I think it helpful for those interested in Iraq to consider from time to time that there are, in fact, more productive things happening on a daily basis there, besides the doom and gloom of the
Daily Suicide Bombing News Update, where the mantra of the media remains: "If it Bleeds, it Leads."
There is much more going on in Iraq besides Insurgency Terrorism; much that "Doesn't Bleed", and would make for less sensational - but more relevant - news to some.
Below are excerpts taken from the online publication,
Opinion Journal (Wall Street Journal). It is an ongoing series, which chronicles some of the lesser-publicized events in Iraq you may be unaware of. Note that there are many links within the text below, at the source website, for further reference on particular matters.
I apologize for the formatting, as it makes the below article somewhat awkward to read. I wanted to include most of the content of the article for those who don't like to chase links. The original link is much easier to navigate.
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AFTER THE WAR
The Dhia Muhsin Example
A roundup of the past two weeks' good news from Iraq.
BY ARTHUR CHRENKOFF
Monday, May 23, 2005 12:01 a.m. EDT
• SOCIETY
The selection of the new government finally reaches completion:
The Iraqi parliament has approved appointments for six cabinet vacancies, handing four more positions to the Sunni Arab minority.*.*.*.
Less than half of the National Assembly, 112 of the 155 legislators present, approved Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's six nominations on Sunday, including Shia Arab Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum as oil minister and Sunni military man Saadoun al-Duleimi as defence minister.
The other four designated ministers were Hashim Abdul-Rahman al-Shibli, a Sunni, as human rights minister; Mihsin Shlash, a Shia, as electricity minister; Osama al-Nujaifi, a Sunni, as industry minister; and Abed Mutlak al-Jiburi, a Sunni, as a deputy prime minister.
Reflecting an encouraging sentiment, Al-Shibili declined the nomination as Human Rights Minister, saying that "concentrating on sectarian identities leads to divisions in the society and state."
As it stands:
The new government, most of which was sworn in last week, includes 17 Shia ministers, eight Kurds, six Sunnis and a Christian. Three deputy premiers have also been named, one each for the Shia, Sunnis and Kurds. A fourth deputy premiership remains vacant; al-Jaafari has said he hopes to appoint a woman to the position.
Here's a list of all the positions. {LINK}
The main task ahead of the National Assembly is drafting Iraq's new constitution. The Assembly has already set up a 55-member committee to draft the document. In the meantime, Japan has volunteered to invite Iraqi experts to assist with them with the tasks ahead. And the U.S. Agency for International Development (PDF) is contributing:
--
USAIDs [sic] partner providing support to the [Transitional National Assembly] officially awarded 20 micro-grants to civil society organizations (CSOs) from South and South Central Iraq. The grants finance projects focused on promoting public awareness in the constitutional process.
Iraqi blogger Mohammed is noticing increasing number of announcements posted on the walls of Sunni mosques in Baghdad, encouraging the faithful to participate in the next election, scheduled for January 2005. Mohammed also reports this:
For the fourth week in a line, the "department of Sunni property" which is an official entity that takes care of Sunni mosques and Sunni heritage has been distributing inquiry forms to the people who attend the Friday prayers as such prayers are usually attended by more people than other week days.
The inquiry (or poll) includes four questions:
1-would you like to have a role in drafting the constitution?
2-would you like to participate in the next round of elections?
3-would you prefer to see a unified committee for the Sunni?
4-Are you with the call for joining the Iraqi army and police?
*You can submit any suggestions you have.
The results I could take a look at in Baghdad were as follows:
In "Ghaffar Al-Thunoob" mosque in A'adhamiyah, 273 people filled the forms and 96% of them answered the 4 questions with "yes."
In "Al-Yakeen" mosque in Al-Sha'ab quarter I wasn't able to get the exact number of the people who took the poll but the percentage of those who answered the 4 questions with "yes" was 92%.
In "Haj Ahmed Ra'oof" mosque in Al-Baladiyat quarter south east of Baghdad, 95% of those who took the poll answered all the questions with "yes."
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In a related development:
The Iraqi Islamic Party, headed by Muhsin Abdul Hameed, has said it regards all acts of violence aimed at Iraqis as crimes of the utmost gravity. The party, which boycotted the January elections, has denounced all kinds of violence, regardless of whether the targets are Sunni, Shia, police, or National Guardsmen. The party called for dialogue instead of violence.
