N7AAO
10-12-2004, 12:44 AM
About every two weeks, blogger Arthur Chrenkoff gathers the good news from Iraq and posts it at OpinionJournal.com (http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110005739). Here's some excerpts from the latest installment:
Quote[/b] ]Society. Foreign pundits and politicians might be pessimistic, but the Iraqis are keen to make their election happen:
Plans for holding national elections are going ahead as usual and no part of the country will be excluded, the Electoral Commission said. Fareed Ayar, the commission's spokesman said, the January balloting will take place across the country. "We have no plans to exclude a specific area. Elections will take place every where in Iraq," he said. . . .
Ayar urged Iraqis not to pay attention to statements from Iraq or abroad about the balloting process and whether the elections will be comprehensive. He said the commission is independent even of the interim government of Ayad Allawi and its rulings will be binding to all parties.
He urged officials with interest in Iraqi affairs, whether inside or outside the country "to be careful when giving statements about the elections. Interpretations which are not based on facts will be harmful to the electoral process," he said.
He denied reports that the commission was lagging behind regarding matters like lists of legible [sic] voters, voting centers and ballot boxes. He said the commission had already prepared ballot lists "which have been drawn in accordance to international standards and with the assistance of UN experts." He said in order to have free and fair elections the electoral lists are kept with the commission and will not be made available even to government officials.
...
Whatever final form the Iraqi elections will take, Europe has announced it will support the process: "The European Union will support preparations for elections in Iraq even if violence keeps the vote from taking place throughout that country, a spokeswoman said today. Emma Udwin told reporters the EU was spending $36 million in election preparations. The money is being used for everything from training electoral officers to providing voter information for the elections scheduled for January 2005. 'We will support (elections) with money and we will support it with expertise,' Udwin said. 'There is a strong will to see elections take place.' " [AAO note: I thought the Europeans were so mad at us that they wouldn't do anything with Iraq!]
The U.S. State Department has launched a $10 million project to help more Iraqi women become involved in politics: "Several academic and non-governmental organizations will execute projects designed to train potential women candidates about competing in the elections and to encourage women to exercise their right to vote. The grants will also support the establishment of women's networking and counseling centers."
...
In a positive development for the rule of law, the Iraqi Cabinet has recently adopted a series of recommendations, including the establishment of a Constitutional Court to scrutinize domestic legislation in light of the country's highest law.
...
In education news, old school textbooks from the Saddam era will no longer be used throughout Iraqi education system. The Ministry of Education is currently printing 80 million copies of 600 new titles to be used in schools. The World Health Organization, meanwhile, has allocated $41 million for school nutrition and early childhood care programs that will cover 1.7 million primary-school students.
The new academic year has finally started in Iraq, after delays prompted by security concerns. According to the Education Minister Sami al-Mudhaffar, some 80% of Iraq's several million students turned up for the first day of class. One report notes:
Most students said they were excited to finally get back to school, just so they could be with their friends. And, this year, students will find a broader curriculum of courses, while teachers will have new textbooks to hand out, new lesson plans and new teacher manuals. During the summer, teachers took refresher courses in how to teach and how to behave toward children. According to Ministry of Education officials, it is all part of an effort to reverse the damage caused by the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, who was said to be more interested in the loyalty of teachers than in their ability to teach.
In higher-education news, cooperation between Iraqi and overseas universities continues to expand. One example:
Academics from Iraq's most respected higher education institution, Baghdad University, will study at the University of Technology, Sydney as part of a new relationship between the universities. Three senior Iraqi academics arrived in Sydney last week to sign a memorandum of understanding which will see UTS and the University of Baghdad collaborate on research projects and set up student and research exchange programs.
The idea for the link came from Ban Al-Ani, an Iraqi-born academic at UTS. Formerly a student at UB, Dr Al-Ani, now an IT lecturer at UTS, wanted to offer some assistance to the Iraqi university after it was partly destroyed in the war. "I was looking for something to do to help Iraq," Dr Al-Ani said. "Because I am an academic, the only way I thought I could really help was through academe."
But wait, there's more!
Quote[/b] ]Economy. The Iraqi Central Bank is planning to free up Iraqi dinar to enable overseas transfer and international trade in the currency. Banking professionals, meanwhile, continue to benefit from an training program to bring them up to speed on the latest and the best industry practices:
The Private Enterprise Partnership for the Middle East (PEP-ME), a technical assistance program created, funded and managed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), launched a five-month bank training program recently in Amman, Jordan, for managers of largely private Iraqi banks. Approximately 200 participants are expected to attend the training program, which will run in a series of five workshops. . . .
IFC, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, has identified bank training as a key priority for private sector development in Iraq: the financial sector's access to state-of-the-art practices has been highly constrained by years of rigidly statist economic management, successive wars and international economic sanctions.
Enthusiasm continues at the reopened stock exchange:
If volume of trade at the Baghdad Stock Exchange is a measure, then many Iraqis will still have confidence in a bright future. Ignoring car bomb attacks and roadside bombs, traders flock to Baghdad Stock Exchange twice a week for trade which this week saw a new pharmaceutical company sprout up. In the four-hour trading session more than 400 million shares were traded in the bourse which had remained closed for almost a year after the fall of Baghdad to US troops. Baghdad traders say volume is almost equal to pre-war levels when more than 100 companies were listed.
The employees of the stock exchange are also receiving some valuable lessons from the more experienced hands:
Twenty-three Iraqi Stock Exchange officials are taking part in a four-day Stock Market Simulation programme at the Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance (BIBF), Juffair. The event is being held in co-operation with the Bahrain Monetary Agency and the Bahrain Stock Exchange. It aims to create a broader understanding of the financial services industry by teaching various technical aspects of trading, orders and procedures of the markets. It also aims to create an understanding of portfolio strategy, asset allocation, stock selection process and portfolio performance evaluation. This is the third group from Iraq to attend one of the BIBF's programmes. The earlier groups were from the Central Bank of Iraq and the Trade Bank of Iraq.
