Chrenkoff

" 'Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog From Iraq' is not a very good play, but it's worth your attention for two reasons. It's the only political drama in New York written from the point of view of an Iraqi who lived through the American invasion, and, for better or worse, it inaugurates an entirely new (and seemingly inevitable) theatrical genre - the blog play.

"Melding two chic cultural forms, the documentary drama and the blog, the Six Figures Theater Company has turned the online writings of Riverbend, the pseudonym of a 25-year-old Baghdad woman who has become something of an Internet celebrity, into a dramatically awkward series of readings.

"Riverbend (www.riverbendblog.blogspot.com) is a thoughtful writer whose articulate, even poetic, prose packs an emotional punch while exhibiting a journalist's eye for detail. She is decidedly antiwar and critical of the Bush administration, but not polemical. Judging from the play, the tone of her writing about the war is one of exasperated disappointment."

"War critics want to mark the anniversary of the war -- there will be an 'antiwar protest' at my local mall tomorrow and there are all sorts of events planned worldwide -- but a proper way of marking the date would be with a mass apology to the Iraqi people, and to George W. Bush, for taking the wrong side at a crucial moment in history.

"Sackcloth, ashes, and signs reading: WE WERE WRONG, SORRY WE TRIED TO BLOCK ARAB DEMOCRACY, and WRONG ABOUT AFGHANISTAN, WRONG ABOUT IRAQ -- DON'T LISTEN TO US NEXT TIME would be appropriate.

"I'm not expecting that... It may be premature to gloat, but it's not premature to point out the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of the 'peace' movement, which has been apparent since the very beginning."

"Popular pop-folk singer Ivana is one of most prolific performers in this music style in Bulgaria. She is ready to leave for Iraq, along with colleague singers, to entertain Bulgarian troops and boost their morale."

"Marking the two-year anniversary of the war on Iraq, the [University of Pennsylvania] Anti-War Group organized an antiwar gathering yesterday afternoon -- consisting of a booth manned by a few individuals on Locust Walk.

"Few students, however, took notice of the efforts, planned by members of Penn Staff and Students Against War, Iraq Veterans Against the War and the Peacebuilding and Demilitarization group."

"I am not changing a single word of what I have said, this was a case of disinformation, a scandal, castles in the air agains [sic] the truth. I have only stated common sense things which everybody should agree with... We are not an occupation force, we are there to make sure that Iraq can become independent and democratic and we have started this process with the recent elections... We are training and preparing Iraq's future police and security forces and slowly these forces will be capable of guaranteeing law and order, the Italian troops will be able to decrease their presence... There is no pullout plan yet and there has been no reaction from the EU yet."

"Berlusconi has, for the first time, announced his intention of withdrawing troops and that is undoubtedly a positive fact. We must, therefore, induce him to keep his word."

"We tell those whose might was humbled in Iraq and we tell Italy, the worshipper of the cross, that we will continue to fire bullets at you... The longer Italy stays in Iraq the greater will be its losses... Jihad has started to bear fruit."

"3. He showed a graph of attacks in Sadr City by month. Last Aug-Sep they were getting up to 160 attacks per week. During the last three months, the graph had flatlined at below 5 to zero per week.

"4. His big point was not that they were 'winning battles' to do this but that cleaning the place up, electricity, sewage, water were the key factors. He said yes they fought but after they started delivering services that the Iraqis in Sadr City had never had, the terrorist recruiting of 15 and 16 year olds came up empty."

"[Bush] said Italian President Silvio Berlusconi flatly denied [that Italy would start withdrawing its troops in September] during a phone conversation. The president said Berlusconi told him there had been no change in his policy and any withdrawals would be done in consultation with allies. And then they would be dependent upon the Iraqis' ability to defend themselves."

"There's never been a fixed date [for withdrawal]... It was only my hope [to start withdrawing troops in September]. If it is not possible, it is not possible. The solution should be agreed with the allies."

"I want to die as a martyr as my father did. I want to learn how to kill people who entered our country to kill our parents. I'm alone. I don't think that school is something bad but when I hit one of the US guys I feel that I have learned a true lesson, better than mathematics and sciences,"

"The insurgents often use the children as informers and messengers, Abu Omar said, as they believe that the US troops are likely to see them as innocent. They are also used in diversion tactics to distract troops so that insurgents can get to their targets more easily. If necessary the children will also use their guns against parked humvees in the streets.

"US Coalition force officials [say] that they have been informed of these kinds of operations and that some children have been captured for interrogation. However, being under age the children are released fairly quickly, often due to pressure from NGOs concerned about the rights of children."

"In 1967, Robert McNamara, the captain of the Vietnam tragedy, left his post as secretary of defense to become president of the World Bank. So Bush is establishing a bipartisan tradition: you screw up a war, you get to run the World Bank."

"This is disastrous news. Wolfowitz is a member of the Project for a New American Century, whose sole aim is to form a new American Empire to take over the world and dominate it via military might the way Rome once did. Trouble is, didn't these guys ever read their history books? Don't they know that no Empire ever made survived for any length of time?"

"Will the public wake up in time and do something to rid us of these tyrants?"