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Meanwhile, in the former No.*1 hot spot:
The first democratically-elected city council of Fallujah held its inaugural meeting .*.*. at the Civil-Military Operations Center in Fallujah. The 20-member council met for approximately two hours, during which time they elected the chairman, vice chairman and secretary of the council. Imams, sheiks, engineers, lawyers, educators, administrators and businessmen are among those who make up the council.
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In another USAID effort:
[The] Election Violence Education Resolution (EVER) Project is making some inroads into the Sunni-dominated areas north and west of Baghdad. In late March, the project's office in Arbil held trainings for all new Civil Society Organization (CSO) partners, including four from Mosul, four from Tikrit and two from Kirkuk. The Salah ad Din representative of the Independent Election Commission of Iraq (IECI) also attended. In total, 17 people were trained. This represents tremendous progress; in January, Tikrit had no participating CSOs, Kirkuk had only one and Mosul had only two. During the training, all program officers from these locations were present and now feel very united in purpose and comfortable with this northern partnership.
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Postliberation Iraq offers unparalleled opportunities for Iraqi media and the arts:
After decades of government censorship and a two-year U.S. occupation, actors, filmmakers and television producers are embracing new artistic freedom to tell stories about Iraqis for an increasingly housebound audience.
A dozen new private TV channels are pumping out soap operas, sitcoms, reality shows and dramas. For the first time, Iraqi television is tackling issues of social injustice, government corruption and, on occasion, life under Saddam Hussein.
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Another thing unthinkable under Saddam--freedom on the airwaves:
When the host of a radio talk show asked which government department provides the best services in Iraq, an irate listener spoke with frankness unthinkable under Saddam Hussein.
"There are no best services. They are all lousy," she told Uday al-Itawi, host of the popular Good Morning Orange City programme, one of Iraq's few call-in radio shows.
After two years of bloody chaos, some Iraqis are turning to talk radio to let off steam.
There is plenty to complain about, especially in towns like Baquba, a battleground between guerrillas and government and U.S. forces about 50 km (35 miles) north of Baghdad.
The on-air attempt to get official responses to grievances would have been unthinkable before a U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
"The most important thing about this programme is that people can be on the air live, and they can talk directly with officials," Wissam al-Obade, the FM station's manager, told Reuters.
While people call radio chat shows around the world, it is a rare freedom for Iraqis who endured years of human rights abuses under Saddam's iron-fisted rule.
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Not to mention variety on TV:
Oprah has a fan base in Iraq. Iraqi mothers fret about the amount of time their teenagers spend watching "Star Academy," an Arabic-language cross between "American Idol" and "The Real World."
And an ad for the satellite channel MBC's new lineup--which includes "Inside Edition," "Jeopardy!" and "60 Minutes"--declares: "So you can watch what THEY watch."
Satellite dishes, which Saddam Hussein and his coterie withheld from ordinary Iraqis, have sprouted everywhere since his regime fell. They sit on the roofs of mansions and sidewalk vendors' stalls, pulling in hundreds of channels from all over the world. Even squatters in a bombed-out and looted club once reserved for air force officers have a receiver set up, next to a swimming pool filled with trash and a layer of green slime.
Before the war, television was all Saddam, all the time. Even music videos featured his image. Iraqis giddy to be free from the propaganda snapped up satellite dishes soon after American tanks rolled in. Watching television is one of the few safe forms of entertainment left in a country living under curfew and the constant fear of violence.
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Cartoons, too, can now show life, warts and all--mostly warts--and jeer without fear or favor. Muayad Naama is Iraq's most popular cartoonist:
Mr. Naama's fortunes have risen and fallen with Iraq's own painful history. He was born in 1951, almost two decades before Mr. Hussein's Baath Party took control of the country. At the time, Baghdad was a bustling, cosmopolitan city with lively cafes and bars.
But when Mr. Hussein began in the late 1970's to clamp down on political opposition, including by the Communist Party, of which Mr. Naama was a member, his life quickly changed. In 1979, he was arrested and beaten. He still barely hears out of one ear as a result of the beatings.
Now, after decades of dictatorship, a chaotic political scene has burst forth. And unlike Mr. Hussein's government, under which open criticism brought dire, often fatal, consequences, the new Iraqi government appears to be fair game.
For that, and many other reasons, Mr. Naama said, life is better now. People can speak freely and practice their religion as they like, he said. The chaos and lack of rules, he said, must eventually improve.