...
In manufacturing, faced with the construction boom and the resulting shortages of building materials, the authorities are encouraging setting up of private cement factories. The Ministry of Industry and Minerals has already conducted feasibility studies to find the best sites for future factories, taking into account such factors such as electricity supply and transportation facilities. The authorities are also considering a series of measures to encourage the growth of the private sector generally, such as low-interest start-up loans and tax breaks.
...
In oil news, "Iraq is drawing up plans to involve the private sector and foreign oil majors in its state-run oil industry in order to generate funds for rehabilitation and expansion in the sector estimated at 50 billion dollars over 10 years, an Iraqi oil expert said":
The government alone cannot come up with enough money to restore the oil industry, "the power house of the Iraqi economy," which has been left run down by successive wars and years of UN economic sanctions, Sabah Jumah, a former oil ministry director-general, told a conference on the Iraqi oil sector here.
While a revived state-owned Iraq National Oil Co. would maintain the ownership of existing assets, it is foreseen that the private sector would play a major role in "new activity, exploration, development of undeveloped fields, major refinery refurbishment, new refinery construction and petrochemicals. . . . Joint ventures between International Oil Companies (IOCs) and Iraqi private sector companies will be encouraged."
Iraqi authorities are also currently conducting talks with an Irish company, Petrel, to refurbish and develop oil installations around Kirkuk and Tikrit.
...
As the final step in renovation of the Basra Airport, "new pipes buried deep in the walls and floors of the revamped Iraqi airport will soon feed the building with enough clean water for the nearly 4,000 Iraqi labourers that will staff the airport and thousands of travellers." With that work completed, the airport is preparing to open for business: "Airport is to be opened for international navigation and planes for transporting commodities in limited numbers by the end January 2005. . . . The flights of the passengers will start by the end March 2005 . . . [and] the airport will make flights available round the day and in all meteorological circumstances by end July 2005."
Iraqi Airways, its recent redebut, is looking to expand. Its previous incarnation operated in a vastly different commercial climate, where government-owned airlines could rely on endless subsidies to stay in the air. Now, the challenges for the revived airline are even greater: "We are looking at this as a business. . . . We don't want to subsidize anything. We would like to operate just like any normal private operator. We would like to make a profit," says Atta Nabeil, Iraq's interim deputy minister of transportation.
Iraqi railways are also undergoing modernization, with the installation of a new wireless communication system linking trains, stations and rail offices. Most of the equipments involved in the project was provided by a Turkish company, MEFAX.
The economic revival is slowly trickling down through Iraqi society. As Father Nizar, a Catholic priest working in Iraq, reports, "not all is bombs and violence":
The work of rebuilding homes, schools, and roads continues but there is not much other work around except state jobs where there has been some improvement. Under Saddam, state workers were paid 3,000 dinars, or 2 US dollars, which was enough to buy 2 kilos of meat. Today state salaries range from 250,000 to 500,000 dinars, which suffices to keep a family. . . . These higher salaries have boosted the local economy because many state workers can afford to have work done on their homes and buy home appliances something they had not done for at least 15 years.
Children and students are getting ready to start a new school year despite fears of terrorist attacks on schools. In my town this is a time of weddings and we have as many as six every day. This week we celebrated 25. This year we have 200 new families.
Food supplies are not a problem: the markets sell everything, even fruit rarely seen before such as bananas. Food prices are acceptable and accessible to all. . . .
Eighteen months after the fall of the regime, people now realize that a change was necessary. I have spoken with many people of all ages and not one of them said they would like to return to the past.
Get that? "I have spoken with many people of all ages and not one of them said they would like to return to the past."
Quote[/b] ]Reconstruction. Iraq has recently settled a $81 million debt owed the International Monetary Fund, thus opening the way for the fund's assistance. The fund has now approved a $436 million emergency loan to Iraq, the first ever in the IMF's history, hoping that "its backing would generate additional international economic support, including debt relief." Switzerland has released $9 million belonging to the former regime and previously held in Swiss bank accounts. The money will be used for reconstruction purposes.
The reconstruction effort is speeding up with Iraqis themselves providing direction and resources:
The cabinet ministers have allocated two billions dollars or equivalent to 300 billions Iraqi dinars for the reconstruction projects in four Iraqi cities. Dr. Abdul Ukhuwwa al-Timimi the economic committee advisor at the cabinet indicated to the four cities namely Tikrit, Kirkuk, Diyala and Suleimaniya, saying that the priority was given to Diyala. About $720 millions were allocated for the security and economic projects and the remaining sum was distributed on three other cities. Al-Timimi clarified that these prepared projects include repairing water, sewerage and electricity systems.
...
In Najaf, in particular, major progress has been made, with a $150 million project to reconstruct the Najaf Training Hospital recently completed, and four additional health centers being constructed over the next six months at the cost of $389 million. Meanwhile, the damage that the Imam Ali shrine sustained in recent fighting has been completely repaired.
Najaf also provides a good example of the new Accelerated Iraq Reconstruction Program in action. AIRP projects, managed by the Projects and Contracting Office, are typically smaller community-level initiatives which tend to be finalized faster. There are 18 such projects currently underway in Najaf, totaling $5.7 million. They include "governate buildings; five pedestrian bridges; rehabilitation and relocation for local garages and markets; four new public health centers; infrastructure upgrades for the electrical grid; and various sewer, water and drain projects." The latest one involves the provision of three garbage trucks worth $434,000 to be used to remove refuse from the vicinity of the Imam Ali Shrine. More on Najaf reconstruction here.
