8 posts tagged “iraqis”
Pfc. Brian Jones just returned from the city and brings us the State of Fallujah Address where city officials tell you about what has taken place over the past year to strengthen their home:
FALLUJAH, Iraq —City officials and leaders gathered at the newly developed Fallujah television station to deliver a live broadcast of the state of Fallujah address to the people recently.
Sheik Hamid Ahmed, the chairman of the Fallujah city council, and Col. Faisal Ismail Husayn, the chief of police, spoke on behalf of the city recounting their history and announcing the current state of affairs.
Both Ahmed and Husayn thanked the service members and commanding officers with Regimental Combat Team 6 and Multi National Force-West for their support in security, reconstruction efforts and taking interest in the future of the city.
“The real picture of Fallujah is what you see today,” said Ahmed, translated by an interpreter. “It is living in security and reconstruction because the leadership of the city was put in the hands of the good people.”
Currently, the local tribal sheik council and city muktars are diligently working in accordance with the mayor and city council elected by the citizens of Fallujah in guiding the city’s future as Coalition Forces remain in a supporting role as advisors and security.
“When we united the city council, the mayor and the muktars of the city, the situation of the city turned for the better,” said Husayn. “Everybody knows that the security situation in Fallujah before 2006 was killing in the streets, destruction and no one could say any righteous word anywhere. Today the situation is special, very secure and peaceful. That is not our own evaluation, but it is the citizens of Fallujah who have evaluated the situation and have told us the status of the city.”
Husayn said that as security improved within the city all other efforts in rebuilding the city became a success and due to the city’s new leadership the city is moving in the direction of progress and stability.
All this was not possible without the help of the Coalition Forces and their help with the reconstruction efforts that work side by side with the security efforts in the city, said Husayn.
As security drastically improved the people of Fallujah received nearly 1,000 government jobs granted by the central government of Iraq, opened new and old businesses and have managed public services. Special efforts have also been made in supporting the students and youth of Fallujah, from school supplies to recreational sports.
The Fallujah Business Development Center has opened to manage reconstruction efforts for the district and is also used as the central foundation to inviting Arab and other investment companies into the city.
“Fallujah is ready for major investment,” said Ahmed. “From this place, we call on all the investors from the Arab nations and international nations to come and invest in the district of Fallujah.”
Ahmed attributed the reason for investing in the city is because of the city’s location on the Euphrates River that is an intersection for all the international roads and also, the city contains all the main ingredients necessary for development, such as human and construction resources and the availability of the experience and expertise.
Husayn addressed government representatives and brothers from the Arab nations around Iraq in his speech asking that they come and visit the city that sacrificed more than many other cities in Iraq and deserves that the people stand by its side and provide the services that it needs for support.
“I want them to come and see the reality of Fallujah today,” said Husayn. “They will see that Fallujah is very secure and that the citizens of Fallujah are very generous and very brave and are here to welcome anybody that comes to Fallujah.”
“All want the peace and are looking forward to building good relations and friendships with all the peoples’ nations,” said Ahmed. “We will turn the page of the past and will open a new page with the grace of God. We swore to ourselves that we will keep our city as a star shining among the stars of the other cities of Iraq.”
Marines stopped and knocked at a courtyard gate in Fallujah's Andaloos district. A little girl answered the door with an anxious look on her face.
“Is the man of the house in?” asked Sgt. Ysac M. Perez, a squad leader with Company K, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 6.
As if on cue, a little seven-year-old boy appeared and owned up to the title. The Marines greeted him with smiles and laughter. This scenario is not unusual, however, said Perez.
“This is actually pretty common while the father is gone,” said Perez, a Whittier, Calif., native. “He was considered the man of the house since his dad was gone, which trips me out because back in the States, a seven year old wouldn’t even be allowed to answer the door, and here he is, the one in charge.”
The days of kicking in doors and forcibly searching buildings and homes are long over for the Marines in the city of Fallujah as it transitions bac
k to a peaceful community. Instead, Marines knock at the doors and greet the people with a professional and sociable demeanor with cultural courtesies in mind. It is a job many of these Marines never imagined they would be tasked with in a city known for its history as a violent epicenter of Anbar Province.
