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Progress in Iraq
HAIRY
Member Posts: 23,606
Progress Marching On in Iraq
By MNF-I Combined Press Information Center
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Daily accomplishments, both large and small - in governance, security and reconstruction - marked progress toward Iraqi self-reliance as the country marked a year of sovereignty June 28. What follows is a partial list of these successes.
On June 1, in the first move of its kind, Coalition forces officially transferred full responsibility for security at a base in Dibbis to the Iraqi Army.
Two hundred dignitaries and civilians attended the flag-raising and ribbon-cutting ceremony, where the Iraqi Army took full control of base and security operations in the area.
This historic move marked another significant step in the Iraqi government's plan to assume full responsibility for security and stability operations across the nation.
volenti non fit injuria
By MNF-I Combined Press Information Center
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Daily accomplishments, both large and small - in governance, security and reconstruction - marked progress toward Iraqi self-reliance as the country marked a year of sovereignty June 28. What follows is a partial list of these successes.
On June 1, in the first move of its kind, Coalition forces officially transferred full responsibility for security at a base in Dibbis to the Iraqi Army.
Two hundred dignitaries and civilians attended the flag-raising and ribbon-cutting ceremony, where the Iraqi Army took full control of base and security operations in the area.
This historic move marked another significant step in the Iraqi government's plan to assume full responsibility for security and stability operations across the nation.
volenti non fit injuria
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Baghdad's mayor decries his ouster, and rioters in the south protest their leadership. A bombing in the capital and other violence kill at least 21.
By Alissa J. Rubin
Times Staff Writer
August 11, 2005
BAGHDAD - Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari sought Wednesday to quell political disputes in the capital and the south, as Baghdad's mayor protested his ouster at gunpoint and rival factions fought over the governorship of a province.
The political squabbling came amid more violence, with fighting in Mosul and a bombing in Baghdad killing at least 21 people. Kidnappers abducted a high-ranking Interior Ministry official, and the U.S. military announced the death of another soldier in fighting Tuesday, bringing to seven the number of U.S. troops killed that day.
Baghdad Mayor Alaa Tamimi, a controversial figure, remained in hiding Wednesday after dozens of gunmen took over his office Monday and physically installed Baghdad's governor in his stead.
"What happened to me was unbelievable. It was horrifying and very dangerous to this country to be treated in such a manner," Tamimi said in a telephone interview. "The municipality was invaded by armed forces, occupying forces."
The armed men appeared to be bodyguards of the governor; some witnesses asserted they were linked to Shiite Muslim militia groups. The incident left Tamimi angry and agitated.
"This is terror! It's a lot worse than Saddam's time - the governor of Baghdad penetrates the municipality with more than 120 armed men with him, I don't know to whom they belong!" he screamed. "The governor went into my office and sat behind my table."
A spokesman for the municipality rejected details of Tamimi's account, estimating that far fewer armed men were involved in the takeover, which occurred during a sandstorm when few people were at work. Some at the building said perhaps only 30 took part. But there was no dispute that Baghdad Gov. Hussein Tahhan had taken over the mayor's job. He insisted Wednesday that he would serve only temporarily.
Tahhan is a member of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a leading Shiite political party that is a member of the prime minister's parliamentary bloc. On Wednesday, Jafari weighed in, saying he favored replacing Tamimi.
Tamimi, a civil engineer who once worked in Iraq's nuclear program, fled the country in the 1990s and returned after President Saddam Hussein's ouster, promising to clean up Baghdad. He was appointed mayor before the U.S. transferred sovereignty back to Iraqis in June 2004.
A new Baghdad provincial council was elected in January, and it asked Tamimi to step down. Some members had questioned his integrity; others expressed frustration that he had not delivered on promises to provide basic services and get rid of corruption.
Jafari said Tamimi's removal was justified because he had also failed to satisfy the Iraqis running the local government.
"The municipality head [Tamimi] was appointed before this government," Jafari said at a small news conference. "Thus, we received a request from the city council to dismiss him and we got complaints from people [about him]. Every official should know how to satisfy people. The legitimacy of any official comes from people's reaction to his work. This is the new Iraq."
A member of the Baghdad city council, who asked not to be identified because he feared reprisals, said the council had appointed Tahhan as the new mayor but that there was great confusion at the moment. "This is a democratic chaos," he said.
As the controversy in Baghdad continued, Jafari dispatched emissaries to the southern town of Samawa to try to halt a running fight among militias linked to three Shiite political parties. Although Japanese troops are stationed in the city, protests and riots earlier in the week left at least one person dead and dozens injured.
