ICDC soldiers go through mini-boot camp

[thedrifter]

ICDC soldiers go through mini-boot camp <br />
Submitted by: 1st Marine Division <br />
Story Identification #: 20046102497 <br />
Story by Sgt. Jose E. Guillen <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
CAMP INDIA, Iraq(June 9, 2004) -- Iraqi soldiers...

[thedrifter]

The Fallujah Brigade <br />
How the Marines are pacifying an Iraqi hot spot. <br />
<br />
BY BRENDAN MINITER <br />
Tuesday, June 1, 2004 12:01 a.m. EDT <br />
<br />
In Iraq, apparently no news is good news. Two months ago...

[thedrifter]

Motor transportation keeps Lejeune battalion in business
Submitted by: 1st Marine Division
Story Identification #: 20046964158
Story by Cpl. Shawn C. Rhodes



CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq(June 7, 2004) -- It's high noon in Iraq and the sun's beating down. Temperatures are soaring well into the hundreds and the steady clang of tools and hum of engines isn't letting up.

Instead, the motor transportation Marines with 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines are just getting warmed up.

Their job is arguably the most important in the battalion - without them the 'pride don't ride.'

"We support the battalion and all their transport needs. Basically, that means we haul everything from troops to cargo," said Cpl. Brandon W. Fuller, a 27 year-old driver from Jacksonville, N.C. "If it's here, we carted it in and if it needs to get out, we're the go-to guys."

Motor transport doesn't just depend on drivers, however. The mechanics are the men in the trenches here. These Marines work outside all day and often well into the night to make sure the vehicles needing repair are ready to go.

"We work until we run out of parts for the vehicles that need to be fixed," said Sgt. John H. Vanburen, the 25-year-old motor transportation's shop chief from Rochester N.Y. "We like to get vehicles in and out in a day or less. There's never a break in our work because the vehicles always break."

The section sports 17 mechanics responsible for repairing and maintaining almost 150 vehicles. This stands as no easy task, one mechanic explained.

"These vehicles are used 24 hours a day," said Lance Cpl. Brandon J. Hummel, a 20-year-old mechanic from Philipsburg, Pa. "When one unit comes in from patrol they rest while another vehicle is picked up by the next one to go out."

The Marines in motor transportation take special pride in the fact they can hold their own while out with the infantry.

"I heard about motor-t units in other services," Fuller said. "Their guys know nothing about the infantry, or how to work with them in case you get attacked. Our guys have proven they can hold their own. When on patrol, we've got to know what to do in case we're attacked and our guys have done everything from running ammo to the infantrymen to firing ourselves."

When not delivering or picking up troops and supplies, the drivers and mechanics here rarely experience time off. The needs of their vehicles take precedence over their own needs, according to Fuller.

"When there's no mission out there, we still have a mission here," Fuller said. "Our vehicles we use for convoys always need preventative maintenance in addition to normal repairs."

He explained how even when there weren't any vehicles in need of repair from the rifle companies, their own vehicles had to be kept in top condition in case they were needed.

"We do everything from driving to quick-reaction force here at motor-t," Vanburen explained. "Every vehicle here is our responsibility, and we take pride in doing our job well."

The battalion's motor transportation team distinguished themselves while they still called Mahmudiyah, Iraq their home, in April.

"One of the greatest examples of professionalism and teamwork I've ever seen I saw from motor-t," said Lt. Col. Giles Kyser, commanding officer of the battalion from Dumfries, Va. "One of our vehicles had been hit by a (bomb) out in town. They pulled limping into the camp and people sprang into action."

The colonel described how he saw the medical staff begin to triage the victims and at the same time, motor transport Marines went to work on the vehicle.

"They would have made Jeff Gordon's pit crew proud," Kyser said. "They changed out the tires, replaced the windshield and patched up the holes in the same time it took our battalion aid station to get the wounded off the vehicle and begin treatment."