Perez and his Marines with 4th platoon, Co. K, patrolled their neighborhood and gathered census information to develop a clearer insight into the area, its people and their concerns.
Along the way, during the patrol, Perez chose the upscale home to stop and visit. He wanted to speak with the
residents to check on how things were going, as a friendly neighbor would do.
The boy said his father was away at prayer and the mother was out tending to daily errands. For Perez this was a sign the family felt secure enough to attend local mosques and shop in a now-bustling market place.
Perez asked the boy for permission for his Marines to go to the rooftop to overlook the area from above. The boy took a look around at the Marines and their weapons, and with a smile, decided to allow them in.
As the Marines slowly walked through, they subtly scanned the rooms as an informal search while they made their way to the rooftop. Perez ensured his Marines were careful not to encroach on the family’s privacy.
“My Marines know what rooms not to go into and stay out of, like the prayer rooms with mats and the rooms the females are in,” Perez said.
Perez, having children of his own, wondered what the Iraqi children hope for in the future.
“Personally, I like to try to see what their outlook is toward us and what their dreams are compared to the children in America, who dream of being crazy things like rock stars and all,” Perez said. “From what I have got so far, they aim pretty high. A lot of them want to be doctors, physicians and engineers. Some of them may get the chance.”
When Perez asked the child how big the family was, and all the children’s ages, he came to the realization the family had been growing at a rate of roughly one child every year.
As the Marines started to descend the three-story house to leave, the father returned home from prayer.
When asked if he minded the Marines being there, he responded by saying they were more than welcome to be in his house. He thanked the Marines for being there and commented on how well the Iraqi Police are coming along.
To the Marines’ cultural interest, the father kept up two families. At the household the Marines were currently visiting, he had a wife and seven children. In his other household in a neighborhood not far away, he had his second wife, four children, mother and mother-in-law. He supported the family by selling fish in the market.
“He seemed like a real upkept guy,” Perez said. “He was a very family-oriented man. He didn’t care about what was going on in the outside world. All he worried about was his own family.”
What was unique about this man to Perez was the man was wealthy by Fallujah standards, yet remained more focused on the smaller issues within his family than trying to have any influence on the developing world around him.
“Fallujah is very good. I don’t worry about the poverty. I don’t care about the war and insurgents. I care about providing food and shelter for my family,” the man told Perez.
During the fighting for the city, the man said he had left the city, but had not traveled far to live in a small town outside of Fallujah. He returned home and found his property had been damaged. Two of his bedrooms had been completely burned.
He didn’t know who was responsible, and did not seem interested in finding out. Since his return, the highways had become safe enough for commercial trucks to travel from Baghdad to deliver his fish to the market. The man made enough money from his business to go on with his life and make the necessary repairs to his homes with his own money.
For the man it was a normal visit. He said he speaks with the Marines frequently and continually understands more about what is going on. His only complaint was about the unreliable power sources in the city. He said he rather see money be spent on correcting the power failure problems than anything else. The Marines reassured him the problem was being worked on.
It was a brief visit for the Marines with a family they will now know a little better. The Marines will continue communicating with the locals, getting to know them better and, ultimately, ensuring the people’s safety and their own through the means of pleasant, everyday interactions.
We had some pictures submitted to us (finally!) by a Marine with one of our subordinate commands. 1st Lt. Vreeland brought us some pretty darn good shots of Marines and Iraqi troops playing football (that's soccer to us Americans) on a dusty pitch here. Seems like it's a tradition for American guys to play football any time they stop somewhere. I can't tell you how many matches I've watched with different foreign countries over the years.
But before the soccer pics, here are a few gratuitous boom shots to satisfy those among us who love explosions (and sunset silhouettes).
With that out of the way, here go the football pics.
We will actually have more on a similar story soon!
To pre-empt some comments I know are coming -- "ABC is lying!" -- they are not. (We received such comments after posting Katie Couric's video following her visit here.) It is no big secret that any media outlet that comes out here to witness first-hand the progress in Al Anbar Province reports the same thing: progress. Great things are being done here.
Apologies to ESPN (or whomever) for stealing the entry title there.
