B*N*S*N2

Sadr City Water Treatment Facility Flows

Thursday, 22 January 2009

By Maj. Mike Humphreys
4th Infantry Division

BAGHDAD — Tribal leaders, Sadr City council members, Iraqi workers and engineers, and members of the Baghdad Water Authority gathered at the Sadr City Rusafa Water Treatment Facility in the Hay Ur neighborhood of Baghdad’s Adhamiyah district to witness the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq and Baghdad’s mayor officially open this modern facility, Jan. 21.

U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker thanked the crowd of approximately 200 guests for the opportunity to open the facility he said would help shape the future of Baghdad and Iraq.

“This is truly a strategic project,” Crocker said. “It provides 96,000 cubic meters of water to Baghdad per day, and the United States of America is proud and pleased to have financed this project and to see it through to completion with our close friends and our partners in the mayoralty and the government.”

The Rusafa Water Treatment Facility, completed in October at a cost of $65 million, took three years to complete. It provides 4,000 cubic meters of fresh water per hour to northeastern Baghdad, to include 27 sectors of Sadr City.

“This project is the most important, and probably the biggest, project for Sadr City,” said Navet Al Essawi, Baghdad mayor. “This project and others like it will clear the path of terrorism.”

The facility has been providing potable water to Sadr City and surrounding areas for more than three months. The ceremony served to not only demonstrate a return of essential services to the region but as a symbol of closure for the people in an area that had been marred by violence for so long, said Maj. Brian Horine, the civil military operations officer for the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, who assisted the Baghdad government with the ceremony.

“This opening is about what the Government of Iraq has done for the people. This facility was started more than two years ago when Sadr City was in the height of bad times,” said Horine. “Today, security and stability has returned, allowing this to happen.”

The mayor thanked Coalition forces for their help and guidance in making the new facility a realization and said the project was the first part of a five step strategic plan for Baghdad.

Horine echoed the Mayor’s words, explaining that the opening of the water treatment facility is just a start to many equally important projects soon to be completed, such as an electric substation not far from the Rusafa Water Treatment Facility, which will distribute reliable power to the people of Sadr City.

The mayor assured the audience that the Baghdad government and the GoI are committed to the people.

“The people of Sadr City and their neighbors have suffered from a water deficiency for 10 years. Now they can rest and be secure that they have someone to look after them,” Navet said.

(here)

B*N*S*N3

Ministry of Defense Opens Military Hospital & Prosthetics Clinic for Wounded Warriors

Thursday, 22 January 2009 Multi-National Security Transition Command – Iraq Public Affairs

BAGHDAD — The Iraqi Ministry of Defense (MoD) took a giant leap forward in improving health care for its wounded warriors with the grand opening of the Military Hospital and Prosthetics Clinic in Muthana, Jan. 19.

The new hospital contains 50 ward beds, an ER/trauma bay in the core building, five ICU beds, three operating rooms, and laboratory, pharmacy and x-ray services in attached trailers.

The hospital staff numbers 130, consisting of four physicians, one dentist, 85 other health professionals and 40 medical administrative support personnel. The facility is equipped to provide care for medical conditions requiring hospitalization, emergency care, initial wound surgery, and post-operative treatment.

Before 2003, there were 31 hospitals, 3,000 physicians and 10,000 other health professionals in the Iraqi military. Since that time, all military hospitals either converted to civilian Ministry of Health facilities or were closed. Many physicians fled the country during the early stages of the war, but roughly only half have returned.

“While the Iraqi military still suffers from a shortage of physicians, today’s hospital opening is one large step forward for restoring the capability of the Iraqi military medical directorate,” said U.S. Army Col. Stephen Salerno, Director of Health Affairs, Multi-National Security Transition Command - Iraq. “This step will build confidence in the Iraqi Soldier that the military will take care of its own.”

Health Affairs is the Advisory team to the MoD Surgeon General’s Office for manning, training, equipping and facility development for the Iraqi Joint Forces medical department. Health Affairs staff members invested countless hours over the last 12 months to help prepare the Muthana Military Hospital staff for the task at hand: to open and operate the first military hospital in a new Iraq.