"Now, how long until Bush nominates Ashcroft for the U.S. Supreme Court?"

"It is entirely appropriate to be not only appalled, but afraid, as these 21st century Nazis consolidate power within the framework of corporate globalization. Very similar to the rise of the third reich with a very similar cast."

"Hey, this is really good news for us in the corrupt 3rd world and we cannot understand the rantings of lefties who proclaim very self-righteously that their sympathies are with us and not with their failed policy approaches defined by closet sefishness, and more likely terrorist symptheisers' funds...

"People, People: Take out your paper bags, place them over your heads, and breathe deeply. He's not that bad--unless you're a hysteric, a Lefty, or a Third World kleptocrat...

"On the other hand, it looks as if Wolfowitz was right about the tyrants of the Middle East. Maybe he can apply the same reasoning at the World Bank and use its influence to help those who must endure the misery of life in places such as Syria and Iran...

"everyone! run for the hills...!!! there is a 50-foot Wolfowitz headed this way, breathing flames through his nostrils...! jeez, people, i'm sure reality is a little more nuanced than your 'here comes the monster' rantings...! keep calling our leaders monsters and see where that gets you... You want the u.s. to withdraw from all of these institutions? just keep putting clare short on tv... it looks to most americans like we are not welcome in these institutions... the u.s. president is a right wing conservative - get over it! we americans get over lots of leftist european leaders..."

" 'In the whole history of Lebanon, we have never seen this demand,' said Ghassan Haddad, the general manager of a leading distributor.

"Haddad says he's sold at least 50,000 banners over the last 48 hours in the run up to Monday's massive demonstration that drew up to one million participants. Asked about his competition, Haddad shrugs: 'Today, there is no competition because there are no goods in the marketplace.'

"Like many distributors across the country, Haddad failed to capitalize fully on the surge in demand, falling short of requests for some 80,000 flags on the morning of that protest, believed to be Lebanon's largest to date."

"As an unembedded freelance journalist in Iraq, I have safely driven through scores of American roadblocks all over this country. I have also spent many hours with U.S. troops as they set up and operate these checkpoints.

"At the same time, like other reporters here who don't travel with armies of their own -- and like the millions of Iraqis who either have some money or are brave enough to participate in their country's reconstruction -- I live constantly with the fear of being kidnapped. We see every day the damage done with the millions of dollars that Iraq's Baathist and Wahhabist insurgencies make from that appalling business.

"So as investigators try to sort out how U.S. troops could have fired on a car carrying newly freed Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, wounding her and killing the man who secured her release, I'm thinking about how checkpoints save lives. We don't know exactly what happened at the checkpoint on the way to the Baghdad airport. But I've seen how checkpoints work, and the American soldiers who man them are anything but trigger-happy. They know the consequences of making a mistake.

"If the uproar over the shooting leads the Americans to further tighten rules of engagement, that will increase the danger to our troops and make commanders on the ground more reluctant to perform these dangerous operations. As a result, more foreigners and Iraqis will be running the risk of being kidnapped or blown up by suicide bombs."

"In America, Gerry Adams is like Jerry Springer - you either love him or hate him.

"He's outspoken, he's controversial, he's been accused of stirring up trouble for many years and his critics say he thrives on conflict... that's Gerry/Jerry.

"Not true, say friends; the real Gerry/Jerry is a peacemaker, a man who uses unorthodox methods to try to resolve unorthodox problems."

"As expected, angry and sad Iraqis have started protests against the sickening behavior of the family and tribe of the Jordanian terrorist who committed the bloody massacre of Hilla a few weeks ago.

"Crowds gathered outside the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad on Sunday shouting: 'No, no to Jordan, close your embassy, we do not want to see you here.'

"However, AFP report said: 'They urged the government to file charges against the family of Raed al-Banna, who the Iraqi media says carried out a car bombing on 28 February that killed at least 118 people and wounded scores more.'

"It's really odd that AFP failed to acknowledge that the identity of the suicide bomber was revealed by noone other than one of Jordan's most prominent newspapers, Al-Ghad!"

"The 'It's Oh So Quiet' star's new-found interest in politics was prompted by America's invasion of Iraq in 2003, when she discovered how many people were willing to discuss world affairs with her... 'I'm not going to talk like I know about politics, because I'm a total amateur, but maybe I can be a spokesperson for people who aren't normally interested in politics', [says Bjork]"

"A new report says the military in Sudan is slaughtering elephants to feed an illegal market for ivory.

"The report for charity Care for the Wild International says elephants are being killed in Southern Sudan, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic to feed the illegal trade. It is estimated between 6,000 and 12,000 elephants are killed each year in central Africa.

"The report claims that Sudanese soldiers have entered national parks to kill the animals, particularly in the northern Democratic Republic of Congo where the slaughter is said to be out of control.

"It is claimed the soldiers are using their government ammunition to kill the elephants and then transporting their body parts through Khartoum."

"We are appealing to the international labour movement to help avert the assassination of a trade union leader, 40 year old Nozad Ismail who is the President of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions in Kirkuk.