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Iraq's interim President Ghazi Yawer has "launched a plan to rebuild Basra, the country's second largest city. Basra, home to nearly 1.5 million people, is among the most impoverished in Iraq as it bore the brunt of the three major wars in the past three decades. Yawer said he would set up a 'South Reconstruction Commission' that will shoulder the reconstruction of the southern city." Reconstruction also continues in many small ways in more remote parts of Iraq, for example construction of six bridges, six roads and 2,200 residences in Al-Muthanna.
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As part of developing human infrastructure, 4,000 Iraqi Civil Defense employees are heading to Bahrain for firefighting training. And in the heart of the Sunni Triangle, "more than $80,000 of firefighter personal protective equipment was delivered on Monday to Iraq's Tikrit Fire Department. Task Force 1-18 provided the fire department with the fire turn-out gear and safety equipment after Capt. Aaron Coombs, commander of C/1-18 recognized that the Tikrit Fire Department lacked the personal equipment to safely and efficiently perform firefighting duties. Task Force Vanguard turned to the Commanders Emergency Relief Program for help."
Sounds like soon they'll be ready for their own version of ARES/RACES!
Quote[/b] ]Coalition troops. Maj. Lance Varney of the First Cavalry Division reports on progress in Baghdad: "I think we're already seeing a turning point in most of the communities, despite what may be prevalent in the news. . . . The markets are full of people shopping, driving. The open-air markets are completely full, the streets are packed with people driving up and down selling all kinds of stuff. Kids are back at school. Soccer fields are being used that used to be trash heaps."
Maj. Varney is a member of the Governorate Support Team, working with top advisers to Baghdad's Mayor Alaa Mahmood al-Tamimi on coordination of infrastructure projects. He's got plenty of good news to report, from restoration of services, to training fire and emergency services and breathing new life into some of Baghdad's old landmarks.
...
Other Coalition troops are also contributing to the reconstruction effort:
Over 1,400 Iraqi children will benefit as two primary schools located near Al Hillah in the Babil Province have been rebuilt and renovated. Both projects were managed by the Polish Civil Military Cooperation from Camp Babylon. Upgrades at the Aden School in the village of Oufy cost more than $72,000 and include plastering the walls, repairing the stairs, building additional facilities and providing school items. [AAO Note: Even if Senator Kerry doesn't remember the Polish troops in Iraq, I'll bet the Iraqis don't soon forget them!]
The Ar Rusafi School in the village of Abu Gharaq is being completely rebuilt. There has been no school reconstruction since 1978, and it was almost completely destroyed from years of neglect. The total cost of the project is estimated at $53,500. Both of these works were conducted by local contractors from Al Hillah that employed more than 130 Iraqis.
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Japanese Self-Defense Forces, in conjunction with the official Japanese aid agency, will be repairing a sports stadium in Samawah, where the Japanese troops are based. "The 40 million yen [$350,000] project is expected to generate a large number of jobs for local people in the southern Iraqi city during the about four months it lasts." [AAO Note: Yes, the Japanese are helping as well... this truly is a multi-national and multi-cultural effort.]
Poles and Japanese! Oh my! http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
Quote[/b] ]Diplomacy and security. In a helpful sign that sometime in the future their relations might become normal, the first official contact between Iraq and Israel took place at the United Nations, when Iraqi Prime Minister Allawi shook hands and chatted with Israeli ambassador Silvan Shalom. The alphabetic seating arrangement at the UN facilitated the contact. "According to [the ambassador's] spokesman, Shalom and Allawi spoke for a few minutes and exchanged wishes for a day when it would be possible to establish diplomatic ties."
Back home, following the transfer of sovereignty in late June, Iraq has also now regained the control over its territorial waters, "with the U.S.-led coalition handing over responsibility for safeguarding adjacent seas to the country's navy. The handover was celebrated with the raising of the Iraqi flag at a naval base in the southern Persian Gulf port of Umm Qasar. U.S., British and Iraqi officers attended the ceremony."
To provide coastal security, Iraq's Port Authority has formed its very own protection formation, the Rapid Intervention Force: "The force is based at Umm Qasr, the country's main port which currently handles about 50 percent of external trade." In addition, the Iraqi Coastal Defence Force (ICDF), has recently been constituted. The ICDF is 412 strong and has been trained by British, Australian, U.S. and Dutch troops. As the Commander of the Australian Defence Force contingent in the Middle East, Brig. Peter Hutchinson said: "The efforts of the Australian training team have been outstanding and the fact that the new ICDF can now take full responsibility for protecting its territorial waterways is due in no small part to the work of this training team. . . . This small group of sailors was responsible for the development of an effective training program which included seamanship, engineering drills, damage control, fire-fighting and search and rescue." The ICDF commenced its operations on Oct. 1, patrolling Khor Abdallah and Umm Qasr port.
Iraq's land borders present a significantly greater security challenge. To meet the security needs, the first class of cadets from the Department of Border Enforcement graduated from its training course in late September:
Instructors from Jordan and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security trained 451 Iraqi students in a variety of classes: Border Police Classes 1 and 2--a basic training course for border guards; the Border Police Supervisors Class; the Customs Police Class; the Customs Supervisors Class; Immigration Classes 1 and 2; and General Instructors Classes 1 and 2.
The students who went through the four-week course varied in age and ethnicity, representing many tribes and regions across Iraq. The class was composed of near-equal percentages of Shiia and Sunni Arabs, and smaller percentages of Kurds. Also, there was one Christian student and a few from other ethno-religious backgrounds. About 50 percent of the cadets had military experience, 46 percent had prior academy experience, and 74 percent had prior police experience. . . .