The vehicle was outside the gate on another patrol a half hour after it was brought in, Kyser added.

"I think I have the best motor transport team in the whole First Marine Division," Kyser said. "I couldn't be prouder."

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/20046972138/$file/motort1lr.jpg

Lance Cpl. Mark J. Hummel, a mechanic with 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, repairs the engine of a humvee. The 20-year-old from Philipsburg, Pa., took his high-school hobby and turned it into a career withe Marine Corps. Along with the motor transport detachment, Hummel is responsible for making sure the battalion can move at any time.
(USMC photo by Cpl. Shawn C. Rhodes) Photo by: Cpl. Shawn C. Rhodes

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/1B64118FCE44119C85256EAE003AC62E?opendocument


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marines, Iraqis use water project to break new ground in forging relationship of partnership
Submitted by: 1st Force Service Support Group
Story Identification #: 200469151915
Story by Sgt. Matt Epright



AL KABANI, Iraq(June 9, 2004) -- Marines from 1st Force Service Support Group joined with the leader of this fishing village, as well as a local Iraqi government official, to break ground June 8, 2004, for a $146,000 water purification system here.

During the ceremony, leaders of 3rd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, were pleased to learn that the project to bring clean water to community residents will also now encompass a second village nearby, potentially tripling the number of Iraqis to be helped.

The visit allowed the unit's commander, Lt. Col. Milt Wick, to meet personally with the village leader and a local Iraqi government official to ensure all parties were satisfied with the incoming system.

Wick also brought 24 Marines and sailors with him to deliver candy, toys, coloring books, crayons and packets of school supplies to the children, while corpsmen assessed the villagers' medical needs.

The unit has "adopted" Al Kabani and visits its residents regularly. Families of the troops ship the donated goods from the United States, so that their Marines can give them to the Iraqi villagers.

"We're very thankful," said the village's leader.

Over the past few months, Wick has attempted to build a strong relationship between himself and the leader.

"I don't see him as often as I would like, but when I do see him, we do good things," said Wick, a 42-year-old native of Winfield, Kan.

Now those good things are spreading to others.

At the direction of Iraq's water ministry, Thaer Handala, representative for the Khaldyah district, incorporated the second village after surveying the project site with engineers a day prior to the Marines' visit and finding that he could do the extra work without any additional cost.

To survive, the approximately 1,000 residents of this village have had to hand-carry and boil water from a nearby lake to drink, a process that still left bacteria in the water and caused numerous health problems.

"This project is very, very important to them because that is the only drinking water they will have," said Handala.

Marines from the reserve infantry battalion, who provide security at nearby Camp Taqaddum, have delivered 3,000 gallons of purified water every two weeks since April and plan to do so when necessary until this project is complete and the people have their own.

"Things are happening for the town. It's very good for us," said Cpl. Jesse C. Kuschel, a driver with the battalion and a 23-year-old native of Springfield, Mo.

The project, which is expected to serve fresh water to as many as 3,000 Iraqis, will also bring jobs to the area, said Handala. He promised the village leader that very few workers would be brought from elsewhere to complete the project.

"Anybody that needs a job from the village will have work," said Handala, speaking to the community leader during the ceremony.

Marines plan to visit the site regularly to assist with the project, if necessary, and to ensure "the dollars are spent wisely," said Wick. Yet, considering the benefits, fresh water for two villages, employment opportunities and the chance for Marines to work side-by-side with the Iraqi people at building their infrastructure, the cost is secondary.

"You can't put a dollar value on that," Wick said.

Al Kabani, like many rural Iraqi villages, hovers in poverty after being overlooked by Saddam Hussein's regime.

"Saddam had millions of dollars. He never did the water purification for the village," said Handala.

Hussein invested much in stockpiling weapons, which now litter the countryside.

"My battalion, we uncover weapons caches. We have blown up hundreds and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, the cheapest of which cost a hundred dollars a piece," said Wick. "Some of them probably cost in the tens of thousands of dollars."