I chose that because it's been 3+ weeks since we posted anything. I wish we had some great excuse, like we've been training for our final parachute jump into Berlin or something equally melodramatic. The reality of the situation, however, is that the weather's been great, we're transitioning into the autumn period here in Iraq, and we've been outside staring at the sun for hours every day.
At any rate, here is the long-overdue update I'm sure everyone's been fretting over. It's an article about 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment. "America's Battalion." Well, it's not actually about them, it's more about some of the great progress they've been enabling in their area of responsibility. Pfc. Brian Jones reports.
“Be optimistic and you will find the good things.”
This is the notion of a prominent sheik in the city of Karmah, Iraq, who is working with Marines from 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 6, to create a peaceful today and a thriving tomorrow for a city that’s weighted down by conflict.
During July, 2nd Bn., 7th Marines, RCT-6, completed their tour and relinquished control over the battle space in and around the city where they had fought to dispose of the enemy seeded in the area.
“We’re falling in on the tail end of that so that we can bring the population to the next level and help get the economy moving again,” said Memphis, Tenn., native Capt. Quintin D. Jones, the commanding officer of Company L. “We are transitioning away from the kinetic fight and trying to help the local governance.”
While his Marines continue counterinsurgency operations, Jones is trying to kick start the city’s economy again hoping to tie it all back into larger levels of government.
“On one end I’m fighting, and on the other end I’m disputing between tribal leaders,” Jones said. “The other part (is) trying to stimulate the economy. So, it’s a three-block war here and it’s very, very dynamic.”
Local government has been restored, the city council assembled, and Karmah has an experienced official as mayor. With these three building blocks in place, Jones hopes the Karmah municipal government can tie back into its largest neighbor, Fallujah. Fallujah will then in turn tie Karmah into Ramadi, the provincial capital, so that once Coalition Forces have left, the local government can remain stable.
“The economy will still be thriving because it is tied into the old system that was here,” Jones said.
“I think that we are essentially running a small corporation,” Jones said, “because we are doing a lot of things at the same time.”
Jones prompted meetings with many of the sheiks of the surrounding tribes, Sept. 22, visiting their homes, congregating with them, and sharing their food and hospitality. This brought many of the sheiks to the table with other city officials to discuss what they had to offer the city.
“There is a serious cooperation that has taken place among the tribes and the Marines,” said Sheik Mishen of the
Jumaila tribe, a dominant tribe in Karmah, through an interpreter. “What Capt. Jones did today was as example of our own way of dealing with things.”
Iraq’s political landscape, especially in the areas outside major cities such as Fallujah and Ramadi, is dominated by tribes, their sheiks and internal loyalties. Bringing sheiks into the civil reconstruction picture is what spurred the “Anbar Awakening,” said Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander, Multi National Force-Iraq. In that way, company commanders like Jones are doing their part to undertake the comprehensive plan put in place by Petraeus.
The relationship between the unit commander on the ground, whether he is Iraqi or a Coalition member, and the tribal authorities in his area is an essential part of making things work. It is something that has begun to pay dividends for Jones and his Marines.
Mishen agreed to Jones’ wishes and was willing to overcome animosity toward the sheiks of lesser stature to help improve the security situation in the city.
“I will set differences aside to do the right thing,” Mishen said. “No matter what happens, if anything advances the security of Karmah, I will cooperate.”
Mishen said he strongly opposes the violence that has been brought upon his tribe. Insurgent violence has touched him personally many times throughout the war, losing many of his cousins in attacks. Just weeks before, his daughter was killed in a mortar attack in the home in which Jones met him.
“So far security is very good,” Mishen said. “As far as Karmah is concerned, the Marines are doing an excellent job. With the cooperation between our people here, things are actually working for the best.”
Mishen said he values the Marines as the glue holding things together and is hoping the Marines will stick around until all the bad guys are captured.
He also shared great concern for what he considers a failing judicial system.
“If things continue like this, things will probably backfire on the system,” Mishen said. “I am optimistic, but there are some parts of Karmah that need to be cleaned up.
“We are going to rebuild the place, rebuild the hope and solve the problems of the poverty,” Mishen said about
plans for the city. “Once the area is 100 percent secure, or secure enough, a lot of kids want to return to school. Education is the key.”