• ECONOMY
Further liberalization is on the way:
The industry ministry plans to partially privatise most of its 46 state-owned companies, as part of the government's plan to establish a liberal free market economy.
Later this year, the ministry is expected to launch a search for domestic and foreign partners in the private sector to jointly run companies in the petrochemical, cement, sugar, silk and heavy industry sectors.
Initially, the ministry plans to privatise around ten small factories and companies that do not contribute greatly to the economy, such as those producing clothes and tyres.
"We have plans to develop and pave the way for domestic and foreign investment in these sectors," said Mohammed Abdullah, acting minister of industry.
Under Saddam, only Arab countries were allowed to invest in Iraq. But the new commercial laws established by the Coalition Provisional Authority, CPA, allow foreigners to own 100 per cent of Iraqi businesses--the exceptions being those dealing with natural resources such as oil.
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The Iraqi Stock Exchange is reporting a great increase in activity. And foreigners are now allowed to buy and sell Iraqi securities. Here's more background about the past, the current operations and future challenges of the exchange:
On a recent Monday morning at the Iraq Stock Exchange, investors yammer into cell phones as about 30 traders on the floor scribble orders, study boards for stock prices or stand casually smoking cigarettes.
The scene doesn't match the frenetic pace of the New York Stock Exchange or the Chicago Board of Trade. This is Baghdad, after all. But the activity is a good sign for those who are trying to shore up the country's financial institutions despite the daily violence carried out by insurgents.
"Financial institutions and markets make our economy grow again," says Taha Ahmed Abdul Salam, the exchange's chief operating officer. "You can't do business unless you have good banks and good capital markets."
The Baghdad Stock Exchange opened in 1992, but under Saddam Hussein's regime it was heavily regulated. Exchange spokeswoman Jaimy Afham says stocks traded within a specific price range. The exchange closed amid the chaos after the collapse of Saddam's regime.
The exchange, renamed the Iraq Stock Exchange, reopened last June under the supervision of the Coalition Provisional Authority, Salam says. It started with 15 listed companies trading about 1 billion Iraqi dinars ($683,000) in shares daily, he says. Today, the exchange lists 89 companies and averages about $2 million in daily trading, he says.
A law created last year allows foreign investors to deal in Iraqi stocks and has encouraged trading, Salam says. The market subsequently was boosted by an influx of capital from Iraqi exiles and a recent increase in disposable income driven by higher government salaries, Afham says.
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Iraqi banking system is also getting modernized:
Iraq's cash economy will get a jolt of modernity in the coming weeks--automated teller machines and credit cards, the president of the Trade Bank of Iraq said yesterday.
"We expect to have cash machines in 10 days in Baghdad," said Hussein al-Uzri, president of the Trade Bank of Iraq, which was set up in December 2003 as part of an international consortium of banks headed by JPMorgan Chase.
Besides serving as regular cash-dispensing machines, the ATMs are also expected to be used to pay government workers.
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Meanwhile, as of May*10, Iraqi credit cards are internationally recognized. And foreign investment will in the future play a major role in helping the industry modernize and grow:
HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe's biggest bank by market value, won Iraqi approval to buy a local lender as it competes with Standard Chartered Plc and Arab banks to return to the country for the first time since 1964 nationalization.
HSBC will acquire a 75 percent stake for an undisclosed sum in Baghdad-based Dar Elsalam Investment Bank, upgrade the lender's communications and computer systems and expand its network of branches across the country, Faleh Dawood Salman, deputy governor of the Central Bank of Iraq, said in a telephone interview. HSBC confirmed the talks today in a Regulatory News Service statement.
"We need banks like HSBC to modernize our banking system, and help finance foreign trade and lending," Salman said by telephone from Baghdad on May 15.
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Iraqi authorities are receiving training and support thanks to USAID's Iraq Economic Governance II (IEG II) program (PDF) to help in economic reform and improving administration. Among the most recent initiatives: training courses for the officers from the Central Bank of Iraq "to improve its ability to conduct sound macroeconomic policy and supervise banking within the country"; drafting a comprehensive training program for the regulators; providing electricity capacity workshops for ministry employees; and working with the government on reforming tax system and introducing computerized budget system.