"Nozad has already survived two assassination attempts this year at the hands of the so-called 'resistance'. He receives daily death threats. The only weapon we have to help Nozad is publicity. We aim to make the cost of murdering him too high by publicising his case and demanding the resistance stop intimidating him and threatening his life. There is no single authority upon which we can place demands or focus pressure. The people who wish to kill Nozad don't organise openly. This appeal is, therefore, different from cases where someone has been imprisoned but is no less urgent."

"Syria on Monday voiced understanding for China's anti-secession law, saying Syria firmly supports China's efforts in safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity... Syria opposes any form of Taiwan independence, Muallem said, stressing that Syria will consistently stand by China in fighting against attempts of Taiwan independence secessionists."

"The other event was a train ride I took, from Liverpool to Town Hall (these stations will be familiar only to Sydneysiders, I fear). It was mid-afternoon on a sweltering day, I was seated in the lower section of an ice-cold Tangara, and was killing time by idly eavesdropping on a few conversations which swirled around me.

"My ears pricked up when I heard the words: 'f*cking wogs' used in a particularly unflattering manner (for non-Australians, 'wog' is a semi-derogatory term used mainly by Anglo-Celtic people to refer to people with superior suntans). This was closely followed by the loud use of the ever-popular 'camel-f*ckers'. Put together, I figured that the conversation warranted locating."

"A study of news coverage of the war in Iraq fails to support a conclusion that events were portrayed either negatively or positively most of the time.

"The Project for Excellence in Journalism looked at nearly 2,200 stories on television, newspapers and Web sites and found that most of them couldn't be categorized either way.

"Twenty-five percent of the stories were negative and 20 percent were positive, according to the study, released Sunday by the Washington-based think tank."

"An India-born Sikh from California is among the women who are set to trade their makeup kits for an M-16 rifle to join the US military in Iraq. Ranbir Kaur, 19, is a part-time college student from the San Joaquin Valley town of Earlimart in California. By the end of summer, she expects to put her textbooks aside and serve as a supply clerk in Iraq."

"The limits of life in a comatose San Joaquin valley farm town spurred Kaur to join the California national guard in late 2002, two days after her 17th birthday and more than a year before she graduated from Delano High. The $3,000 bonus she got for enlisting was another important factor."

"One year after the worst terrorist attack in Spanish history, the Spanish police continue to uncover and thwart new plots involving Islamic militants, according to senior Spanish intelligence and law enforcement officials.

"Despite sweeping measures to improve their ability to investigate potential terrorism since the bomb attacks that killed 191 people on March 11, 2004, and one police officer in the aftermath, the officials estimate that there are hundreds of people scattered in cells around the country committed to attacking centers of power in Spain."

"How many times do the infidels meet in solidarity against Islam and jihad (holy struggle) ... and stand in the same trench with one thing on their minds; to fight Muslims and abuse them... No matter what you prepare, o you infidels, you will be defeated and will never be victorious because God has promised us victory."

"The cliche is that journalism is the first draft of history. Yet a historian searching for clues about the origins of many of the great stories of recent decades - the collapse of the Soviet empire; the rise of Osama bin Laden; the declining US crime rate; the economic eclipse of Japan and Germany - would find most contemporary journalism useless. Perhaps a story here or there might, in retrospect, seem illuminating. But chances are it would have been nearly invisible at the time of publication.

"The problem is not that journalists can't get their facts straight - they can and usually do. Neither is it that the facts are obscure; often, the most essential facts are also the most obvious ones. The problem is that journalists have a difficult time distinguishing significant facts - facts with consequences - from insignificant ones. That, in turn, comes from not thinking very hard about just which stories are most worth telling."

"He is, even by Iraqi standards, an unlikely leader - a dentist from Manchester [Great Britain] whose only previous cause was supporting Liverpool FC. Yet Abdallah Al Jibouri, 45, an exiled Iraqi who spent more than 20 years in Stockport, has turned his back on drilling and filling to become the reluctant saviour of one of the Sunni Triangle's most violence-prone troublespots.

"He had originally planned merely to check up on his elderly mother when he visited his home town of Muqtadiyah, 60 miles north of Baghdad, shortly after Saddam Hussein's fall. His Mancunian-accented English, however, ensured that he was pressed into service as unofficial negotiator between American troops and Iraqis, who elected him mayor.

"Much to his astonishment - and, he says, to the dismay of his British wife, Sharon - he also became governor of the province of Diyala, whose population is 1.8 million.

"Local insurgents have paid his leadership the ultimate backhanded compliment: they have tried to kill him 14 times, and have put a $10,000 bounty on his head. 'I came for a visit two weeks after the liberation because I have got my mum and other family here,' said Mr Al Jibouri. 'I just wanted to make sure that they were all right. But I found the whole place was really a mess, with weapons everywhere, even little kids with machine guns.

" 'I began talking to the local sheiks and the US army and we hired some police. I thought I'd go home then but they said, "No, you've got to stay and help us". Of course it's dangerous, and the wife back in Manchester worries, but there are a lot of good people out here and they are worth it'."

"- 75% of those responding stated that democracy had a positive meaning, while 9% stated that it had a negative meeting, and 60% of respondents said that democracy is 'preferable to any other system of government'...