[U.S. Army Lt. Gen. David H. Petraeus, the head of Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq] said much effort has gone into determining where to set up the DBE posts. "In partnership with your leadership, we have gone from province to province, determining where each of the over 300 border forts needs to be located. Some 41 are complete, and over 75 are under construction," he said. The goal is to have more than 180 border forts completed by the end of the year, and Petraeus said the rebuilding of infrastructure would continue, but that was not the only thing that needs to be done for the DBE to succeed.
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Meanwhile, a new element was recently added to the Iraqi security forces mix, when the training commencing at the An Numaniyah, south of Baghdad, of 1,500 recruits for the first three battalions of the Iraqi Police Service's Public Order Battalions, one of two branches in the new Civil Intervention Force. In time, nine battalions of 400 men each are envisaged. Their task will be to deal with large-scale public disturbances as well as insurgency.
Assistance for the Iraqi security forces continues to arrive in both small and big ways. The Irbil Police Department will be able to more effectively deploy its officers after receiving $90,000 worth of motorcycles from the multinational forces. Germany, meanwhile, will supply Iraq's army with 20 armored Fuchs vehicles and 100 light military trucks. And NATO has agreed to set up a permanent military academy in Iraq. [AAO Note: Germany is already helping... who needs Senator Summit to talk them into it?]
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The new Iraqi armed forces are increasingly proving their worth on the battlefield: "Bloodied by weeks of suicide bombings and assassinations, Iraqi security forces emerged Sunday to patrol Samarra after a morale-boosting victory in this Sunni Triangle city, and U.S. commanders praised their performance. American and Iraqi commanders have declared the operation in Samarra, 100 kilometres [60 miles] northwest of Baghdad, a successful first step in a major push to wrest key areas of Iraq from insurgents before January elections." More in this report:
Iraqi special forces commander Fadel Jameel's men charged toward Samarra's sacred golden-domed mosque dodging bullets in an operation that he said showcased the Iraqi military's readiness to take on rebel enclaves in the countdown to January elections...
His unit--the 36th special forces commando battalion--had just poured out of pick-up trucks Friday into enemy fire and reclaimed the Imam al-Hadi mausoleum, revered by Shiite Muslims around the world. There they captured more than 30 men as part of the largest joint US-Iraqi military offensive since the 2003 invasion. Saturday, Jameel's men recaptured the city's hospital which they said had been abandoned by Sunni Arab insurgents overnight.
Jameel and his men swaggered. It was a sharp contrast from the last major offensive on a rebel-held city, Fallujah last April, when the 36th battalion, demoralised and angry, pulled out after a week. "People have distinguished between right and wrong. They are committed. . . . Before people were confused," said Jameel.
Among the successes of the Samarra campaign, the Iraqi forces have captured 48 foreign fighters, included 18 Egyptians, 18 Sudanese and one Tunisian. They were among more than hundred insurgents taken prisoner during the operation.
There are also signs of increasing willingness on the part of local leaders to try to solve security problems in cooperation with the central authorities. The Iraq the Model blog translates the reports from Iraq's Arabic-language press:
Four tribes' chiefs promised to declare a threat to the militants in Fallujah that they should turn themselves to the authorities peacefully or the tribes will fight them. At the same time many citizens in Fallujah stated that they are willing to participate in the upcoming elections. . . .
Rafidain.net reported governmental sources saying that four tribes in Baghdad, Ramadi, Tikrit have promised to destroy the terrorism foci in the city of Fallujah after knowing that the American troops are preparing a major assault in the next couple of weeks.
Same sources confirmed that a meeting was held between the chiefs of Al Hamamda tribe in Ramadi, Al Juboor in Tikrit, Al Gareer in Yousufyia and a branch from Al Janabyeen in Latifyiah to discuss situations in Fallujah, the flow of terrorists from outside Iraq into the city and the role of clerics in provoking violence and justifying murder and kidnap in the name of Islam. The chiefs showed determination to end this situation either peacefully or by force.
Same sources pointed out that thousands of armed men from these tribes are ready to sweep the city of Fallujah, and that they have received letters from many respectable figures in Fallujah including some clerics that plead to the Iraqi tribes to save the citizens of Fallujah from the deteriorating condition under the rule of armed gangs and terrorists.
Similar local cooperation was also reported in the run up to the action in Samarra:
Tribal leaders in the city of Samarra met with government officials prior to this week's U.S. and Iraqi assault on insurgents there, agreeing to help drive the terrorists out, according to the new government's top security official. . . .
[Iraqi minister of state for national security Qasim] Dawoud said the new Iraqi government was intent on meeting with tribal and social figures in war-torn towns such as Samarra, Najaf, Fallujah and Basra to garner local support for ousting insurgents. In the case of Samarra, Dawoud said the government met with about 110 local leaders, who then asked for military intervention and pledged cooperation on Tuesday to "purify the land of Samarra of these terrorists."
Among other recent successes of Iraqi security forces: the arrest of 50 suspected terrorists of various foreign nationalities in a sweep of a Baghdad locality; foiling of three roadside bomb attacks in Mosul and Tal Afar; the capture of one of Abu Musab al Zarqawi's key lieutenants in Fallujah; and the foiling by members of the 203rd battalion of the Iraqi National Guard of a kidnap attempt of six Turks. There's also a victory for gender equity: "Around 88 Iraqi women have joined the Iraqi army basic training course in Jordan. The women will receive training courses in Amman under the supervision of the Jordanian army in coordination with the US army."