Mishen said he feels they need Jones to keep things going as well as they are. He equated the company commander’s importance to local reconstruction to the importance of President George W. Bush and high-level military leaders in national reconstruction.
“I know that Jones will be leaving, but I hope that in the short time that he is here things will change a lot more than in the past because of his presence,” Mishen said.
Cpl. Joel Abshier once again has sent us a set of candid and revealing photos about living life at one of the many observation posts placed strategically throughout Fallujah. He has also penned a few words about what it's like going day to day "outside the wire," simultaneously trying to live your life and conducting a difficult counterinsurgency.
Marines and corpsmen huddle around a TV watching the 2006 film “Blood Diamond,” one of the few DVDs they have on hand at Observation Post Burgess. Marines not engaged by the movie are either catching up on sleep, writing letters home or, more importantly, manning one of the many required duties within and around the observation post.
OP Burgess, riddled with holes from gunfire from years of attacks, is located in the heart of Fallujah. The building Marines occupy is surrounded by large cement barriers, and its windows are barricaded by sandbags. Marines with E Company, 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 6, live and work out of the OP to maintain overwatch within their designated area of operation. They keep an eye peeled both for insurgent activity and to cover the backs of the Iraqi Security Forces operating in the city.
Working directly with the “Spartans” of 2/6 are Marines with Combat LogisticsBattalion 6, 2nd Marine Logistics Group. Daily tasks for these support Marines include, but are not limited to, fortifying structures and providing routine maintenance in the area surrounding both the compound containing the Fallujah district Iraqi Police headquarters, or the Joint Command Center, and OP Burgess.
“This area of Fallujah is a very valuable piece of real estate,” said Capt. Siu K. Cheng, Echo Co. commander. “It is because the OP is close to the JCC.”
Other than Coalition Forces, the JCC, across a courtyard from OP Burgess, houses many prominent individuals such as the mayor of Fallujah and Iraqi Police chief Col. Faisal. Living and working from the JCC, Marines attached to RCT-6 also train hundreds of Iraqi Police officers to patrol and work within the streets of the city.
“This place is definitely a high (profile) target,” said Warminster, Pa., native Lance Cpl. Joseph V. Mahon, Jr., a food service specialist with 2/6, who has been at the OP for nearly one month. “Marines move in and out of here a lot. I’ve been here so long because Marines have to eat, right?”
Traditionally, observation posts don’t have warm food prepared by their very own cook; however, since the Ready Battalion took over this area, many “remodeling” changes occurred.
“You should have seen this place before we got here,” said 19-year-old Lance Cpl. Joseph A. Lourenco, a mortarman with Echo Co. “There was nothing here. Since we arrived, we have installed air conditioners as well as hooked up a chow hall.”
The East Hanover, N.J., native continued to explain that a lot of Marines are going to their bases’ gyms, dining in their respectively large dining facilities and showering regularly. At OP Burgess, the Marines are not so fortunate. Portable toilets are a luxury here.
“You get used to it after awhile,” said 22-year-old Lance Cpl. Andrew M. Adams, a machine gunner with the company, who hasn’t had a shower in over 10 days. “That is why we have these,” he said, as he held up a package of baby wipes.
The dining facility, dubbed “Chow Hell,” was run solely by Mahon before another Marine from RCT-6 showed up to help with the work load. Getting one hot meal a night is more than many leathernecks receive when sitting on one of the many other observation posts scattered throughout Fallujah.
Although air conditioners and warm chow are now regular features at OP Burgess, they are still vulnerable to power outages.
One minute, during the film, a Marines commented, “Jennifer Connelly is definitely in my top ten,” and the next minute the power went out. The audience of Marines erupts in unison in disdain.
Life may not be as normal at OP Burgess as the Marines may want, but Lourenco summed up the situation by concluding, “It’s not about where you are. It’s about who you’re with. And we have a good group of guys here.”
As requested in various comments, we have managed to snap some photos of more buildings from Fallujah. We don't have any resident architects here so I can't provide any meaningful commentary. These photos were taken from the back of a moving vehicle so you'll have to forgive the quality.
Do any architectural buffs have any input about building style? It would be interesting if they shared common influences.
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