"- Demonstrating some misunderstanding of democracy, only 51% believed that the right to join political parties is an essential concept of a functioning democracy. This is perhaps a consequence of the strict single party nature of Iraqi politics during the reign of the Ba'ath Party dictatorship...

"- 55% of respondents somewhat or strongly opposed the idea of army intervention into politics...

"- Interestingly enough, defying Western perceptions of Iraq and regional generalizations, a large majority of respondents rejected the idea of women being barred from government. 68% of respondents rejected the idea of a secular state, but only 47-51% agreed that religious figures should be allowed to interfere with the workings of the state, perhaps indicating a nuanced understanding of the role of religion in government."

"No longer are there sequences of the great man letting off his shotgun into the air, reviewing military parades or kissing babies. 'We might as well have stuck a picture of him on the outside of the screen and not bothered to switch the set on,' was a popular jibe.

"When Saddam fell there was a sudden mushrooming of demand for television sets, decoders and satellite dishes. Banned under Saddam's rule, or at least only available to senior Baathists, these were bought as fast as they could be imported at $350 a time.

"Entrepreneurs made millions as new dishes sprang up on apartment blocks. 7 million were sold in less than a year. 'I thought this country was hungry for food,' one Iraqi sociologist told me, 'but they were hungry for television'."

"Kastro Ishaq lit a candle in the corner of a cave near the northern Iraq town of Shaqlawa. The smoke from the candle rose over the head of Sabah Ismail as he raised his hands in prayer to God.

"Ishaq is a Christian and Ismail a Muslim. In a country divided by ethnic and religious differences, this shrine in the Kurdish region has brought members of the two faiths together for centuries.

"Muslims call the shrine Sheikh Wsu Rahman, while to the Christians it is Raban Buya. 'What is important for both of us is the holy place, regardless of what names it has,' said Ishaq."

"The Iraqi Business Registrar has confirmed that more than 21,000 Iraqi companies have been registered in Baghdad as of January 2005. The Registrar attributed this success to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Iraq Economic Governance II (IEG II) program, which supported training efforts, technical improvements and clarifications of the Company Law.

"The new Business Registry -- which intends to improve transparency in procedures for registering companies -- will provide a valuable resource for companies that need information about other businesses, as well as government entities with responsibilities for licensing and taxing, according to USAID. When complete, the registry will be fully automated, including web-based applications for registering companies and retrieving information."

"He wasn't sure what to make of it when three U.S. Humvees pulled up in front of his Happy House Furniture factory in the Rasheed neighborhood a couple of weeks ago, owner Omar Abdul Hassan says. A man hopped out of the back of one of the military trucks and started asking him questions about his business, says Hassan, 35. Then, the man offered Hassan a loan to help him buy a bigger factory and hire more employees...

"Gordon Studebaker, the man who visited Hassan, is working on spreading capitalism across Iraq, one business at a time. One-time 'fees' can be charged to business owners instead of interest, the International Executive Service Corps worker says. Successful businesses will then have a chance to grow and hire more people, he says.

"IESC is under the umbrella of the Volunteers for Economic Growth Alliance, a group of non-profit agencies who will receive $35 million from United States Agency for International Development to do micro-credit lending programs to businesses like Happy House Furniture. The money is expected to be distributed in the next couple of months."

"Telecommunications in Iraq will become the country's second most attractive industry for investors after oil, communications minister Mohammad Al Hakim predicted...

"However, Al Hakim acknowledged that Iraq needed to get to grips with insecurity before foreign investors would be impressed by its initial 500-million-dollar telecoms reconstruction and privatisation effort. 'We think it will bring a double digit investment, once we provide the right environment,' he told journalists... 'The telecoms sector will be the highest revenue earner for Iraq after oil,' he added, underlining the current low penetration rate -- 4.5 percent -- and the growth potential offered by a young population and network that needs total replacement."

"The contrast between Iraq's Kurdish provinces and the insurgency-wrecked cities to the south is evident in the 100 or so laborers gathered at the main square of this Kurdish town, looking for work. They are among many Iraqi Arabs who have come from unemployment-stricken Baghdad and other cities to earn $10 for eight hours of work in a relatively safe environment. That they are Arabs among historically hostile Kurds suggests that ethnic coexistence is not dead in the new Iraq.

"What draws the laborers, some as young as 14, as well as legions of investors, is a Kurdish economy that is flourishing on investment and capital that has been driven out of the insurgency areas. 'We expect terrorism to continue for another year or two,' said Mohammed Karim, director of the Board for Promoting Investment in Sulaymaniyah. 'We don't hope for this to happen, but if it does continue, the economy of the north will continue to flourish.'

"He said foreign investment, Iraqi capital and laborers continue to flow in. In contrast to the rest of the country, hotels, offices, villas and high-rise apartment buildings are going up at a frenzied pace. An international airport is up and running in Irbil - its first flight took Muslim pilgrims to Saudi Arabia - and Sulaymaniyah's airport is to open this spring.

"Sulaymaniyah, a city believed to have more than half a million people, has big plans for a free-trade zone with offices, hotels and motels for foreign investors."