The demonstrators, many of them allied with radical Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr, have demanded the resignation of the provincial governor, who is allied with the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq party. Meanwhile, SCIRI members accused the local police chief of attempting to assassinate them. At a meeting Wednesday with Jafari's envoys, the factions hurled insults at one another.
The upheaval over the Baghdad mayor's job and the unrest in Samawa underscored the fragility of Iraq's local political institutions as the national government works to craft a new constitution and cope with violence.
On Wednesday, kidnappers abducted Brig. Gen. Khudayer Abbas, who heads the administrative affairs office at the Interior Ministry, as he was driving in central Baghdad in broad daylight, said Maj. Abbas Mohammed Salman.
Later in the afternoon, Abbas' wife received a call from her husband's cellphone. The speaker, who was not her husband, told her, "We are keeping your husband as a hostage," police sources said.
Meanwhile, a suicide car bomber targeting a police patrol in the violent Ghaziliya area of western Baghdad killed six people, including two policemen, and injured 16.
Many residents of the area could not stop talking about "poor Raaid," a 22-year-old newspaper vendor, whose tiny kiosk was blown apart. People in the neighborhood knew him well because they stopped by daily to chat and buy papers from him.
In the north, fighting in Mosul reportedly killed 15 people, but details were scarce.
The U.S. military announced that a soldier from an Army unit attached to a Marine division had been slain Tuesday near Habbaniya, about 10 miles from Fallouja, west of Baghdad.
The death brought to seven the number of U.S. servicemen killed Tuesday. Four soldiers died in an attack near Bayji in northern Iraq. Another died in a suicide bombing in Baghdad, and a Marine died in western Iraq.
Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. Martin Luther King
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Polli Keller, Gulf Region North, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Mosul, Iraq- The Department of Border Enforcement (DBE) Academy is now complete and ready for the business of training Iraqi guards to protect their country's borders.
Working together, the Iraqi Province of Sulaymaniyah, Ministry of Interior, an Iraqi construction company, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) have finished the $17.2 million facility. Officials turned over the academy to the Iraqi government in July, so they could start training the border guards. It is now fully completed.
The construction and renovations of this facility include classrooms, administrative facilities, barracks, dining and maintenance facilities along with complete water, sewer and electrical systems. It is the only facility of its type in the province with potable running water and a state-of-the-art dining facility.
According to Col. Richard Jenkins, USACE Gulf Region North commander, the Sulaymaniyah DBE Academy is one of three academies operated by the Ministry of the Interior for the principal purpose of training recruits and serving members of the Iraqi border police. The other two academies are located in Wasit Province (in Al Kut) and in Basrah Province (in Shaibah). The objective of these academies is to train sufficient new recruits to reach the DBE staffing goal of more than 28,000. At present, the total DBE strength stands at more than 17,000.
This academy will generate new jobs for the local economy. The facility will employ numerous officers, teachers, more than 800 trainees, and several civilians working as cooks and maintenance personnel. The American company, ECC International, and an Iraqi subcontractor worked together to build this facility. During the construction, over three hundred local workers were employed.
The commander of the Multi National Forces-Iraq considers effectively controlling the borders of the nation of Iraq to be his top priority.
"The importance of the Academy," said Jenkins, "are the recruits that this academy trains. They are critical to the accomplishment of CG MNF-I's top priority of border security."
Accomplishing the DBE staffing goal, along with the construction and equipping of 254 new border forts and fielding an effective, nationwide command and control system, will substantially help to carry out this goal.
Dave Varner, USACE Project Manager, addressed the biggest challenge in the project. "The schedule was very aggressive and presented the biggest challenge, but for the most part, it was met and the academy opened for business July 17, 2005."
Varner said, "I thought the project went very well. Both ECCI and the Iraqi company [unnamed for security purposes] were great to work with and were very accommodating to solving problems."
The USACE Sulaymaniyah Resident Office manages construction and renovation of several primary and secondary schools, clinics, and electrical substations. Currently, there are 49 new constructions and 12 renovation projects ongoing in the region.
"Any excuse will serve a tyrant." ---Aesop
"Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because if there be
one he must approve of the homage of reason more than that of blindfolded fear.
-Thomas Jefferson, August 10, 1787"
Volenti non fit injuria
Seems American television is now being shown in Iraq--could that have been the reason? [;)]
There is always one more imbecile than you counted on.
Hypocrisy is the homage paid by vice to virtue.
Don't assume malice for what stupidity can explain.