"If that money had been spent for the benefit of the Iraqi people, how much further ahead would they be?" he said.

A Coalition Provisional Authority program that allows commanders to identify and support civil affairs projects in their area funded the contract, said 1st Lt. Johnny F. Luevano, a 1st FSSG disbursing officer and a 31-year-old native of Artesia, N.M.

Marines fronted Handala $100,000, and will make two more installments of $23,000 as work nears completion. The contract for the work was signed on June 4, 2004, by Handala and the Marines. The job is expected to be completed by the end of June.

The project is just one among many the Marines have launched aiming to improve the Iraqis' quality of life.

"It's what we hoped for from the Americans," said the village leader after the ceremony.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200469154322/$file/WickHandalaIsmael040608_low.jpg

Thaer Handala, center, the local Iraqi government representative for the Khaldyah district, speaks to Lt. Col. Milt Wick, commander of 3rd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, and the village leader of Al Kabani, Iraq, on June 8, 2004. Together the three broke ground for a water purification system that will bring clean water to two villages and as many as 3,000 people near Camp Taqaddum. The $146,000 project was funded by a Coalition Provisional Authority program that allows commanders to identify and support civil affairs projects in their areas. Handala plans to hire local Iraqis to construct the system, while Marines will visit the site regularly to ensure the work is satisfactory. The job is expected to be completed by the end of June. Elements of the battalion provide security for the 1st Force Service Support Group at the camp. Wick, 42, is from Winfield, Kan. Photo by: Sgt. Matt Epright

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/F2EB5ADCF95FACBD85256EAE006A21EE?opendocument


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marines start up boot camp in Iraq
Submitted by: 1st Marine Division
Story Identification #: 20046974838
Story by Sgt. Jose E. Guillen



CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq(June 8, 2004) -- There aren't any "Smokey Bear" covers, but make no mistake. Marines are opening a new boot camp center in Iraq.

This one, however, makes soldiers for the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps. Marines from Regimental Combat Team 1 are building up a training facility in Nassir Al Wa Salaam, Iraq. Construction on the facility began in early June and training picked up right away.

The boot camp is designed to offer the ICDC soldiers an abbreviated course in basic soldiering and it's still being constructed. It's housed inside the ICDC compound dubbed Camp India, and is just about fully operational.

Still, Marines are making sure it has all the Iraqis will need to make soldiers.

"Right now we're just doing the basics to make the compound operational," explained CWO 2 Wayne D. Duree, the platoon commander for Operations Platoon, Company A, Combat Service Support Battalion 1. "We have a very long list of projects we have to accomplish because this will eventually be a permanent operating training facility."

Marines plan on giving the compound a face-lift, adding new doors, windows, electricity and running water throughout the housing units, according to Duree.

"We're clearing the entire compound of rubble and excess dirt," he said. "We plan to build an obstacle course and we've already built a firing range for these guys."

"It took us about a week to gather a training staff, build up the camp and make this place inhabitable, and we plan to keep this going for a long time," said Capt. Trey S. Chairsell, RCT-1's assistant logistics officer.

The boot camp will feature not just updated facilities, but improved training programs as well.

Each training evolution will cycle 180 ICDC soldiers through a seven-day session. Training will enhance their weapons skills and drill, uniform regulations and other military customs.

"Our regiment is building this boot camp and our Marines will provide the marksmanship training for the ICDC," said CWO 3 Robert M. Brooks, RCT-1's infantry weapons officer. "Most of the soldiers are fairly new with little military experience, so we have to start off with the fundamentals of shooting."

Marines on the trenches have high hopes for the new facility and the Iraqi soldiers going through the training.

"It's good to get these guys weapons trained by Marines because no one will better train them than Marines," said Cpl. Mike S. Bailey, 22, a heavy machine gunner with RCT-1. "We're not trying to make them Marines, but rather a credible force."

