An Iraqi Army Soldier provides security during a weapons cache search along the Tigris River on the outskirts of Mosul, June 21. Department of Defense photo by Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jeremy T. Lock.
Posted on 09/12/2006 7:41:57 PM PDT by SandRat
MOSUL -- Gun fire erupted suddenly near the office where provincial official Aday M. Abdul Ali was discussing preparations for an upcoming election with U.S. Army 1st Lt. Wade Williams.An Iraqi Army Soldier provides security during a weapons cache search along the Tigris River on the outskirts of Mosul, June 21. Department of Defense photo by Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jeremy T. Lock.
“No problem … no problem,” Ali said.
The men continued to talk.
How many ballots should each polling site have? How should they be delivered? What about security? The men mulled these questions amid the sounds of small-arms fire.
U.S. troops had broken a lock and damaged the doors of a warehouse door while searching for insurgents. Ali asked Williams for help with repairs. The firefight continued outside the heavily fortified government compound.
It was just another day at the office for Ali.
In this northern city, the country’s third largest, many Iraqis still don’t have access to the basic services that citizens of western nations come to expect from their governments. The Ninewa Provincial Reconstruction Team, a small group of diverse and dedicated professionals, is trying to change that.
U.S. State Department-led provincial reconstruction teams work closely with provincial government officials such as Ali, mentoring and helping to shape a political structure that will provide life-sustaining public services to Iraq’s diverse communities.
Clean water, uninterrupted electricity, fuel, education and basic medical care are huge concerns for the roughly 3 million residents of Ninewa province.
As the meeting progressed, Ali complained officials in Baghdad are disconnected from what’s happening in Ninewa and the city of Mosul. Williams took notes and promised to look into each of Ali’s concerns.
The PRT’s job is to help build a new government in the province, assisting local officials in economic development, strengthening rule of law and planning key reconstruction projects.
The PRT staff is a unique group of military and civilian employees with specialized skills and diverse backgrounds. Soldiers and Sailors have a presence, along with representatives from the State Department and Department of Justice.
Rounding out the team are civilian advisors, who speak the local languages and better understand the local culture.
Team members try to go out into the province and make at least two contacts per week with their assigned provincial government officials.
“I do elections, so I meet with one of the representatives from the election commission,” said Williams, who has been with the team about a month.
On the return trip to his base, William’s convoy took sniper fire. A bullet cracked the windshield on a Humvee in the convoy, just in front of the driver’s face. Security is an ongoing challenge for the PRT.
Security is also the biggest challenge to rebuilding, said Army Col. Bruce Grant, the deputy director of the Ninewa PRT.
Grant, who came out of retirement to join the team, said government officials need bodyguards and must keep details of their movements and activities from the public because of the threat of assassination. He said, however, that reconstruction and economic development would improve as the security situation gets better.
Despite challenges, Grant said the Ninewa government has shown its ability to work as a cohesive unit. He said Mosul is a multi-ethnic “crossroads” of different cultures due to its location – not far from Syria, Turkey and Iran. The province’s diverse population includes Assyrian Christians, Kurdish Yezidis, Armenians and Turkomen.
“You’ve already got commitment by the leadership to a multi-ethnic society. That is a huge step in this country,” Grant said.
Years of neglect under Saddam Hussein’s tyrannical, corrupt centralized government left the infrastructure here in bad shape. Saddam had sent Baath Party officials from the capital to govern the province years before Coalition forces liberated the country.
There was little the locals could do about the intrusion. The dictatorship had little interest in listening to the wants and needs of the people here, especially those who were not members of the Baath Party.
“We see ourselves as one of the main pillars of the strategy here in Iraq, which is to help get this country back on its feet, functioning on its own as a sovereign country so that we can leave and the Iraqis can handle their own affairs,” Grant said.
Teaching, coaching and mentoring the Iraqi government is as critical as training the new Iraqi security forces, he added.
“Our job is to build the capacity of the government to respond to the needs of the people. Governance is the most important thing we do,” said Grant.
Rashid, an advisor, has been with the PRT for about a year. There are positive things going on behind the scenes that the public probably doesn’t hear about, but he said he is concerned that other countries have an unrealistic impression of what is happening in Iraq.
“There are a lot of hospitals and schools that have opened. A lot of roads have been fixed. There are a lot of positive things happening. The quality of people’s lives has improved,” Rashid said.
Locals are receptive to ideas about how to build businesses and avoid red tape, Rashid continued, explaining that a main hurdle to economic development in the province had been massive bureaucracy.
During Saddam’s regime, all requests for new businesses and reconstruction had to be forwarded to the central government in Baghdad. It was a slow process, with requests sometimes taking months for a response from the capital - if an answer came at all.
Now, requests are processed at the local level and the Baghdad government is kept informed.
The Ninewa PRT has also focused on human rights. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Candace Eckert is the rule of law and human rights coordinator.
Eckert helped arrange an initial meeting between the Iraqi Minister of Human Rights in Baghdad and a local government official she was advising. After the meeting took place, the two women officials felt comfortable with each other, Eckert said.
“We had some brief discussions and I fundamentally explained that my role was to build a bridge,” she said. Eckert quoted the cabinet minister:
“You will build a bridge and we will walk across it.”
“I think that really illustrates the opportunity and the power of what we can do here,” Eckert said.
“It’s working for us,” said James Knight, the Ninewa PRT team leader.
“The Iraqis are rapidly assuming responsibility for their security, for their economic development and for their future as a country. The degree to which this is happening isn’t always obvious.”
Working behind the Scene to put an Iraqi Face on Changes for the Good.
bump
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.