"The fake palm trees with the Vegas-style lights are still in their places above what was the Dolphin Restaurant on Watan Street, swaying on the roof as garish survivors from the 1980's, when wealthy men from Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia would come to party through the weekend on perhaps the hottest stretch of casinos and nightclubs in the gulf.

"Along with its cheesy palm trees, Basra has survived years of shelling during the Iran-Iraq war, brutal persecution by Saddam Hussein, total neglect of the local infrastructure, and two invasions by American-led forces. The worn but gracious city that has emerged - the de facto capital of a proud, abruptly liberated and comparatively peaceful south - seems to be in a different country from the grim battlefield that much of Iraq has become.

"And if no inconsiderable number of people here have their way, the provinces of the south, home to rich oil reserves but kept poor by Saddam Hussein, will soon become a separate country, or at least a semi-autonomous region in a loosely federal Iraq. The clear southern preference for profit over politics could make it a place where foreign companies willing to invest hard cash are able to do business."

"60% of the Iraqi needs from abroad come through Dubai, reported... As for the Iraqi imports of electronics, electrical equipment, cars, construction materials and foodstuff, 80% of them are re-exported to the country through Dubai... Approximately 500 Iraqi companies have been established in Jabel Ali Free Zone, dealing with re-export to Iraq, especially from China and south-eastern Asia countries."

"A number of foreign consortia, consisting mostly of US investors, recently contacted Israeli government agencies and government company Petroleum and Energy Infrastructures with proposals to renew the oil pipeline to Iraq. The pipeline runs from Iraq through Jordan to Haifa Bay...

"The projected renewed pipeline will follow the same route as the old one, which operated decades ago. A completely new pipeline must be laid for the purpose, with a much larger diameter than the current 12-inch pipeline. A 40-42-inch pipeline is needed in order to transport large quantities of oil.

"The pipeline is designed to transport oil from Iraq to the Zarqa oil refinery in Jordan, and from there to the oil refinery in Haifa Bay. The pipeline will eliminate the need to use the Suez Canal, which has limited ability to handle large numbers of oil tankers. Excess oil reaching Israel can be transported by tanker from the Haifa fuel terminal to other countries around the Mediterranean, and in Europe."

"Senior U.S. officials responsible for the $21 billion Iraq reconstruction project say work is continuing, in spite of insurgent attacks, and the situation has improved in recent months. The officials spoke from Baghdad to reporters at the Pentagon.

"The officials say they have already spent more than one-quarter of the money allocated for reconstruction projects throughout Iraq, ranging from power plants to water and sewerage systems to schools and military bases. The officials say they will soon launch the 2,000th project of the effort, with nearly 600 projects already completed.

"The head of the Pentagon's Project Contracting Office, Charles Hess, says the effort to rebuild Iraq's facilities has accelerated lately, as insurgent attacks have been reduced."

"A player must know the rules of the game before being able to play well. Conversely, a manager cannot build and guide a successful team if potential, capable players are unaware of the team's requirements. These guidelines are appropriate for the sports world as well as for local Iraqi contractors who want to bid for contracts with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Gulf Region Southern District.

" 'As a result of previously held conferences, we have increased, from zero to 250, the number of contractors from which we can draw,' Wes Watson, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Gulf Region Southern District oversees Iraqi reconstruction efforts in the Basrah, Tallil and Hillah areas of operation. In order to stimulate the economy throughout their area of responsibility, district employees constantly seek qualified, capable, local Iraqi firms to which they can award construction contracts relating to the rebuilding of Iraq.

"Since many Iraqi contractors are unaware of how to bid for a Gulf Region Southern District contract, the district frequently hosts Contractors' Conferences to acquaint the contracting public with their requirements. The district recently conducted its latest conference in the city of Kerbala."

"The bloody handprints found Monday all over the shiny equipment at Al Ameen, the newly opened electrical substation in eastern Baghdad, were not a cause for alarm. In fact, by letting Iraqis in the poor neighborhood around the station ritually sacrifice sheep there, the American engineers who financed the project may be showing that they are willing to try just about anything to get electricity flowing reliably in Iraq.

"The project also shows that the effort to improve the electrical supply in Iraq is finally concentrating on individual neighborhoods, blocks and streets after nearly two years of focusing, with mixed success, on enormous power plants and the high-tension cables that form the backbone of the nation's electrical grid.

"The project, the first major substation completed since the invasion in 2003, is a distribution center that will siphon energy from the national grid and spread it around districts like Sadr City, where aging and overloaded equipment constantly breaks down. The station, put into operation with $60 million of American money, will also help cushion the effects of sabotage, letting electricity flow through alternative routes to consumers if part of the network fails."

"Local Governance Program (LGP) staff and the Baghdad Mayoralty continued to plan the further rehabilitation of the city's water network. The approach proposes a comprehensive analysis of water loss, repairs and maintenance, a water network survey, a computerized Network Information System, and an enhanced water control service. Future work will be conducted based on information processed through the Mayoralty's Geographic Information System (GIS).