And in another swords-into-plowshares moment, the authorities are planning to convert many of the presently disused army camps in Baghdad and around the country into housing estates.
Army camps into estates... what an idea.
http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/unclesam.gif
Quote[/b] ]Society. Foreign pundits and politicians might be pessimistic, but the Iraqis are keen to make their election happen:
Plans for holding national elections are going ahead as usual and no part of the country will be excluded, the Electoral Commission said. Fareed Ayar, the commission's spokesman said, the January balloting will take place across the country. "We have no plans to exclude a specific area. Elections will take place every where in Iraq," he said. . . .
Ayar urged Iraqis not to pay attention to statements from Iraq or abroad about the balloting process and whether the elections will be comprehensive. He said the commission is independent even of the interim government of Ayad Allawi and its rulings will be binding to all parties.
He urged officials with interest in Iraqi affairs, whether inside or outside the country "to be careful when giving statements about the elections. Interpretations which are not based on facts will be harmful to the electoral process," he said.
He denied reports that the commission was lagging behind regarding matters like lists of legible [sic] voters, voting centers and ballot boxes. He said the commission had already prepared ballot lists "which have been drawn in accordance to international standards and with the assistance of UN experts." He said in order to have free and fair elections the electoral lists are kept with the commission and will not be made available even to government officials.
...
Whatever final form the Iraqi elections will take, Europe has announced it will support the process: "The European Union will support preparations for elections in Iraq even if violence keeps the vote from taking place throughout that country, a spokeswoman said today. Emma Udwin told reporters the EU was spending $36 million in election preparations. The money is being used for everything from training electoral officers to providing voter information for the elections scheduled for January 2005. 'We will support (elections) with money and we will support it with expertise,' Udwin said. 'There is a strong will to see elections take place.' " [AAO note: I thought the Europeans were so mad at us that they wouldn't do anything with Iraq!]
The U.S. State Department has launched a $10 million project to help more Iraqi women become involved in politics: "Several academic and non-governmental organizations will execute projects designed to train potential women candidates about competing in the elections and to encourage women to exercise their right to vote. The grants will also support the establishment of women's networking and counseling centers."
...
In a positive development for the rule of law, the Iraqi Cabinet has recently adopted a series of recommendations, including the establishment of a Constitutional Court to scrutinize domestic legislation in light of the country's highest law.
...
In education news, old school textbooks from the Saddam era will no longer be used throughout Iraqi education system. The Ministry of Education is currently printing 80 million copies of 600 new titles to be used in schools. The World Health Organization, meanwhile, has allocated $41 million for school nutrition and early childhood care programs that will cover 1.7 million primary-school students.
The new academic year has finally started in Iraq, after delays prompted by security concerns. According to the Education Minister Sami al-Mudhaffar, some 80% of Iraq's several million students turned up for the first day of class. One report notes:
Most students said they were excited to finally get back to school, just so they could be with their friends. And, this year, students will find a broader curriculum of courses, while teachers will have new textbooks to hand out, new lesson plans and new teacher manuals. During the summer, teachers took refresher courses in how to teach and how to behave toward children. According to Ministry of Education officials, it is all part of an effort to reverse the damage caused by the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, who was said to be more interested in the loyalty of teachers than in their ability to teach.
In higher-education news, cooperation between Iraqi and overseas universities continues to expand. One example:
Academics from Iraq's most respected higher education institution, Baghdad University, will study at the University of Technology, Sydney as part of a new relationship between the universities. Three senior Iraqi academics arrived in Sydney last week to sign a memorandum of understanding which will see UTS and the University of Baghdad collaborate on research projects and set up student and research exchange programs.
The idea for the link came from Ban Al-Ani, an Iraqi-born academic at UTS. Formerly a student at UB, Dr Al-Ani, now an IT lecturer at UTS, wanted to offer some assistance to the Iraqi university after it was partly destroyed in the war. "I was looking for something to do to help Iraq," Dr Al-Ani said. "Because I am an academic, the only way I thought I could really help was through academe."
But wait, there's more!
Quote[/b] ]Economy. The Iraqi Central Bank is planning to free up Iraqi dinar to enable overseas transfer and international trade in the currency. Banking professionals, meanwhile, continue to benefit from an training program to bring them up to speed on the latest and the best industry practices:
The Private Enterprise Partnership for the Middle East (PEP-ME), a technical assistance program created, funded and managed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), launched a five-month bank training program recently in Amman, Jordan, for managers of largely private Iraqi banks. Approximately 200 participants are expected to attend the training program, which will run in a series of five workshops. . . .
IFC, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, has identified bank training as a key priority for private sector development in Iraq: the financial sector's access to state-of-the-art practices has been highly constrained by years of rigidly statist economic management, successive wars and international economic sanctions.
Enthusiasm continues at the reopened stock exchange:
If volume of trade at the Baghdad Stock Exchange is a measure, then many Iraqis will still have confidence in a bright future. Ignoring car bomb attacks and roadside bombs, traders flock to Baghdad Stock Exchange twice a week for trade which this week saw a new pharmaceutical company sprout up. In the four-hour trading session more than 400 million shares were traded in the bourse which had remained closed for almost a year after the fall of Baghdad to US troops. Baghdad traders say volume is almost equal to pre-war levels when more than 100 companies were listed.
The employees of the stock exchange are also receiving some valuable lessons from the more experienced hands:
Twenty-three Iraqi Stock Exchange officials are taking part in a four-day Stock Market Simulation programme at the Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance (BIBF), Juffair. The event is being held in co-operation with the Bahrain Monetary Agency and the Bahrain Stock Exchange. It aims to create a broader understanding of the financial services industry by teaching various technical aspects of trading, orders and procedures of the markets. It also aims to create an understanding of portfolio strategy, asset allocation, stock selection process and portfolio performance evaluation. This is the third group from Iraq to attend one of the BIBF's programmes. The earlier groups were from the Central Bank of Iraq and the Trade Bank of Iraq.