“Without the efforts of a determined MNSTC-I J-7 engineering team, and savvy contracting by the experts at Joint Contracting Command - Iraq, this day would not have been possible,” noted U.S. Navy Cmdr. Jeff Plummer, Health Affairs Deputy Director. “The Coalition has funded and built dozens of outpatient clinics and medical warehouses across Iraq. The Muthana Military Hospital, however, was built with Iraqi funds through the Foreign Military Sales Program. We are proud of the team effort between the MoD and MNSTC-I to complete the project and look forward to future partnerships in health care.”

The prosthetics clinic, officially named the Artificial Limb and Physical Therapy Center, is able to perform virtual casting through laser-image technology, one of the only facilities in the Middle East with this capability and the first of its kind in Iraq.

Senior leaders attending the grand opening included Iraqi Minister of Defense Abd Al-Qadir, Gen. Babakir, chief of staff – Iraqi Joint Forces, Staff Lt. Gen. Hussain, deputy chief of staff – Training, Maj. Gen. Samir, Iraqi surgeon general, and Lt. Gen. Frank Helmick, commander, MNSTC-I and NATO Training Mission - Iraq

(MNF here)

B*N*S*N4

Local Mom

A local Iraqi woman watches her children play in the streets in Al Amnal District in Basra, Iraq, on Jan. 14. Photo by Karah Cohen.(here)

Who'd a thunk it?

Another new section here. This will be snippets that really require no commentary from me, but are note-worthy enough for me to share:

Quartet pre-recorded Obama music

Organisers said the recording was used as a last resort

Millions watching the US presidential inauguration heard a recording made in advance by four famous musicians - amid fears the cold could ruin the concert.

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Itzhak Perlman, pianist Gabriella Montero and clarinettist Anthony McGill did play along - but without being amplified.

Organisers said a late decision to use a recording was made over fears frozen weather could damage instruments.

The version heard around the world was recorded two days earlier, they said.

The musicians, playing John Williams' Air and Simple Gifts, "were very insistent on playing live until it became clear that it would be too cold", said Carole Florman, a spokeswoman for the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies.

She said the cold weather could have caused strings to snap, and instruments to crack or go out of tune.

'Not Milli Vanilli'...

For the rest of this "bit," go to the BBC here.

And then there is this:

AP, Reuters, AFP Refuse to Distribute Obama White House Photo

Thursday, January 22, 2009 12:30 AM

NEW YORK -- Three news agencies refused to distribute White House-provided photos of President Barack Obama in the Oval Office on Wednesday, arguing that access should have been provided to news photographers.

The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse said the White House was breaking with long-standing tradition in not allowing news photographers to capture the president at work in the Oval Office on his first day.

"We are not distributing what are, in effect, visual press releases," said Michael Oreskes, managing editor for U.S. news at the AP.

The news agencies have used White House-provided images in the past for areas in the White House where media access is generally not permitted, such as the Situation Room or the private residence. But they contend that the Oval Office is the public office of the president and photographers should have access rather than rely on a government handout.

"Using these photos would be a major break with established precedent and...

For the rest of this one, go here. Can you see me biting my tongue here? I am.

Dear President Obama

I think you all know how I love to share what our boots on the ground have to say. Today, some helpful insights from one of our best in Afghanistan. Writing on Afghanistan Shrugged, he says:

Dear, President Obama

I know that you just took office about 48 hours ago and you’ve got a lot on your plate; but I thought I’d provide you with a small letter for SA, situational awareness. I’m sure that GEN Petraus will provide one for you also; but mine comes from the trenches of the War On Terror. My team is out here every day making sure that the policies you set forth get carried out; so we see the impact, successes and failures first hand.

First, let me describe the current situation from my fighting position. It’s not great. Currently we’re chasing the wrong thing, that being enemy forces. They can always recruit more people, we need to attack the motivations to join the enemy. Eliminate the supply.

Predators, ROVER and other implements that we’ve paid billions for are most often used to second guess the guys on the ground and tell them that they’re not seeing what they’re seeing. If this seems convoluted it is! It boils down to this, you’re getting shot at and some dude a long way off is telling you you’re not and that by the way you better not shoot back at the enemy.

Logistics suck! No if, and or buts about it. This is day 26 for this team without mail. This is a lot different then you’ll see at the big FOBs where there’s ubiquitous ice cream, coffee and hot chow, and totally different than Iraq. They throw away more than we eat. I haven’t seen a PX in three months and I just ran out of deodorant and soap today, my wife mailed some to me in the middle of December but haven’t seen it yet. As they say, “Amateurs talk tactics, professionals talk logistics”.