Marines will maintain the training programs for the foreseeable future, but plans are already in the works to hand it over to an ICDC staff. Eventually Iraqi noncommissioned will train their own ranks.

"For now, we just want to instill a sense of credibility in the ICDC soldiers; like teamwork, to stand a little taller, how to wear a uniform and teach them how to build an esprit de corps," Chairsell added. "Our end goal is to have ICDC NCOs train their own guys."

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/2004698524/$file/bootcamp2lr.jpg

Marines with Headquarters Company, Regimental Combat Team 1 build targets for a new range at Camp India, Iraq. The camp is located inside an Iraqi Civil Defense Corps base, which has begun cycling ICDC soldiers through seven-day training evolutions.
(USMC photo by Sgt. Jose E. Guillen) Photo by: Sgt. Jose E. Guillen

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/D83A36987EDD889D85256EAE0040E0A4?opendocument


Ellie

[thedrifter]

1st Marine Division welcomes combat replacements <br />
Submitted by: 1st Marine Division <br />
Story Identification #: 20046962715 <br />
Story by Sgt. Jose L. Garcia <br />
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CAMP AL ASAD, Iraq(June 7, 2004) -- More...

[thedrifter]

100 local Marines headed to Iraq
TOW Platoon deployment could last one year.
Jason Brown
jasbrown@gannett.com

June 8, 2004

LAFAYETTE — About

100 troops from Acadiana will soon head to Iraq after receiving advanced training in California, the U.S. Marine Corps announced Monday.

The TOW Platoon, 23rd Marines, are trained to destroy enemy tanks, armored vehicles and personnel carriers. The TOW weapon system is a tube-launched, optically tracked, wire-guided missile.

“We’ve been preparing for it,” said Capt. Patrick Crawford, commanding officer of the platoon. “The unit has anticipated it and was committed to be involved, and the message finally came down.”

Acadiana has been home to the reserve unit since the late 1940s. The TOW platoon was originally located in Lafayette but moved to Broussard in the 1980s. The unit moved back to Lafayette in May to a brand-new facility, built at 1710 Surrey St.

Crawford said he will oversee the unit as they prepare for Iraq, and he will deploy with them. Crawford has been in Louisiana for two years, after being named a bronze star winner from Operation Enduring Freedom.

During that time, the Marines here have developed a tight working relationship, Crawford said.

“The commaraderie here is top notch,” he said. “That’s what makes this unit special. They’re going to be great over there. There’s no question about that.”

In 1999 and again in 2001, the unit was awarded the General Clifton B. Cates Award, which recognized them as the “finest platoon or company sized unit in the 4th Marine Division,” according to a press release issued by the Marines.

The platoon was activated in 1990 to serve in operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

Crawford said the unit will take part in security and stabilization operations in Iraq.

Sgt. Brian Ardoin of public affairs said about 10 local Marines will be left behind to keep the base operational. Key volunteers in the Family Readiness group will help the troops and their families prepare for deployment.

Crawford said that the unit could be gone for up to a year.

http://www.acadiananow.com/news/html/933BB96B-B45E-408A-8602-2314A9F01E8F.shtml


Ellie

[thedrifter]

THE CONFLICT IN IRAQ
Attack on Iraqi Brigade Shatters Fallouja Calm; Major Pipelines Hit

By Ashraf Khalil and Edmund Sanders, Special to The Times


BAGHDAD — A mortar attack Wednesday shattered several weeks of relative calm in Fallouja, wounding 12 members of a special Iraqi brigade created last month to end the bloody standoff between U.S. forces and insurgents in the restive city.

Saboteurs also struck a pair of major pipelines in northern Iraq, delivering another setback to Iraq's efforts to get oil production up and running.

The violence underscored security concerns as the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority prepares to return sovereignty to Iraqis in three weeks.

In Fallouja, attackers firing mortars and small arms struck a brigade led by former Iraqi army officers that had been brought in specifically to appease the local population. It was the first attack against the unit, which comprises many of the same residents who battled U.S. troops this spring.

