Posted on 08/26/2007 11:12:38 AM PDT by SandRat
BAGHDAD Raw sewage is no longer inundating a neighborhood in east Baghdad. Residents in Oubadi, located near Sadr City, are benefiting from a recently completed $14.9 million Gulf Region South district project that connected their homes for the first time ever to a new functioning sewer collection system.
People there are very pleased with the improvement, said Iraqi engineer Mustafa Haddad who works for the GRS, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. For over two years weve been working on this project and the community has been very supportive throughout. They were using slit trenches and lakes of raw sewage, which presented a definite health hazard.
More than 24 kilometers of sewer pipe were installed, ranging in size from 110 millimeters for house connections to 800 millimeter trunk lines. In addition four pump stations were constructed with the largest having the capacity to pump 600 liters per second.
About 80,000 residents were positively impacted by this project. They appreciate our efforts and are seeking help with other community improvements. Were currently working on a new $1.3 million water network project. It is 50 percent finished and will ensure they have better access to fresh potable water.
Haddad is the Deputy Resident Engineer of USACEs Loyalty Office located south of Sadr City. Over 20 Iraqi engineers work out of the office overseeing over $125 million in infrastructure improvements in east Baghdad, from school and hospital renovations, electric network upgrades, road paving, and new water treatment facilities.
Haddad has put up with mortars, one of his fellow Iraqi engineers was gunned down after visiting a school project, other office workers have been injured, and he personally has been targeted by insurgents and had to move his family to a different area.
Were here because we know how important this work is for our country and our people. Yes, its a difficult time. But those in need are looking for help and were going to continue to do everything we can to offer it to them, he said.
Their streets are now dry and clean. They see their government is working and things are getting better, said Haddad, who is overseeing more than 20 sewer projects similar to the one just completed in Oubaidi.
The 29-year-old earned a Bachelors degree in civil engineering from Baghdads University of Technology.
My family worries about me and the dangers I face. But they understand how important this work is. We need to keep making things better and someday soon Iraq will turn the corner.
Editors Note: Norris Jones is a Public Affairs Specialist with the Gulf Region Central district, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Iraq. For more information, contact him at 540-665-1233 or email CEGRD.PAO@tac01.usace.army.mil
FR WAR NEWS!
not.
Good find, bro.
BTW they do get all these stories direct, they just don’t use them. It doesn’t fit their seditious/treasonous nature or agenda.
Just wanted to take the time to thank you for all you do to keep us informed on the real story in IRAQ!
I know ... if I wasn't so p!$$ed, I'd cry from frustration.
One consolation ... it keeps me hard enough to not cry, edgy enough to be ready, and active enough to stay just this side of the law.
You are most welcome.
These are the kind of stories that our news media should report, but the "it bleeds, it leads" mentality is so prevalent in the MSM that it would rather headline a single, isolated act of senseless violence rather than a vast stream of good news.
I watched the numerous items on the Japanese Self-Defense Forces websites about their work in Samawa; I don't believe that a single photo, much less a story, was carried by the mainstream media in the U.S. during the whole period.
But had there been a single violent incident on the ground, then I suspect that the media hounds would have been eager to bay whatever trouble they could have found.
I just went and did a search and the only U.S. MSM news item I picked up was a Yahoo! Asia article (but even it was sourced from Kyodo) --- and predictably enough, it is titled "3 of 2,800 Japanese ground troops commit suicide after Iraq mission". Nothing, but nothing, about all of the good work done on the ground by these troops stationed in Samawa, just wallowing in the unfortunate circumstances of some men who happened to be stationed in Samawa at one time.
ping
This applies as well today as it did in the days of Queen Victoria.
A British ditty from the beginning of the last century:
“You do not have
To bribe or twist
The arm
Of the British journalist
Considering what he would do
Unasked
There is no reason to.”
Inspired by the “caveat emptor” principle of Roman law, which sounds a note of caution for potential buyers, media consumers should heed the unwritten warning, “Reader/Viewer/Listener beware.” And some Strong Criticism within the journalistic profession wouldnt hurt either.
Can you imagine a world where Hollywood’s self righteous actors raised money to complete projects like these for the health and safety of the hard hit Iraqi women and children?
Can you see Jane Fonda and Sean Penn cutting a ribbon at the opening of a a fresh clean water supply in Baghdad?
I can’t either, LOL.
This guy is an Iraqi hero. Worthy of our support. Too bad Harry Reid and the rest of the 'rats want to kill him off.
The libs will still insist that life was better under Saddam.
***Raw sewage is no longer inundating a neighborhood in east Baghdad.***
WHAT! You mean East Baghdad no longer smells like Pakastan?
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