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An increasing number of Iraqis can now afford to buy cars:
More than a million used cars have entered the country in the past two years, a traffic police study shows. The figure is double the number of cars that existed in the country before the fall of Baghdad to U.S. troops in April 2003, according to the study.
The study says the northern city [of] Mosul, for example, only had 57,000 registered cars in early 2003. But the number has surged to 125,000 now at a time there has been no improvement in roads, traffic signals and lights. On the contrary, conditions on roads have deteriorated, the study adds.
Former leader Saddam Hussein restricted the flow of cars to the country and the import of vehicles was an exclusive right which he exercised himself. He only gave new cars to his cronies and people showing unwavering loyalty.
Cars were expensive and not everyone could afford to buy one. But currently conditions have changed and civil servants earn meaningful wages enabling them to buy not only cars but many other commodities they could not afford in the past.
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In a great case of turning swords into plowshares:
A major military corporation is now producing cranes and electrical cables instead of missiles and bombs.
Al-Simoud Enterprise, the pride of former regime's military industries, has been converted to civilian use.
Its main products include cranes, pylons, communication towers, concrete bridges and steel in addition to power infrastructure equipment. Three of the corporation's companies are now operational, said director-general Yousif Ali. One of the revitalized companies is specialized in the production of concrete blocks and electrical posts.
Another produces cranes with a capacity ranging from 5-50 tons. He said the corporation was in talks with Turkish and German companies on how to upgrade production.
• RECONSTRUCTION
Australia is committing more resources toward rebuilding Iraq:
The Australian Government will provide an additional $45 million over two years to provide further reconstruction assistance to Iraq. This funding demonstrates the Government's commitment to helping build stability and democracy in Iraq. This additional funding will bring Australia's total reconstruction commitment to Iraq to over $170 million since 2003.*.*.*.
Australia will continue to focus on those areas where it has particular expertise, including governance, agriculture, and related economic and trade reforms.
From one dry country to another, "assistance to Iraq's agricultural sector will include providing on-going training programmes in Australia for Ministry of Agriculture officials; utilising Australia's expertise in areas such as dry-land agriculture, irrigation, salinity and water resources management."
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In Baghdad, USAID is working on the grass-roots level (PDF) to create economic opportunities and help the reconstruction process:
Since May 2003, USAID's Community Action Program (CAP) has been working in the poorest neighborhoods in Baghdad at the grassroots level, empowering Iraqi communities to develop and implement reconstruction projects and improving individual lives.*.*.*.
CAP's Business Development Program in Baghdad focuses on sustainable long term job creation, with a goal of creating over 100,000 jobs over the next fiscal year.*.*.*.
The CAP program also plays an essential role in building a foundation for democracy in Baghdad. Working with--and being represented by--[Community Action Groups], imparts an understanding of what a representative democracy should look like and how it can act to provide services to the citizenry. For example, a CAG selected as a priority the construction of a health clinic in their community. Within three months, the community members celebrated the opening of a clinic that can provide 200,000 residents with health benefits. Although projects like clearing debris from a road and pumping sewage out of facilities seem a small part of improving Iraq's future, these challenges impact every aspect of people's lives.
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A province bordering Iran is getting some important infrastructure:
Two new bridges are to be constructed in the city of Amara, the capital of the southeastern province of Missan, the head of the department in charge of roads and bridges in the province said.
Mohammed Jassem said his office had completed the designs and readied equipment to start with the implementation "as soon as possible."*.*.*.
Jassem said a 16-km [10-mile] long road linking a border district with a major urban center was paved recently.
He also said his office constructed 24 smaller arched bridges on the Amara-Baghdad highway to protect the road against erosion and rain water.
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Kirkuk and the surrounding area are receiving 1.65 billion dinars for various reconstruction projects in the area of roads, communications and agriculture.
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Soon rural communities near Baghdad will enjoy clean drinking water, often for the first time:
Everyone knows that all living things need water to survive and during the upcoming summer months in Iraq, the demand for clean drinking water will drastically rise.
The near-term completion of a project in the Al-Rasheed district will fulfill this need and provide more than 100,000 villagers fresh water.
The $500,000 project began six months ago and employed 36 people, of which 30 were from the local area.
In the 2nd Kurtan village, which has roughly 5,000 residents, there hasn't been a source for purified water since it was formed, according to Capt. Christian Neels, the civil-military operations officer for 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment.
