roads: "The total cost is $2.25 million with 810 jobs created. The roads were previously asphalt and in poor condition. In conjunction with this work, the groups will add concrete surface drainage cross gutters. The total cost is $250,000 with another 90 jobs created."
"Delta Detachment, 106th Finance Battalion, continues to work hand in hand with local Iraqi banks in an effort to stabilize and improve local confidence in an ailing Iraqi banking system. Through meetings with the Kirkuk Provincial bank managers, the finance detachment, along with civil affairs elements, has made significant strides with the banking system..."
"If the Army had an adopt-a-child program, Logan would be the poster child. For more than a year, the 13-year-old boy, who contends he's 13 and a half, has lived and worked with Coalition forces at a forward operating base in Mosul. The boy speaks four languages and his official title at the FOB [Forward Operating Base] is translator and supervisor, but he is a Soldier at heart.
" 'I love American Soldiers. I want to help them in every way possible, because without them we (Iraqis) would have nothing,' said Logan, who also speaks Turkish, Arabic and Kurdish and is currently learning Spanish. 'When Saddam ruled Iraq, he would kill somebody for speaking English or Kurdish. Things were very bad, but now we are much happier and I can speak all my languages freely.'
"Not a day goes by that Logan doesn't use his four languages. At the FOB, he helps Soldiers with more than 50 workers, who maintain buildings, electricity and plumbing."
Is it really asking too much for Brent Baker or his editors to think about what they're printing? Or was the religious slip of the tongue (pen?) intentional?
As if the MSM cares.
Quite a contrast to todays headlines, "Violence escalating before the elections - judge killed"
The only thing Jennings wants from candid interviews is a more current spin on how bad the war is going. I don't watch/listen to the SOB so I don't really care what he thinks/says/does or doesn't do. Most of America is on to him by now.
I know someone who was stationed in southern Iraq from March till September. He said the area was peaceful and all the Iraqis he talked to were all so grateful that we came and liberated them.
Petah is trying to cya, for all the BS reporting coming from the MSM at large.
ABC and Jennings misreport something?
That is absurd, they can't say things on television if it isn't true!
The only thing we hear about Iraq are bomb blasts.
Isn't it amazing that we hear NOTHING about the north? I guess that's because there is no bad news coming from there.