"LGP and Mayoralty staff work together to collect and analyze data on water treatment units for the GIS; nearly all data has been collected for 2004. LGT specialists began data analysis and will conduct analysis training for water treatment department staff. To this end, LGP also delivered more than 200 publications to the technical training center at the Mayoralty's Water and Sewage Department and installed 50 computers for the Baghdad governorate Water and Sewage offices."

"Last year, the Government of Japan decided to extend to the Governorate of Al-Muthanna grassroots human security grant aid for the Project for the Rehabilitation of Mahdi-Sawa Road in Al-Muthanna...

"The basic infrastructure of the Governorate of Al-Muthanna is particularly under-developed compared with other parts of the country, because of the oppression under the former government, the economy battered by the war with Iran, the economic sanctions after the Gulf War and other factors. Roads and bridges are therefore in extremely poor condition, hampering the smooth traffic of water tank trucks or emergency vehicles and directly affecting people's daily lives. School-commuting roads also need to be improved. To remedy such a situation, it has been decided to provide the present assistance (totaling approximately 2,012,000 dollars or about 220 million yen) for the Road and Bridge Department of the Governorate of Al-Muthanna to asphalt Mahdi-Sawa Road (total length: about 20 km)."

"Sledgehammering a wall of a deserted building inside a US-protected area in Baghdad, Iraqi constructors joined their other compatriots to take another step forward to rebuild the war-ravaged country.

"On the site of the old building, which used to be a center for training special bodyguards for the toppled Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, it would erect an academy that would train professional medical personnel for the country's postwar health system.

"The US-funded program, with costs exceeding 4 million US dollars, was part of an effort to train human resources for the Health Ministry, acting minister Muhammed Ali al-Hakim said. 'One of the major priorities for the ministry is training and capacity building of doctors and medical employees,' Hakim said."

"The scene that greeted one Emory nurse when she arrived in the Kurdish territory of northern Iraq could not have been less like a well-stocked Emory clinic.

"Even basic equipment was in short supply, and there were burn victims suffering visibly in the Kurdish hospitals that she visited. 'It was heartbreaking,' said Linda Spencer, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing associate professor.

"The Washington Kurdish Institute, a nonprofit research and educational organization, asked Spencer to travel to Kurdish territory in northern Iraq in August 2003. She spent three weeks visiting hospitals and speaking with Kurdish nurses about developing a continuing education program.

"Two years have passed since then, and Kurdish and visiting nurses are now using Spencer's program. The training she provided could help establish a viable health care system in the tumult of the fledgling and war-torn democracy."

"- An ITI grant supported the rehabilitation of a health clinic in central Iraq that will benefit 250,000 people. The work will also build the capacity of local medical practitioners and encourage political stability and moderation by demonstrating that positive change can take place in the new Iraq.

"- A $13,000 ITI grant supported the publication of a health care association journal in south-central Iraq. The magazine helps educate health care professionals and the general public on modern practices. Members of the association previously participated in democracy trainings organized by USAID's Local Governance Program, and are now working to reestablish health care facilities and disseminate medical information.

"- A $57,481 ITI grant helped to renovate a primary health care clinic in south central Iraq, providing new windows and doors, roof repair, and the installation of sanitation and water systems. The grant also supported discussions with diverse community groups who identified improved health care facilities as a community priority.

"- An ITI grant valued at $53,163 allowed a second primary health care clinic in south central Iraq to rehabilitate its facilities. The grant provided the labor and equipment needed to install new doors and windows, repair the roof, sanitize the water system and replace damaged tiles."

"More than 8,500 books have been delivered to five Iraqi Universities with the support of USAID's Higher Education and Development (HEAD) program. The books include disciplines such as engineering, law, medicine, dentistry, art history, anthropology, foreign languages, biology, chemistry, physics, women's studies, and electronics. One of the largest book drives in the world, this initiative has involved book collection and cataloging by discipline, dividing books between the five participating Iraqi Universities, and finally packing and shipping the books to each school. The books have been donated by individuals, book stores, publishing companies, and other organizations from around the globe, ranging from the London Mathematical Society to university students in India. Most donations came from University of Oklahoma students and faculty."

"United Nations bodies have begun a series of projects to improve agricultural production in Iraq, including irrigation, fertilizers and the building of skills, the world organization's mission in the country announced today.

"The UN Development Group Trust Fund (UNDG TF) is carrying out a $35 million programme to strengthen basic irrigation and drainage engineering as well as farming skills in Iraq. The programme also seeks to encourage professionals and technicians from different disciplines to work together to benefit farmers.

"For its part the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has distributed 500 tons of fertilizers to nearly 4,000 beneficiaries in Basra, Missan, Muthana and Thi-Qar governorates, and is procuring $6.8 million worth of equipment and livestock under a UNDG TF supported programme."

"The family of marsh Arabs who had lived in this smashed house was named Tweresh, said Hamid Muhammad Hashim, walking carefully over the fallen bricks in his cracked leather sandals. He had visited them; his cousin used to live right over there, Hashim said, pointing to another ruin sitting amid the rubble of its collapsed roof.