There are some great American Warriors here doing their darn best to win the war, but the higher ups are too afraid; so they won’t let them off the FOB to do the work that needs to be done. They track things like how many rounds we expended and what patch you’re wearing on your ACUs instead of issues like how many feet of road or the number of schools built.

So now that I’ve painted a little picture of what it looks like, let me indulge myself and highlight a couple of things I think we could do to close the deal.

Roads, we need more of them. A lot more! This is the cornerstone to building Afghanistan and the government. The Romans were successful not because of military technology, it helped, but because they built an extensive road network. Many of which still exist today and are in better shape than roads in Afghanistan.

Without roads the Afghans don’t really need a centralized government. That’s a broad statement but I’ll qualify it here in a minute. The tribe pretty much provides what they need. The tribe protects them, settles disputes and enforces laws. They’re more than capable of doing this and have been for the last several centuries. They fulfill the basic governmental requirements common defense, law and order.

The tribes though can’t build and maintain roads. Now, you need a centralized government to construct, maintain and protect the roads. You get an influx of money as people work on the roads and they quit getting paid to blow us up and it stimulates a demand for goods and services.

With the road comes inter-province commerce for which you need regulation by a central government; a function a tribe can’t accomplish. Sounds kind of like a little situation we had around 1776. The road brings money, communication and progress. You cut the link between Pakistan and the tribal regions because it’s now easier to travel to the interior of Afghanistan to get medical treatment, goods, services the whole lot.

So with a simple road we’ve now created an environment friendly to the support of the Afghan central government. That doesn’t exist now. It’s a lot easier to explain to the Afghans that the Army and police protect the roads and regulate commerce. Additionally taking the, “this is a war on Islam” factor out of the situation. ...

Be SURE and go read the rest here. If we spread this one far enough, maybe President Obama will actually get to read it. And then he may "get" it...

File under: WTH?????

I have a mission for you all! Hard on the heels of America's newest President deciding to forgo the priviledge of attending a ball to honour our Medal of Honour heroes, it seems the NFL is now snubbing some of America's finest: our US Marines.

From Susan Katz Keating comes the following:

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Pitchfork Alert! NFL Disses Color Guard: Intends to Use 'Em and Lose 'Em

I just received a disturbing email from David Marron of The Thunder Run. David said he was contacted by a distraught Marine mom who wrote:

"My youngest Marine called me this morning. In the course of the conversation he made mention of being part of the Color Guard for the ceremonies at the Super Bowl. He has been part of other Color Guards at other games and has been able to enjoy the entire game after presenting the Colors. HOWEVER, this will not be the case this time. The 12 man/women color guard will be presenting the Colors and then will be escorted out of the stadium and therefore not allowed to see the game. Steven and the 11 others are quite upset about this and have asked that I see if I could contact someone and have that changed."

David M. immediately called the Tampa Bay host committee and learned that the outrage is true, and that lots of other mil-moms are making clear their displeasure. The decision is not Tampa's; it comes straight from the NFL.

Wrote David: What has become a common yet gracious act of allowing a military color guard to stay and watch the game from the side lines, in honor of their service to our country, this time has them being treated as if they are the unwelcome guests, common servants to be whisked away as soon as their task is completed.

David has emailed the NFL for an explanation. I have, too; and so has milblogger C.J. Grisham. If you want to make your own voice heard, send an email to Mallory.Steinberg@NFL.com.

UPDATE: I have not received a response from Ms. Steinberg

(here)

Excuuuuuuuuse me? Seems to me that SOMEbody has some 'splaining to do - and FAST! I am going to email them right now, and see if they can explain this one to me.

Your mission? I am *sure* Mallory Steinberg would just love the opporttunity to explain this nonsense to many of us. You know what needs to be done here. Get 'er done!

Mission Accomplished!

From Little Green Footballs here:

Say Thanks to President Bush

US News | Tue, Jan 20, 2009 at 2:03:20 pm PST

Say thank you to President Bush for keeping the United States safe, at Mission 1 Accomplished.

The folks who built the site are planning to present the comments and logs to George W. Bush’s Presidential Library on September 11, 2011.