The pipeline attacks took place a day after the coalition formally transferred control of Iraq's Oil Ministry and petroleum assets to the new interim government.

Iraq's new leaders faced challenges on the political front as well.

A political rift between ethnic factions in the interim government deepened Wednesday as a key Kurdish official threatened to boycott his Cabinet post until his duties were more fully defined.

The attack in Fallouja represents the first major test of the new brigade, which took control after U.S. Marines moved out of the city last month. Creation of the unit, led by former Gen. Mohammed Latif, allowed residents to police their city, theoretically without the perceived taint of collaboration with the Americans that marks forces such as the Iraqi police and Iraqi Civil Defense Corps.

Although the area around Fallouja has seen intermittent attacks against U.S. forces and police stations in the last month, the Fallouja brigade had remained largely unscathed. Now at issue is how the unit will respond to an attack possibly carried out by fellow residents, and whether U.S. Marines will be redeployed on the outskirts of the city.

On Wednesday, the Marines sealed off the eastern and southern entrances to the city with barbed wire and concrete barriers. U.S. tanks reportedly ventured past their checkpoint on the western edge of the city, then pulled back.

A Marine spokesman denied that U.S. forces were preparing to enter the city. "We are not conducting any offensive operations in Fallouja," Maj. T.V. Johnson told Agence France-Presse news service.

In northern Iraq, insurgent attacks crippled two pipelines — one linking the oil-rich city of Kirkuk with Turkey, the other joining the country's largest fuel refinery in Baiji, 125 miles north of Baghdad, to a local power station. The Baiji blast caused the closure of the 400-megawatt station, knocking out power to part of the surrounding area.

Oil Ministry spokesman Diaa Bakka declined to comment on whether the attacks might have been timed to follow Tuesday's announcement by interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi that his government had assumed control of the oil industry.

At a Cabinet meeting Wednesday in Baghdad, Allawi praised the passage the day before of a United Nations resolution endorsing the June 30 hand-over of power to the interim government.

"It's a great day that future generations will remember as the day when Iraq has transferred from the era of occupation to a new era and got back its complete sovereignty," he said. "It's now the time to start serious work on an inclusive national assembly that should represent all Iraqis without any discrimination based on religion or political dogma, to prepare for the elections that will be held in January 2005."

Kurdish leaders expressed disappointment that the resolution did not endorse Iraq's interim constitution, which they say guarantees them special rights of self-rule. They have threatened to withdraw from the government if the constitution is repealed or altered.

Leaders of the two leading Kurdish parties met late Wednesday to discuss a joint response to the U.N. resolution. After the meeting, a spokesman for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan said that the party's leaders had decided to accept the resolution.

Mention of the interim constitution in the U.N. resolution was opposed by Iraq's Shiite Muslim leaders, including Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who said it would give Kurds the power to veto the permanent constitution when it is drafted next year.

Adding to the political standoff, Barham Salih, a top-ranking Kurdish official who last week was named Iraq's deputy prime minister, told Allawi that he would not accept his new post unless he received more clearly defined responsibilities, according to a senior official with the Kurdish regional government in Sulaymaniya who did not want to be identified.

As deputy prime minister, Salih is to focus on improving Iraq's security. But he complained that the post appeared to be simply "window dressing," the Kurdish official said.

Iraqi leaders were working to resolve the issue and remained optimistic that a compromise would be found. At the Cabinet meeting Wednesday, Allawi assured Kurds that there would be no changes to the interim constitution during the transition period.

"It's serious, but I hope they will not withdraw," said Hamid Bayati, deputy foreign minister and top official with the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a leading Shiite party. "There must be a very serious consultation now with the Kurds."

*


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Special correspondent Azad Seddiq in Sulaymaniya contributed to this report.