Sheik Alwan Kartan, a local tribal leader who has participated in the project since the beginning, said that the villagers who had cars could go to the adjacent areas to get water. Others who didn't have vehicles had to get their water from the canal that connects to the river, putting them at risk for disease.
"This project will supply the local population with drinking water and reduce some of the water-borne illnesses that the children are coming up with," Neels said.
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In electricity news, Japan will be building $100*million, 60-megawatt thermal power station near Samawa in southern Iraq. Construction will begin this summer and is expected to be completed in 2007.
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USAID (PDF) continues to work on rehabilitation of the power infrastructure:
The newly arrived V-94 combustion gas turbine and its generator have been placed on their foundations at the Taza substation outside of Kirkuk. Iraqi construction workers are currently assembling and aligning the unit on its foundation, welding the fuel lines and exhaust stack, and installing the electrical controls. Work at the substation includes the installation of the V-94 and a second combustion gas turbine, a V-64 unit. Combined, these turbines will add 325MW to the Iraq electricity grid.
Work continues on the rehabilitation of the Doura power plant in southern Baghdad. Upon completion, an additional 320 MW is projected to be available for Iraq's national electrical grid. Although its four steam boilers and turbines are each rated at 160MW, all have been poorly maintained for many years, largely due to spare parts shortages. Its cooling systems are now severely damaged so its turbines can no longer be operated at full-load without risk of further damage from overheating. As a result, the plant has operated far below its full-load rating of 640MW.
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• HUMANITARIAN AID.
Cleanup in Fallujah continues:
More than 800 Iraqis recently participated in the removal of rubble in Fallujah from Operation Al Fajr.
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) approved more than $840,000 to assist cleanup teams during the next two months.
"We've got to clean the rubble up," said Lt. Col. Harvey Williams, director, reconstruction cell, 5th Civil Affairs Group.
"Bottom line is we've got more than 1,100 young men engaged in the trash removal effort."
Navy Seabees cleared the streets after military operations in November; but as people returned they dispensed additional trash and rubble because the public dump was no longer operational, according to Multi-National Forces.
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Even those who opposed the war are playing a role in helping to rebuild Iraq:
A Minnesota resident is among a group of Iraqis and others who will lead a clean up team in the destroyed city of Fallujah. Sami Rasouli is the former owner of Sindbad's restaurant on Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis. He sold his business a few months ago and returned to his homeland of Iraq to help his family and the country recover from the war. He's a member of a group called the Muslim Peacemakers Team. They're cooperating with a group called the Christian Peacemakers Team in activities they hope will prevent civil war.
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In Najaf, $500,000 worth of donated medical supplies have arrived for the needy local hospitals.
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Meanwhile, thanks to the efforts of South Korean religious leaders, four important hospitals in Korea will cooperate in a project to train Iraqi medical personnel from the southeastern part of the country:
The project itself entails training 16 Iraqi medical teams--including medical specialists, Ph. D. and other medical students--in Korea who will then be able to apply new methods and techniques back home. .*.*. As part of the project, Iraqi patients would also receive medical care in the four participating Korean hospitals.
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And this, from the U.S.:
The leaders of the Rapid Prototyping (RP) industry will announce today free medical support for victims in Iraq at the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) Rapid Prototyping & Manufacturing conference in Dearborn US. "RP for Baghdad" is a humanitarian joint effort of Fried Vancraen-Materialise, Abe Reichental-3D Systems, Scott Crump-Stratasys and Tom Clay-Z-Corporation to provide medical models for victims in Iraq.
The effort will focus on the most severely injured victims with serious head injuries or missing limbs. While helping people in serious need, the RP industry will demonstrate how its technology can fundamentally influence people's lives for the better. Even in the difficult environment of war, 3D printed models based on medical image data are important tools to support surgeons in the most complex craniofacial reconstruction surgeries.
The Iraqi League for Medical Profession is providing the infrastructure for this service. People with serious injuries will first be CT Scanned at a medical facility. The data from the scan will be processed using the Mimics software of Materialise to generate a 3D Model of the anatomy. 3D Systems, Stratasys and Z-Corporation will provide physical models based from the virtual model. The models will be delivered back to a surgeon in Iraq who can use this bone replica to plan and practice surgery on. As the project progresses the plan is to build RP parts for socket construction in artificial limbs.