"A dike that Saddam Hussein's government finished nine years ago had drained this marsh, once part of an incomparable ecosystem in southern Iraq spread across 18,000 square kilometers, or 7,000 square miles, that Saddam systematically destroyed.

"After sealing this dike, the government gave families 24 hours to leave and never come back, Hashim said. The ruined houses were left sitting on dusty little hills in a barren and bone-dry desert. He was 15 then.

"But when Saddam's government fell in April 2003, villagers went to the dike and gouged holes in it using shovels, bare hands and at least one piece of heavy equipment, a floating backhoe.

"Since then, something miraculous has occurred: reeds and cattails have sprouted up again; fish, snails and shrimp have returned to the waters; egrets and storks perch on the jagged remains of the walls, coolly surveying the territory as if they had never left."

"Throughout the month of January, UNICEF distributed about 21 million liters of drinking water in Baghdad through water tankers. Approximately 20 million liters, benefiting 180,000 people, were provided mainly in the eastern parts of Baghdad city, where water services have been almost completely disrupted for some time. UNICEF also provided water tankering services in the Western part of Baghdad for several days, after a bomb blast created a serious leak in the water main of one of the two major water treatment plants, which serves about half the population of Baghdad. This emergency response provided approximately one million liters of water to about 40,000 people."

"Oak Grove Lower Elementary first-grader Mackenzie Kendrick drew a card filled with hearts and squiggle lines to send to children in Iraq on Friday. But it was the message inside that nearly brought a tear to her teacher, Mary McCoy's eyes. 'We know you guys are sweet,' Kendrick's card said. 'We have some shoes for you. I hope you guys are safe. I hope you have a nice day. We are doing this from the heart.'

"McCoy's class at Oak Grove is participating in Operation Shoe Share, a humanitarian effort in which students donate shoes to Iraqi schoolchildren, many of whom do not own any. Operation Shoe Share started as the result of an online posting by Sgt. Lamar Price with the 278th Regimental Combat Team at Camp Caldwell in Iraq."

"Scott Walton studied government history in college. The U.S. Army trained him as an armor officer. He knew nothing about water-treatment plants or electrical substations.

"But in his year as a cavalry company commander in Iraq, Capt. Edward S. Walton has spent as much time dealing with electrical power, sewage and garbage collection as he has fighting the insurgency. He's now a resident expert in what the Army calls SWET - sewage, water, electricity and trash.

"President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld have spoken recently of shifting the emphasis in Iraq from combat to training the nation's security forces. But equally important to the military effort, top commanders say, is a vast sweep of projects designed to improve the basics of day-to-day life.

"Soldiers such as Walton are at the forefront of a long, tedious and often frustrating endeavor. Building water-treatment plants and setting up garbage-collection routes is hardly glamorous, and work is regularly brought to a halt by insurgents. But the infrastructure projects are the third pillar of the U.S. exit strategy, along with battling insurgents and training Iraqi forces."

"Utah National Guard soldiers returning home on Saturday recounted their yearlong deployment in Iraq - overseeing the construction of schools, Iraqi police stations, watchtowers and security checkpoints and paving the Main Supply Route, dubbed 'MSR Tampa,' a road all U.S. convoys must travel.

" 'MSR Tampa was nothing more than a goat trail when we got there,' said Sgt. 1st Class Jay Howard, of West Jordan. 'The dust got so thick that there were several head-on collisions.' Howard was among 80 soldiers from the guard's 115th Engineer Group who landed at the Air Guard Base near Salt Lake

"Among their souvenirs is a metal spike painted gold, used in a ceremony marking the paving of MSR Tampa after two Iraqi contractors, working from the north and south, met. The ceremony at the Tallil Air Base in southern Iraq was reminiscent of the 1869 celebration of the driving of a golden spike that linked the transcontinental railroads at Promontory Summit in northern Utah."

"American troop deaths in Iraq fell to the lowest level in seven months in February, preliminary Pentagon statistics show. Initial tallies show 58 U.S. troops were killed in February, the smallest number since July.

"One of the reasons for the drop in U.S. casualties seems to have been the decision by insurgents to shift their attacks toward Iraqi security forces and other Iraqi targets. For example, a suicide attack on police and army recruits in Hillah, south of Baghdad, on Monday killed at least 125.

"Senior U.S. commanders have said the war may be entering a new phase. Among the reasons they have cited:

"- The Army and Marines have dramatically improved their ability to electronically jam remotely detonated roadside bombs.

"- The military is getting better intelligence on the insurgents. 'We have had a lot more intelligence tips since the election,' said Gen. John Abizaid, who commands all U.S. forces in the Middle East.

"- Abizaid also said the insurgents were able to field only an estimated 3,500 attackers during nationwide elections Jan. 30. Prior estimates had put the number of insurgents at roughly 20,000."

"In a few days the control of Bataween, a densely and low-income quarter in the heart of Baghdad, will be solely Iraqi forces' responsibility, according to a senior National Guard officer. Brigadier Abdujabbar Khalaf said by the transfer of Bataween to Iraqi authority, his forces will be in full control of four major areas of Baghdad.