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-fallouja10jun10,1,6263027.story?coll=la-headlines-world


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marine Force In Iraq To Grow
USA TODAY
June 10, 2004

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon will increase the number of U.S. troops in Iraq to about 145,000 this summer, from the current 140,000, in recognition of the continued difficulty coalition forces are having in providing security leading up to the hand-over of political power to Iraqis on June 30.

The 5,000 new troops will come from the Marine Corps. A deployment originally planned for this fall will be moved up to August. The first troops in that contingent -- 2,200 Marines from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit -- have already left their home base in San Diego for Iraq. The remainder will come from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, based in North Carolina.

Overall, U.S. force levels in Iraq could rise even higher than 145,000. Marines already in Iraq could have their tours extended to overlap with incoming replacements, said Lt. Gen. Robert Magnus, deputy commandant for programs and resources. How long the Marines now due to rotate home will be forced to stay "depends on how well the Iraqi forces come along and whether there are more troops, or less troops, from foreign countries," Magnus told reporters Tuesday.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the increase in the troop level in Iraq is routine. "As you bring troops in to replace troops that are there, you will have a spike in the total numbers as you do that transition," he said. But Whitman could not say when the number will drop back to the current level or lower.

The Marines headed to Iraq had been scheduled to replace Army soldiers there, but those soldiers will stay for now.

The accelerated deployment of the Marines and the rise in the overall number of troops in Iraq come at a time when the White House had hoped to be reducing the number of troops in the summer of an election year, not increasing it.

Pentagon planners had originally hoped to shrink the number of U.S. troops in Iraq to 105,000 by this summer, but commanders asked for more troops to battle the tenacious insurgency there.

No Army units are scheduled to leave the region before August. The first Army units that are scheduled to leave are elements of the 1st Armored Division and the 2nd Armored Calvary Regiment; they were originally scheduled to leave in late April but had their one-year tours extended for 90 days.

At least one of those Army units might face a second extension. On Monday, Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he could not rule out keeping soldiers from the 1st Armored Division in Iraq beyond the current three-month extension.

"I think (another extension in Iraq) is unlikely, but in the end, we are going to have to do what is needed to be done. Never say never," Myers said Monday during a visit to Wiesbaden, Germany, where the 1st Armored Division is based. "The decision to extend the 1st Armored Division was very difficult, but they are also involved in a very important mission."

Magnus said the request for more Marines, who are traditionally used as strike forces and not occupation forces, will add to pressure that has already pushed the Marines to the point where they will begin having trouble sustaining overseas combat operations at the current level.

"We are essentially tapped out for Marine aviation," Magnus said. "If you don't have Marines and don't have Marines that are ready, you might as well not be in the business."

Because of the accelerated deployment, Magnus said he is "not sure what we will do in 2005" to meet any demands for more troops. "I have to fight the war in 2004," he said, painting a bleak picture of a Corps whose equipment is breaking down and that cannot respond quickly to a crisis in some other part of the world.

The Marines have more than 176,000 active-duty troops. In addition to the 25,000 currently in the Iraq mission, there are also 4,000 Marines in Afghanistan, 1,500 in Haiti and 1,600 in Africa.

"The Marines have not been in a prolonged combat like this since Vietnam," Magnus said. "They can't do that indefinitely."

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Thu, Jun 10, 2004 <br />
<br />
Family sad as Marine departs <br />
<br />
<br />
By DEB CLEWORTH <br />
Daily Tribune Staff <br />
Another Wisconsin Rapids-area family is experiencing the mixed emotions of sending a loved one off to war...

[thedrifter]

Older and wiser: Seabees in Iraq <br />
<br />
<br />
By Charlie Coon, Stars and Stripes <br />
European edition, Thursday, June 10, 2004 <br />
<br />
<br />
AL-ASAD, Iraq — In the faces of the boys at the chow hall, Teresa Dougherty...

[thedrifter]

June 06, 2004

The Iraq we don't hear about
Obsessed by bombs and bullets, the West ignores a political renaissance, says Amir Taheri, newly returned from Iraq



In London the other day the Iraqi national football team met a team made up of MPs, mostly opponents of the war, for a friendly match.
The Iraqis won 15-0.



