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Fallujah reconstruction to begin

By Pat Jones
December 6, 2004

BAGHDAD, Iraq (Army News Service, Dec. 6, 2004) -- Mounds of rubble choking the scorched streets caused the small six-vehicle convoy of Humvees to wind around, dodging potholes, remnants of buildings, and power lines drooping in tangles or lying on the ground.

Sporadic gunfire could be heard, but it was difficult to know from which direction it was coming, or how far away. Aside from the gunfire though, Fallujah appeared to be a ghost town. Occasionally, another small convoy passed on a cross-street, but no where were there any local people.

This was the scene that greeted Brig. Gen. Thomas P. Bostick, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Gulf Region Division, and Rear Adm. Raymond K. Alexander, commander of the Marine Engineer Group, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, as they surveyed the damage in the war-ravaged town of Fallujah.

The two commanders were assessing what would be needed to assist the minister of Industry and Minerals to restore the basic infrastructure to allow residents to begin returning to their homes.

A food distribution system must be reinitiated, officials determined. Shops and stores must be reopened; commerce resumed. Battered hospitals, clinics and schools must be patched up and reopened.

The reconstruction will likely begin with projects that will restore basic services, Bostick said. He identified an immediate need to repair power distribution lines, sewage lines and water treatment facilities.

Once the basic services are restored, reconstruction efforts will turn to hospitals, schools, clinics and solid waste management, he said.

But even restoring basic services will be a challenge, Bostick said. Most of the city's basic infrastructure was damaged, not only by fighting but also by years of neglect, and sanctions.

Even where there are electrical lines still in place, they are suffering from years of neglect, said Maj. James Orbock, of the 445th Civil Affairs unit. Wires need to be stripped and replaced. Much of the technology and materials used in the infrastructure are from the 1950s, and need to be replaced, he said. The same holds true for much of the other basic services as well, he said.

But getting the basics up and running again quickly is essential to building good will with the residents of Fallujah, officials said. There will be only a short time, they said, to start reconstruction in the city and persuade residents that the interim Iraqi government is there to help them, before human nature takes over and citizens become resentful about what happened to their city.

Military engineers are drafting plans to begin making repairs to the city's infrastructure as soon as Fallujah is secure. As with any construction in a combat zone, security will play a large role in the time table for getting services functional again, officials said.

"Security is still a serious challenge," said Charles Hess, director of the Iraq Projects and Contracting Office, in a recent press interview. But he continued ".we are still moving forward, and we are still working to achieve our three main goals: one, to improve the infrastructure of Iraq; second, to improve Iraqi employment through the use of local Iraqi firms and subcontracting to the maximum extent we can to Iraqi firms; and then, finally, to build capacity within the ministries and within the interim Iraqi government, so that they can in fact do much of this work in the future themselves."

Ambassador Bill Taylor, who is the director of the Iraq Reconstruction Management Office, echoed the need for a rapid start to reconstruction.

"The successful military operation needs to be followed by an equally successful reconstruction operation," Taylor said. "The Marines, who have been doing most of the work along with Army and working very closely with the Iraqi forces, have done a lot of preparation for the reconstruction in Fallujah. They have focused their attention on preparing for humanitarian work. They've pre-positioned a lot of stocks of food and water and medicine.

"They have been preparing to start up on small reconstruction projects, in particular those that will restore essential services," Taylor said. "So people are taking a look and assessing what the problems are with electricity distribution lines, for example, and sewer lines, water treatment in order to get clean water to people. We will then be able to move into the smaller projects of schools and clinics, and then eventually get to the larger projects that will -- that have been planned for some time but have not been able to move forward during the past several months," Taylor said in the same interview.

"We are working very closely with the Iraqi government," Taylor said, adding that he has personally met twice with Minister Hassani on the reconstruction. ".The ministries of electricity and health and water resources, municipalities have gotten together with our folks in terms of the Marines and the Army, who are going to undertake these efforts, to coordinate that work," Taylor said.

Taylor pointed out that military action must be completed first for the reconstruction to begin.

".as you've seen, there are still some problems there. It's not totally done. I think we are in full control, but there are still pockets of resistance. And there's a lot of booby traps and other explosives that are around that will inhibit our work," Taylor said.

Once the security situation allows the rebuilding to begin, most of the work will be done by Iraqi construction firms, Bostick said.

"This will provide work for the local businesses and it will put money directly into the local economy," said Bostick. "Not only will this give thousands of people much-needed jobs, but it will give them a clear picture that it will result in a safer, more secure life,"

(Editor's note: Pat Jones writes for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Gulf Region Division in Baghdad, Iraq.)