Fox news has a television report out today about the reconstruction efforts going on in Iraq. On their website they have a few tidbits.
We went to reconstruction sites in Urbil and Kirkuk, and we found that not only are things being reconstructed, they’re being constructed for the first time. We went to a power plant in a town called Taza; there was no power plant there one year ago. They’ve employed 1,200 people, most of them Iraqis.
There are Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis all working together. The Iraqis want the same thing as Americans. They want an income. They want to put food on the table. They want to have jobs.
According to this report there has been 1,167 construction projects started worth over 3 billion and over 100,000 Iraqi being employed on those projects.
There are plans to renovate 19 hospitals and build 150 primary healthcare centers.
Late Final has a link about the progress made on the reconstruction of Fallujah here.
Navy Civil Engineer Corps officers assigned to the Officer in Charge of Construction detachment of the I Marine Expeditionary Force Engineer Group have administered seven Fallujah reconstruction contracts for rubble removal, dewatering and pipe repair, and potable water tank installation.
According to OICC Officer in Charge Cmdr. Mark Bergin, four Iraqi firms are currently working under a 20-day task order contract for rubble removal. The task order option offers flexibility if additional time or effort is needed to complete the work. U.S. Marines, Navy Seabees and National Guardsmen are also involved in debris removal operations.
Two additional Iraqi contractors are conducting dewatering and pipe repair work and installing potable water tanks at predetermined locations throughout the city. Each site will include three or four 10,000-liter tanks.
Todd Pearson pointed me to a Washington Post article out today that describes the success some of the terrorists have had but….
what strikes Coyne is not the bad news — maybe because she’s living in the middle of it — but the fortitude and persistence in the face of attacks of the Iraqis she works with. The Mosul professor keeps teaching. One local leader called the day after being shot three times — to ask whether the institute had accepted the people he had recommended to take part in a seminar. Another, whose house was torched, got in touch to make sure Coyne had his new telephone number.
“Yes, they complain” about conditions, Coyne said. But she finds a surfeit of Iraqis who still want to learn what the institute has to teach — about how to peacefully manage religious and sectarian conflict, for example — and who are willing to drive 11 or 12 hours through multiple dangerous checkpoints to get books and practical advice and lessons from other Iraqis.
Thank My Recruiter reports
On Sunday, December 26, 2004 General Babaker Shawkat Zebari, who is Iraq?s only 4 star general, said that reports of Iraqi troops running from battle were mis-reported. Well I have heard from reliable sources that a few Iraqi National Guard troopsdid in fact run. But I?m am so happy about this that I think it is good news. Not the running, the other stuff.
The good news is that Iraqi officials are starting to take ownership of the situation. What this official shows is national pride and confidence that they can do the job, even if a few don?t have the balls to follow through. Previous reports of Iraqi troops running were never challenged by the Iraqi government; now they are. You can not underestimate the importance of this news in the tide of battle. This is an important psychological victory that must be exploited. I think that the battle of Iraqi wills is beginning to turn in our favor.
Just a few item’s of interest that the MSM won’t report on.
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