Six months ago the team did not even exist. But in August, after defeating several opponents, including Iran and Saudi Arabia, the men will stand to attention as Iraq’s new flag is raised at the Olympic games in Athens.

Iraq today is no bed of roses, I know. I have just come back from a tour of the country. But I don’t recognise the place I have just visited as the war zone depicted by the Arab and western media.

It is true that Saddamite leftovers and their allies have stolen enough money and arms to continue their campaign of terror and disruption for some time yet. But they have no popular following and have failed to develop a coherent national strategy. The Iraqi civil defence corps has gone on the offensive, hunting down terrorists, often with some success. At the same time attacks on the Iraqi police force have dropped 50% in the past month.

There is also good news on the economic front. In the last quarter the dinar, Iraq’s currency, has increased by almost 15% against the dollar and the two most traded local currencies, the Kuwaiti dinar and the Iranian rial.

Thanks to rising oil prices, Iraq is earning a record £41m to £44m a day. This has led to greater economic activity, including private reconstruction schemes. That money goes into a fund controlled by the United Nations but Iraqi leaders want control transferred to the new interim government, when sovereignty is transferred at the end of this month.

Despite the continuing terrorist violence Iraq has attracted more than 7m foreign visitors, mostly Shi’ites making the pilgrimage to Najaf and Karbala where (despite sporadic fighting) a building boom is under way. This year Iraq has had a bumper harvest with record crops, notably in wheat. It could become agriculturally self-sufficient for the first time in 30 years.

“Iraq has always had everything that is needed to build a successful economy,” says Heydar al-Ayyari, an Iraqi politician. “We have water and fertile land. We have oil and a hardworking people. What we lacked was freedom. Now that we have freedom we can surge ahead.”

Nor should one believe the claims of self-styled experts that the Iraqis are not ready for freedom. During the past 10 months elections have been held in 37 municipalities. In each case victory went to the moderate, liberal and secular candidates. The former Ba’athists, appearing under fresh labels, failed to win a single seat. Hardline Islamist groups collected 1% to 3% of the vote.

Iraq is like a jostling school of democracy with people coming together in clubs, associations, non-governmental organisations, tribal councils, professional guilds and trade unions to talk about the future now that Saddam Hussein’s one-party state has disintegrated.

On my visit to southern Iraq I attended many meetings in mosques, shops in the souks and abandoned office buildings. Everywhere Iraqis were busy using their newly won freedom of expression to discuss their political future.

Yet this is the one area in which the coalition has done little. Despite the fact that President George W Bush has promised to help Iraq to become a model of constitutional government for the Muslim world, there has been no effort to provide training and logistical support for the 30 or so parties that will contest the election in January.

Pro-democracy voices dominate the new privately owned Iraqi press which, with more than 200 dailies, weeklies and periodicals, represents a breath of fresh air in the state-controlled Arab media.

Preparations for self-rule have been under way for months. All but four of the 26 government departments set up after liberation are now under exclusive Iraqi control. The provisional government headed by Iyad Allawi, the prime minister, has been sworn in ahead of the formal transfer of power at the end of the month.

Iraq’s diverse political groups have manifested a rare degree of maturity by agreeing a draft constitution aimed at establishing a parliamentary government. The final text will be finessed by a directly elected constituent assembly and put to a referendum next year.

“This is a radical change from a culture in which power was grabbed by driving a tank to the radio station and announcing a coup d’état,” says Salih Muhsin, an Iraqi scholar.

Over the past year Iraq has absorbed nearly 1m refugees, returning home often after decades of exile in Turkey and Iran. Some 400 of the 5,000 villages razed by Saddam as part of his ethnic cleansing have been rebuilt. Life is returning to the Ahwar region in the south of the country where Saddam dislodged tens of thousands of people and caused one of the biggest ecological disasters of the past century by draining the marshes.