"Khalaf, commander of National Guard 40th Brigade, said his troops recently were intensifying their presence in Baghdad and have recently foiled two suicide bomb attacks. 'Our troops receive intensive training on how to search houses and storm trouble spots. They currently receive courses on how to use the Internet and other electronic gadgets to boost their confidence. It is the first time we have such things in the Iraqi army,' he said.

"Iraqi troops are now fully in charge of security in the district of Adhamiya, the old Muthana Airport and the restive al-Haifa Street."

"On April 9, 2003, Mohammed Faik Raouf aimed his surface-to-air missile launcher at a US Apache helicopter and pulled the trigger. The weapon failed and the chopper was unharmed.

"The day marked the demise of Saddam Hussein's regime, but only a temporary end to Raouf's military career. Now he's back in action as a general in the new US-trained Iraqi army...

"His beat covers Haifa Street, a rebel hotspot regarded as the most dangerous district in Baghdad. But it is on a symbolic level that the general's territory is most important...

"Mohammed, who was an air defence commander in Saddam's army - he likes to boast that he shot down a US fighter jet over Baghdad in the 1991 Gulf War - is being watched with interest. The 39-yearold general, who speaks good English, clearly relishes the role he has been given.

"And despite the dangers his new role brings, he is living up to the expectations of his US army trainers...

"The general stopped on several occasions, closely surrounded, as ever, by his bodyguards, to listen to locals' complaints about the lack of electricity, running water and security. 'I'm not a traitor, I'm a good guy, but I need to get the terrorists out of this country,' he told one group that gathered around him."

With all that concerted action, what used to be the most dangerous street in Baghdad in now getting a lot safer:

"The back alleys and dense apartment buildings of Baghdad's Haifa Street once were all the protection that Saad Jameel needed after he lobbed grenades at Iraqi policemen or fired machine-gun rounds at American convoys.

"He'd strike at will, dip into a warren of bullet-pocked storefronts and hide among neighbors he's known all his life. Confident and safe, Jameel sometimes chuckled as the troops he had just ambushed fired blindly at an attacker who was long gone.

"One day last month, however, Jameel's name turned up on a most-wanted list broadcast on al-Iraqiya, Iraq's state-run television channel. He was amazed at how much the authorities knew about him: his leadership of an insurgent cell on Haifa Street, his involvement in a string of attacks on Iraqi security forces, even his aliases.

"Jameel's safe zone crumbled as the U.S. and Iraqi forces he'd battled went on the offensive with patrols, mass arrests and a hotline for informants. He fled his neighborhood, his cell was paralyzed, and half his men were taken into custody.

"For the first time, Jameel conceded in an interview earlier this week, insurgents along Baghdad's meanest street are feeling squeezed."

"Iraqi troops have spread their control over Mosul, according to Interior Minister Falah al-Naqeeb.

"Insurgents controlled Mosul, the country's second largest city last November, after overrunning its 12 police stations. 'Mosul was on the point of collapse from the security point of view and under threat from organized gangs,' the minister said in an interview.

" 'The Interior Ministry was forced to take urgent measures, ferrying troops and commandos who have managed to return tranquility and stability to the city,' Naqeeb said. The minister said the troops have now established 'an intelligence and information' gathering center in the city which is receiving full cooperation from residents. The rallying of the city's nearly 1.7 million people behind Iraqi troops, according to Naqeeb, has been the catalyst for the latest success in Mosul.

"He said the troops have seized 500 suspects 'who were members of Mosul's most dangers armed gangs.' Of these, 200 were 'ring leaders who administered terrorist groups financed from abroad,' he said. He said his ministry had evidence that the suspects were responsible 'for crimes of kidnapping, murder, explosions and car bombs.' He said the ministry's specially trained commando units carried out house-to-house searches in the city and broke up 'scores of (criminal) cells and networks'."

"A distraught mother, dressed in black, stares into a TV camera and declares, 'I smashed the terrorist' with a shoe. 'He killed my son.' The camera then focuses on the alleged murderer, Mohammed Adnan, who is facing the grieving woman and her sobbing grandson. The teenage boy says that Adnan, whose left eye appears swollen, was dressed as a police officer when he came to their home last fall and took his father away, never to be seen again.

"The professional-looking videotapes, which began airing recently on the government-owned Iraqia television network, are among the most dramatic in an ongoing series of insurgent 'confession' videos that have galvanized Baghdad. The one-hour tapes are a sort of reality TV program whose aim is to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people. Aired twice a day, they serve as a counterpoint to the now-familiar images shot by insurgents of cowering hostages and beheadings. They are also a centerpiece of an intense government campaign designed to convince an edgy population that the fledgling Iraqi government and its hard-hit security forces are making Iraq safer."

"Iraq is rich not only in petroleum, but also for its agriculture and tourism potential. For years, the country had been impoverished by the regime which had turned Iraq into one big military barrack. Now, the economy is picking up and all sort of goods are on the market. During the embargo, nothing was available. Things have improved also in terms of salaries. For example, at one time a university professor earned just 10 dollars a month and was thus forced to find other ways to make ends meet, such as selling newspapers, driving a taxi, and so on. Instead, now, depending on various factors, he earns somewhere between 700 and 1400 dollars per month."