...
In manufacturing, faced with the construction boom and the resulting shortages of building materials, the authorities are encouraging setting up of private cement factories. The Ministry of Industry and Minerals has already conducted feasibility studies to find the best sites for future factories, taking into account such factors such as electricity supply and transportation facilities. The authorities are also considering a series of measures to encourage the growth of the private sector generally, such as low-interest start-up loans and tax breaks.
...
In oil news, "Iraq is drawing up plans to involve the private sector and foreign oil majors in its state-run oil industry in order to generate funds for rehabilitation and expansion in the sector estimated at 50 billion dollars over 10 years, an Iraqi oil expert said":
The government alone cannot come up with enough money to restore the oil industry, "the power house of the Iraqi economy," which has been left run down by successive wars and years of UN economic sanctions, Sabah Jumah, a former oil ministry director-general, told a conference on the Iraqi oil sector here.
While a revived state-owned Iraq National Oil Co. would maintain the ownership of existing assets, it is foreseen that the private sector would play a major role in "new activity, exploration, development of undeveloped fields, major refinery refurbishment, new refinery construction and petrochemicals. . . . Joint ventures between International Oil Companies (IOCs) and Iraqi private sector companies will be encouraged."
Iraqi authorities are also currently conducting talks with an Irish company, Petrel, to refurbish and develop oil installations around Kirkuk and Tikrit.
...
As the final step in renovation of the Basra Airport, "new pipes buried deep in the walls and floors of the revamped Iraqi airport will soon feed the building with enough clean water for the nearly 4,000 Iraqi labourers that will staff the airport and thousands of travellers." With that work completed, the airport is preparing to open for business: "Airport is to be opened for international navigation and planes for transporting commodities in limited numbers by the end January 2005. . . . The flights of the passengers will start by the end March 2005 . . . [and] the airport will make flights available round the day and in all meteorological circumstances by end July 2005."
Iraqi Airways, its recent redebut, is looking to expand. Its previous incarnation operated in a vastly different commercial climate, where government-owned airlines could rely on endless subsidies to stay in the air. Now, the challenges for the revived airline are even greater: "We are looking at this as a business. . . . We don't want to subsidize anything. We would like to operate just like any normal private operator. We would like to make a profit," says Atta Nabeil, Iraq's interim deputy minister of transportation.
Iraqi railways are also undergoing modernization, with the installation of a new wireless communication system linking trains, stations and rail offices. Most of the equipments involved in the project was provided by a Turkish company, MEFAX.
The economic revival is slowly trickling down through Iraqi society. As Father Nizar, a Catholic priest working in Iraq, reports, "not all is bombs and violence":
The work of rebuilding homes, schools, and roads continues but there is not much other work around except state jobs where there has been some improvement. Under Saddam, state workers were paid 3,000 dinars, or 2 US dollars, which was enough to buy 2 kilos of meat. Today state salaries range from 250,000 to 500,000 dinars, which suffices to keep a family. . . . These higher salaries have boosted the local economy because many state workers can afford to have work done on their homes and buy home appliances something they had not done for at least 15 years.
Children and students are getting ready to start a new school year despite fears of terrorist attacks on schools. In my town this is a time of weddings and we have as many as six every day. This week we celebrated 25. This year we have 200 new families.
Food supplies are not a problem: the markets sell everything, even fruit rarely seen before such as bananas. Food prices are acceptable and accessible to all. . . .
Eighteen months after the fall of the regime, people now realize that a change was necessary. I have spoken with many people of all ages and not one of them said they would like to return to the past.
Get that? "I have spoken with many people of all ages and not one of them said they would like to return to the past."
Quote[/b] ]Reconstruction. Iraq has recently settled a $81 million debt owed the International Monetary Fund, thus opening the way for the fund's assistance. The fund has now approved a $436 million emergency loan to Iraq, the first ever in the IMF's history, hoping that "its backing would generate additional international economic support, including debt relief." Switzerland has released $9 million belonging to the former regime and previously held in Swiss bank accounts. The money will be used for reconstruction purposes.
The reconstruction effort is speeding up with Iraqis themselves providing direction and resources:
The cabinet ministers have allocated two billions dollars or equivalent to 300 billions Iraqi dinars for the reconstruction projects in four Iraqi cities. Dr. Abdul Ukhuwwa al-Timimi the economic committee advisor at the cabinet indicated to the four cities namely Tikrit, Kirkuk, Diyala and Suleimaniya, saying that the priority was given to Diyala. About $720 millions were allocated for the security and economic projects and the remaining sum was distributed on three other cities. Al-Timimi clarified that these prepared projects include repairing water, sewerage and electricity systems.
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In Najaf, in particular, major progress has been made, with a $150 million project to reconstruct the Najaf Training Hospital recently completed, and four additional health centers being constructed over the next six months at the cost of $389 million. Meanwhile, the damage that the Imam Ali shrine sustained in recent fighting has been completely repaired.
Najaf also provides a good example of the new Accelerated Iraq Reconstruction Program in action. AIRP projects, managed by the Projects and Contracting Office, are typically smaller community-level initiatives which tend to be finalized faster. There are 18 such projects currently underway in Najaf, totaling $5.7 million. They include "governate buildings; five pedestrian bridges; rehabilitation and relocation for local garages and markets; four new public health centers; infrastructure upgrades for the electrical grid; and various sewer, water and drain projects." The latest one involves the provision of three garbage trucks worth $434,000 to be used to remove refuse from the vicinity of the Imam Ali Shrine. More on Najaf reconstruction here.