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A community in Massachusetts is collecting for Iraqi children:
"Someone Else's Child" is participating in a project with the Sundance School to acquire toys for children living in Iraq. A doctor from South Dakota who has been deployed to Iraq for three tours of duty has written to his local paper describing the needs of the children he has encountered. The doctor explains that the children he treats do not have toys or craft items.
So are people from North Dakota:
Shoes and pens donated from residents of this city and Harvey have been distributed to children in Iraq.
The drive was headed by Bert and Anna Marie Shomento of Minot. Their son, Bill, is a captain in the Montana National Guard. He's with the Idaho Brigade's 163rd Infantry Battalion in Iraq.
More than 7,000 pens and 773 pair of shoes were collected. Residents in the two cities also raised $815 to pay for postage.*.*.*.
"We passed out all of the shoes to some of the poorest folks in Iraq. They were extremely happy," Bill Shomento wrote in a recent e-mail.
"I explained to the mukhtar (village leader) that these shoes were not from the U.S. government but rather were from my hometown and that my parents had headed up the drive. The mukhtar sends you God's blessings and thanks you and the people of Minot for their generosity."
Students in Tallahassee, Fla., are helping a National Guardsmen bomb Iraq--with sweets:
Students at a middle school in Tallahassee, FL are getting generous with their candy. Students at Fairview Middle School wrapped candy in plastic bags and shipped two cartons to a Rhode Island National Guard helicopter pilot for distribution to Iraqi children.
The candies are being dropped in Baghdad and surrounding areas with messages such as "America Loves You." Teacher Jennifer Simmons says it's a friendly hello from Americans.
The project ties in with a school requirement that every student complete three hours of community service.
Brian Trapani, a Rhode Island National Guardsman who has been dropping "candy bombs" donated by others, has e-mailed to say the first box is already empty. His only cautionary note is "No Chocolate." It melts too easily in transit and in the desert heat.
As another report mentions, "the 'candy bombs' were inspired by the Berlin Airlift after World War II, when pilots would drop packages of chocolate or gum for children in Berlin."
• SECURITY.
U.S. forces are getting better at minimizing the damage from of roadside bombs:
The U.S. Army told Congress on Thursday it had sharply reduced the proportion of military casualties from roadside bombs in Iraq even as they have become increasingly powerful in the past year.
Even as insurgents continue to launch devastating attacks on Iraqi police, politicians and civilians, the ratio of death and injury among .*.*. U.S. troops from roadside "improvised explosive devices" has fallen by three-quarters, two generals told the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee.
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The insurgency and the terror campaign, while bloody and persistent, are also suffering setbacks, although far less publicized. The February near-capture of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is bringing in some valuable intelligence:
Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's office said .*.*. the security forces had possessed significant information on Zarqawi's terror network in Iraq through the confessions of his driver.
In a statement, the office said that Zarqawi's driver shed light on the weakness of the terror network as a result of capturing and killing many leaders of the terror groups in Iraq by the security forces.*.*.*.
Further information provided by the driver might lead to the capture of other key elements in the network, said the statement, adding he also disclosed the external resources for the terrorist groups.
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There are also increasing noises in Sunni circles about peaceful accommodation. [LINK]
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Here's a fascinating glimpse on how American troops work every day in one Iraqi locality:
Even before the car bomb blew up at the head of his armoured column, Lieutenant Colonel Roger Cloutier of the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division had had a busy day trying to quell unrest in this Iraqi farming region.
The bombing late on Sunday that left one attacker dead but U.S. troops untouched ended a long day that saw him deal with a fight over a junkyard, threaten to cut off millions of dollars worth of projects and hand out candy to schoolchildren.
U.S. forces are using diplomacy, money and firepower in places like Muqdadiya, 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Baghdad, in a bid to weaken popular support for a raging insurgency.*.*.*.
His battalion is the target of an average of one roadside bomb a day, though attacks on the area's Iraqi forces have dwindled to almost nothing since local Muslim leaders issued a fatwa, or religious ruling, several weeks ago.*.*.*.
Cloutier told Mayor Allawi Farhan, police chief General Ammer Kamel and other officials at a meeting earlier in the day at city hall, a low-rise building surrounded by blast barriers, guards and barbed wire, that his patience was at an end.
"I want some names (of suspected bombers). As of now, all the money that is coming into the city for projects is going to stop," said Cloutier, who oversees 60 development projects worth $15 million.
Farhan, whose city has a jobless rate of 70 percent, pleaded for more time to get Sunni Muslims at the heart of the rebellion involved in politics.*.*.*.