“We are coming out of the cold,” says al-Ayyari. “The world should help us put our house in order.” But this is precisely what many in the West, and the Arab world, won’t do.

Having opposed the toppling of Saddam, they do not wish to see Iraq build a better future. Arab despots and their satellite television channels fear a democratic Iraq that could give oppressed people of the region dangerous ideas. The anti-American coalition in the West shudders at the thought that someone like Bush might put Iraq on the path of democratisation.

The Arab fear of democracy and the western disease of anti-Americanism mean that media coverage of Iraq is often focused on bad news. The day after the war began we were told that the port of Umm Qasr was to become “the Arab Stalingrad” because a few gunmen fired shots in the air in front of a CNN camera. When this did not materialise the headline news the following week was that the Saddamites were massing at Nasiriya where they would defeat the Americans in the desert.

It is impossible to listen to the Today programme on Radio 4 without hearing parallels drawn with Vietnam or other Stalingrads. Take the coverage of Falluja where Arab nationalism was supposed to be reborn in a sea of American blood. Today Falluja is calm, with the Iraqi civil defence corps in control.

As Falluja, Baquba and Tikrit, Saddam’s home town, calmed down, opponents of liberation found a fresh tune: this time it was a song about a national anti-American insurrection led by Moqtada al-Sadr, the maverick mullah.

But that did not, nor is it likely to, happen. Anyone with any knowledge of the Shi’ite community in Iraq would know that al-Sadr has almost no popular support.

Even Ayatollah Kazem Ha’eri-Yazdi, al-Sadr’s spiritual mentor, has come out against the latter’s forlorn bid for power. Ayatollah Sadreddin Qapanchi made a similar point in a sermon in Najaf: “The people of Iraq are ready to exercise the right of self-determination,” he said.

“All they ask is a chance to choose their government. Iraq shouldn’t be thrown to those who seek power through violence.”

Can Iraq become a democracy? “There is no need to ask the question,” says Hoshyar Zebari, who has retained his post as foreign minister. “Iraq today has no choice but to become a democracy. Our people know that without democracy there will be no Iraq.”

He is right. Even if a fresh despot fancied turning Iraq back into a dictatorship it would prove a nigh impossible task. The edifice of despotism built over almost half a century has been reduced to debris. Saddam is in prison, awaiting trial for crimes against humanity. His ruling party has evaporated and his military and police machine has been shattered.

The Soviet-style economic system, controlled by a corrupt elite, is being rapidly replaced by one based on enterprise and the market.

The new government — which includes five women — appears to be a broad-based coalition representing Iraq’s ethnic, religious and political diversity. The president is Sheikh Ghazi al-Yawer, a Sunni, the deputy president is Ibrahim Jaafari, a Shi’ite, and the second deputy is Rowsch Shways, a Kurd. But it will need strong support in military, political and economic terms for some time, as the increased violence that marred last week’s ceremony demonstrates.

Allawi said he expected Iraq to continue its close “partnership” with the US and European states after the handover of partial powers. He said “friendly” countries would continue “defending Iraq until it could defend itself”.

Key to the success of the provisional government is the perception that it holds real power.

It is imperative that it controls Iraq’s armed services and police and has a real say in how the coalition uses its forces in Iraq. The government must also control Iraq’s oil income and have a say in how the American aid package is spent.

For a country emerging from half a century of dictatorship and three wars in one generation, things in Iraq are better than anyone might have expected. Even a moderate success here could transform the whole of the Middle East.

Iraq is not about to disintegrate. Nor is it on the verge of civil war. Nor is it about to repeat Iran’s mistake by establishing a repressive theocracy. Despite becoming the focus of anti-American energies in the past year, its people still hold the West in high regard. Iraq has difficult months ahead, nobody would dispute that. But it has a chance to create a new society. Its well-wishers should keep the faith and prove the doomsters wrong.


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,1-1135081,00.html


Ellie