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Iraq's interim President Ghazi Yawer has "launched a plan to rebuild Basra, the country's second largest city. Basra, home to nearly 1.5 million people, is among the most impoverished in Iraq as it bore the brunt of the three major wars in the past three decades. Yawer said he would set up a 'South Reconstruction Commission' that will shoulder the reconstruction of the southern city." Reconstruction also continues in many small ways in more remote parts of Iraq, for example construction of six bridges, six roads and 2,200 residences in Al-Muthanna.
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As part of developing human infrastructure, 4,000 Iraqi Civil Defense employees are heading to Bahrain for firefighting training. And in the heart of the Sunni Triangle, "more than $80,000 of firefighter personal protective equipment was delivered on Monday to Iraq's Tikrit Fire Department. Task Force 1-18 provided the fire department with the fire turn-out gear and safety equipment after Capt. Aaron Coombs, commander of C/1-18 recognized that the Tikrit Fire Department lacked the personal equipment to safely and efficiently perform firefighting duties. Task Force Vanguard turned to the Commanders Emergency Relief Program for help."
Sounds like soon they'll be ready for their own version of ARES/RACES!
Quote[/b] ]Coalition troops. Maj. Lance Varney of the First Cavalry Division reports on progress in Baghdad: "I think we're already seeing a turning point in most of the communities, despite what may be prevalent in the news. . . . The markets are full of people shopping, driving. The open-air markets are completely full, the streets are packed with people driving up and down selling all kinds of stuff. Kids are back at school. Soccer fields are being used that used to be trash heaps."
Maj. Varney is a member of the Governorate Support Team, working with top advisers to Baghdad's Mayor Alaa Mahmood al-Tamimi on coordination of infrastructure projects. He's got plenty of good news to report, from restoration of services, to training fire and emergency services and breathing new life into some of Baghdad's old landmarks.
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Other Coalition troops are also contributing to the reconstruction effort:
Over 1,400 Iraqi children will benefit as two primary schools located near Al Hillah in the Babil Province have been rebuilt and renovated. Both projects were managed by the Polish Civil Military Cooperation from Camp Babylon. Upgrades at the Aden School in the village of Oufy cost more than $72,000 and include plastering the walls, repairing the stairs, building additional facilities and providing school items. [AAO Note: Even if Senator Kerry doesn't remember the Polish troops in Iraq, I'll bet the Iraqis don't soon forget them!]
The Ar Rusafi School in the village of Abu Gharaq is being completely rebuilt. There has been no school reconstruction since 1978, and it was almost completely destroyed from years of neglect. The total cost of the project is estimated at $53,500. Both of these works were conducted by local contractors from Al Hillah that employed more than 130 Iraqis.
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Japanese Self-Defense Forces, in conjunction with the official Japanese aid agency, will be repairing a sports stadium in Samawah, where the Japanese troops are based. "The 40 million yen [$350,000] project is expected to generate a large number of jobs for local people in the southern Iraqi city during the about four months it lasts." [AAO Note: Yes, the Japanese are helping as well... this truly is a multi-national and multi-cultural effort.]
Poles and Japanese! Oh my! http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
Quote[/b] ]Diplomacy and security. In a helpful sign that sometime in the future their relations might become normal, the first official contact between Iraq and Israel took place at the United Nations, when Iraqi Prime Minister Allawi shook hands and chatted with Israeli ambassador Silvan Shalom. The alphabetic seating arrangement at the UN facilitated the contact. "According to [the ambassador's] spokesman, Shalom and Allawi spoke for a few minutes and exchanged wishes for a day when it would be possible to establish diplomatic ties."
Back home, following the transfer of sovereignty in late June, Iraq has also now regained the control over its territorial waters, "with the U.S.-led coalition handing over responsibility for safeguarding adjacent seas to the country's navy. The handover was celebrated with the raising of the Iraqi flag at a naval base in the southern Persian Gulf port of Umm Qasar. U.S., British and Iraqi officers attended the ceremony."
To provide coastal security, Iraq's Port Authority has formed its very own protection formation, the Rapid Intervention Force: "The force is based at Umm Qasr, the country's main port which currently handles about 50 percent of external trade." In addition, the Iraqi Coastal Defence Force (ICDF), has recently been constituted. The ICDF is 412 strong and has been trained by British, Australian, U.S. and Dutch troops. As the Commander of the Australian Defence Force contingent in the Middle East, Brig. Peter Hutchinson said: "The efforts of the Australian training team have been outstanding and the fact that the new ICDF can now take full responsibility for protecting its territorial waterways is due in no small part to the work of this training team. . . . This small group of sailors was responsible for the development of an effective training program which included seamanship, engineering drills, damage control, fire-fighting and search and rescue." The ICDF commenced its operations on Oct. 1, patrolling Khor Abdallah and Umm Qasr port.
Iraq's land borders present a significantly greater security challenge. To meet the security needs, the first class of cadets from the Department of Border Enforcement graduated from its training course in late September:
Instructors from Jordan and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security trained 451 Iraqi students in a variety of classes: Border Police Classes 1 and 2--a basic training course for border guards; the Border Police Supervisors Class; the Customs Police Class; the Customs Supervisors Class; Immigration Classes 1 and 2; and General Instructors Classes 1 and 2.
The students who went through the four-week course varied in age and ethnicity, representing many tribes and regions across Iraq. The class was composed of near-equal percentages of Shiia and Sunni Arabs, and smaller percentages of Kurds. Also, there was one Christian student and a few from other ethno-religious backgrounds. About 50 percent of the cadets had military experience, 46 percent had prior academy experience, and 74 percent had prior police experience. . . .