"The people's mentality is not at that point yet. I, personally, I have told people repeatedly that if you don't attack the Americans they will stay on their bases," said the Sunni mayor, who has a personal security detail of 10 men.
Police chief Kamel, a Sunni imprisoned under Saddam, told Cloutier that seven of his 11 cars were out of service and he needed more officers.
He added, "I tell people every day, 'Hey, you ass-holes, they are building a road that Saddam didn't do anything about for 25 years. What the devil do you want?'"
Cloutier backed off his threat to cut project funds, agreeing to heavier patrolling and stricter enforcement of the 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew.
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And here's a profile on American soldiers searching for weapons caches around Abu Ghraib:
"Life is a garden: dig it," one Soldier says, quoting the movie Joe Dirt before he begins to move earth with a rusted shovel.
When not conducting raids or other combat operations, Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division, treat the town of Abu Ghraib like a giant treasure hunt as they leave no stone unturned in the search for weapons caches.
First Lt. Joshua Betty, a platoon leader from College Station, Texas, said digging for potential weapons is a daily routine for him and his Soldiers. Entire patrols are often dedicated to searching large areas for buried munitions.
"We're denying the enemy the ability to operate," Betty said. "It's become a big part of our operations. It's really starting to pay off."
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Read also this story about everyday efforts to win hearts and minds near Samarra. [LINK]
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"Iraqization" of security seems to have paid off in Mosul:
With local security forces now patrolling the city centre, Mosul residents say violence has ebbed.
The US began handing over security duties to Iraqi forces more than a month ago and now local police, army and Iraqi National Guardsmen can be seen patrolling the northwestern city.
"The Iraqi police, in cooperation with National Guard forces, are determined to impose security on the city," said police officer Waleed Hussein, 33.
Iraqi security forces lost control of Mosul in November 2004 under a sustained insurgent offensive, and have only recently retaken the city.
However, Mosul is still seen as a volatile area and there are periodic episodes of violence--such as on May 5, when a car bomb exploded near a police patrol, killing four officers and wounding several others.
But furniture seller Shawkee Ommar, 34, told IWPR that he can now stay out until 9 pm, unlike before when insurgents were controlling the city and he had to be home by 4 pm for safety reasons.
"Since the Iraqi forces came into the city, it has become quiet and we have led a normal life," he said. "There are explosions now and then, but right now we are living in peace compared with the past."
Ziyad Mohsin, an electricity directorate employee, 30, said the situation has been relatively calm since Iraqi forces restored security.
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And this is how Iraqization of security is working in practice elsewhere:
When Major Mark Borowski plunged with Iraqi troops into a date palm grove notorious as an insurgent hideout, he did something a U.S. officer would not have done a year ago--almost nothing.
Borowski's hands-off approach during the dawn sweep by hundreds of Iraqi soldiers marked the changing role of U.S. troops as they shift the burden of fighting insurgents onto under-equipped, barely trained Iraqi troops and police.
The brigade-size raid through dusty streets and a maze of towering palm trees, irrigation ditches and thickets at Buhriz, a town about 50 km (35 miles) north of Baghdad, was judged by U.S. officers to have been a success.
"I was pretty happy, this is a complex mission," Borowski, a battalion operations officer in the 3rd Infantry Division, told Reuters. "You saw the terrain. It was like the land that time forgot back there."
U.S. aircraft and artillery were available for support. But most of the few U.S. troops on the ground stayed close to their Humvees as Iraqi soldiers kicked down gates, searched through brush and bashed open the doors of uninhabited huts.
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The military authorities are also reporting successes in training Iraqi border guards:
The chief of border patrol training in Iraq believes the U.S. has now "turned a corner" in setting up an Iraqi border force.
Colonel William Wenger tells Associated Press Network News 20,000 border guards have been trained. And he says about half of the 250 border forts under construction with money from the U.S. and its coalition partners are now operational.
Wenger says there have been "some pretty remarkable successes" in rounding up would-be smugglers and insurgents in the areas that border Syria and Jordan. He says hundreds of men have been arrested and interrogated. Wenger says detainees "regularly" point Iraqi border forces to hidden caches of weapons and bomb-making materials and identify other insurgents.
Wenger says the detainees have come primarily from Syria, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates-but he also says there are a number of Iraqis too.
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