[U.S. Army Lt. Gen. David H. Petraeus, the head of Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq] said much effort has gone into determining where to set up the DBE posts. "In partnership with your leadership, we have gone from province to province, determining where each of the over 300 border forts needs to be located. Some 41 are complete, and over 75 are under construction," he said. The goal is to have more than 180 border forts completed by the end of the year, and Petraeus said the rebuilding of infrastructure would continue, but that was not the only thing that needs to be done for the DBE to succeed.
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Meanwhile, a new element was recently added to the Iraqi security forces mix, when the training commencing at the An Numaniyah, south of Baghdad, of 1,500 recruits for the first three battalions of the Iraqi Police Service's Public Order Battalions, one of two branches in the new Civil Intervention Force. In time, nine battalions of 400 men each are envisaged. Their task will be to deal with large-scale public disturbances as well as insurgency.
Assistance for the Iraqi security forces continues to arrive in both small and big ways. The Irbil Police Department will be able to more effectively deploy its officers after receiving $90,000 worth of motorcycles from the multinational forces. Germany, meanwhile, will supply Iraq's army with 20 armored Fuchs vehicles and 100 light military trucks. And NATO has agreed to set up a permanent military academy in Iraq. [AAO Note: Germany is already helping... who needs Senator Summit to talk them into it?]
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The new Iraqi armed forces are increasingly proving their worth on the battlefield: "Bloodied by weeks of suicide bombings and assassinations, Iraqi security forces emerged Sunday to patrol Samarra after a morale-boosting victory in this Sunni Triangle city, and U.S. commanders praised their performance. American and Iraqi commanders have declared the operation in Samarra, 100 kilometres [60 miles] northwest of Baghdad, a successful first step in a major push to wrest key areas of Iraq from insurgents before January elections." More in this report:
Iraqi special forces commander Fadel Jameel's men charged toward Samarra's sacred golden-domed mosque dodging bullets in an operation that he said showcased the Iraqi military's readiness to take on rebel enclaves in the countdown to January elections...
His unit--the 36th special forces commando battalion--had just poured out of pick-up trucks Friday into enemy fire and reclaimed the Imam al-Hadi mausoleum, revered by Shiite Muslims around the world. There they captured more than 30 men as part of the largest joint US-Iraqi military offensive since the 2003 invasion. Saturday, Jameel's men recaptured the city's hospital which they said had been abandoned by Sunni Arab insurgents overnight.
Jameel and his men swaggered. It was a sharp contrast from the last major offensive on a rebel-held city, Fallujah last April, when the 36th battalion, demoralised and angry, pulled out after a week. "People have distinguished between right and wrong. They are committed. . . . Before people were confused," said Jameel.
Among the successes of the Samarra campaign, the Iraqi forces have captured 48 foreign fighters, included 18 Egyptians, 18 Sudanese and one Tunisian. They were among more than hundred insurgents taken prisoner during the operation.
There are also signs of increasing willingness on the part of local leaders to try to solve security problems in cooperation with the central authorities. The Iraq the Model blog translates the reports from Iraq's Arabic-language press:
Four tribes' chiefs promised to declare a threat to the militants in Fallujah that they should turn themselves to the authorities peacefully or the tribes will fight them. At the same time many citizens in Fallujah stated that they are willing to participate in the upcoming elections. . . .
Rafidain.net reported governmental sources saying that four tribes in Baghdad, Ramadi, Tikrit have promised to destroy the terrorism foci in the city of Fallujah after knowing that the American troops are preparing a major assault in the next couple of weeks.
Same sources confirmed that a meeting was held between the chiefs of Al Hamamda tribe in Ramadi, Al Juboor in Tikrit, Al Gareer in Yousufyia and a branch from Al Janabyeen in Latifyiah to discuss situations in Fallujah, the flow of terrorists from outside Iraq into the city and the role of clerics in provoking violence and justifying murder and kidnap in the name of Islam. The chiefs showed determination to end this situation either peacefully or by force.
Same sources pointed out that thousands of armed men from these tribes are ready to sweep the city of Fallujah, and that they have received letters from many respectable figures in Fallujah including some clerics that plead to the Iraqi tribes to save the citizens of Fallujah from the deteriorating condition under the rule of armed gangs and terrorists.
Similar local cooperation was also reported in the run up to the action in Samarra:
Tribal leaders in the city of Samarra met with government officials prior to this week's U.S. and Iraqi assault on insurgents there, agreeing to help drive the terrorists out, according to the new government's top security official. . . .
[Iraqi minister of state for national security Qasim] Dawoud said the new Iraqi government was intent on meeting with tribal and social figures in war-torn towns such as Samarra, Najaf, Fallujah and Basra to garner local support for ousting insurgents. In the case of Samarra, Dawoud said the government met with about 110 local leaders, who then asked for military intervention and pledged cooperation on Tuesday to "purify the land of Samarra of these terrorists."
Among other recent successes of Iraqi security forces: the arrest of 50 suspected terrorists of various foreign nationalities in a sweep of a Baghdad locality; foiling of three roadside bomb attacks in Mosul and Tal Afar; the capture of one of Abu Musab al Zarqawi's key lieutenants in Fallujah; and the foiling by members of the 203rd battalion of the Iraqi National Guard of a kidnap attempt of six Turks. There's also a victory for gender equity: "Around 88 Iraqi women have joined the Iraqi army basic training course in Jordan. The women will receive training courses in Amman under the supervision of the Jordanian army in coordination with the US army."
And in another swords-into-plowshares moment, the authorities are planning to convert many of the presently disused army camps in Baghdad and around the country into housing estates.
Army camps into estates... what an idea.
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