Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
FNC
June 25, 2008 By Anita McNaught
Special Report With Brit Hume (FNC), 6:00 PM
BRIT HUME: Meanwhile, in the rough Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, there is a different kind of battle – one being fought on economic terms with victory measured in better relations between coalition forces and the Iraqi people. Correspondent Anita McNaught reports.
ANITA MCNAUGHT: Jamilla market in Baghdad’s Sadr City was caught in the crossfire between U.S. and Iraqi forces and Shi’a militia. Now the fight’s about getting business running again. Last month I waded through one of the market streets, an open sewer. When we came back, U.S.-funded contractors had plugged the leak. Fixing Jamilla market is of tremendous symbolic importance. Get it right and you win the confidence and support of the people of Sadr City. Get it wrong and the city slides back again into chaos and militia domination.
So Sadr City’s legions of unemployed are being put to work on a U.S. payroll. Local security guards have been hired, contracts for street maintenance, power, and plumbing all are being signed as fast as they can roll contractors in the door.
The American military is not very confident in the Sadr City contractors, and that’s causing a rift with the locals.
HASSAN SHAMA [Sadr City District Council]: In order for the people to benefit, the contractors should be from Sadr City. Their laborers should all be from Sadr City. They should not bring them in from the outside.
AMERICAN SOLDIER: It’s politics at play, just like the same as back home.
MCNAUGHT: But the stakes in Sadr City are much higher. This week ten people were killed when Councilman’s Hassan Shama’s office was bombed by militiamen angry they were being cut out of the picture. Though he survived, criticizing the U.S. didn’t protect him against the militiamen. Working with the U.S. made him a target.
In this climate, the military goes with whom it trusts. This wreck of a school and its grounds is one of Sergeant Lugo’s projects. The park was used for Shi’a militia rocket attacks on Baghdad’s green zone. Sergeant Lugo’s turning it into a soccer field and rebuilding the school.
The U.S. military has 86 projects in development worth $14 million, and they’re using many non-local contractors who they’ve worked with elsewhere.
SHAMA: The U.S. government has spent a lot of money, but they spend it according to what they think we need, not according to our actual needs.
AMERICAN SOLDIER: I would say at the end of the day, help us help you.
AMERICAN SOLDER: It takes time.
MCNAUGHT: The U.S. military in Sadr City is struggling valiantly to do the right thing, all the while trying to keep track of how its money is being used.
This local man tells Sergeant Lugo, we hear the money you gave to clean up the roads – half of it’s been ripped off. You need to supervise better.
And when American backs are turned laborers are sent home. The reason: working for non-Sadr City contractors.
The area still needs sewage disposal, a proper power supply, and water treatment. The Iraqi government set aside $100 million for the city, but has yet to start any projects here while the U.S. military is criticized for moving too fast.
STAFF SGT. FRANK LUGO [Task Force Gold]: There’ll be naysayers but, you know, prior to us getting here they said that this couldn’t be done in Sadr City, and we’re going to prove them wrong.
MCNAUGHT: In Sadr City, Baghdad, Anita McNaught, Fox News.
June 25, 2008 By Anita McNaught
Special Report With Brit Hume (FNC), 6:00 PM
BRIT HUME: Meanwhile, in the rough Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, there is a different kind of battle – one being fought on economic terms with victory measured in better relations between coalition forces and the Iraqi people. Correspondent Anita McNaught reports.
ANITA MCNAUGHT: Jamilla market in Baghdad’s Sadr City was caught in the crossfire between U.S. and Iraqi forces and Shi’a militia. Now the fight’s about getting business running again. Last month I waded through one of the market streets, an open sewer. When we came back, U.S.-funded contractors had plugged the leak. Fixing Jamilla market is of tremendous symbolic importance. Get it right and you win the confidence and support of the people of Sadr City. Get it wrong and the city slides back again into chaos and militia domination.
So Sadr City’s legions of unemployed are being put to work on a U.S. payroll. Local security guards have been hired, contracts for street maintenance, power, and plumbing all are being signed as fast as they can roll contractors in the door.
The American military is not very confident in the Sadr City contractors, and that’s causing a rift with the locals.
HASSAN SHAMA [Sadr City District Council]: In order for the people to benefit, the contractors should be from Sadr City. Their laborers should all be from Sadr City. They should not bring them in from the outside.
AMERICAN SOLDIER: It’s politics at play, just like the same as back home.
MCNAUGHT: But the stakes in Sadr City are much higher. This week ten people were killed when Councilman’s Hassan Shama’s office was bombed by militiamen angry they were being cut out of the picture. Though he survived, criticizing the U.S. didn’t protect him against the militiamen. Working with the U.S. made him a target.
In this climate, the military goes with whom it trusts. This wreck of a school and its grounds is one of Sergeant Lugo’s projects. The park was used for Shi’a militia rocket attacks on Baghdad’s green zone. Sergeant Lugo’s turning it into a soccer field and rebuilding the school.
The U.S. military has 86 projects in development worth $14 million, and they’re using many non-local contractors who they’ve worked with elsewhere.
SHAMA: The U.S. government has spent a lot of money, but they spend it according to what they think we need, not according to our actual needs.
AMERICAN SOLDIER: I would say at the end of the day, help us help you.
AMERICAN SOLDER: It takes time.
MCNAUGHT: The U.S. military in Sadr City is struggling valiantly to do the right thing, all the while trying to keep track of how its money is being used.
This local man tells Sergeant Lugo, we hear the money you gave to clean up the roads – half of it’s been ripped off. You need to supervise better.
And when American backs are turned laborers are sent home. The reason: working for non-Sadr City contractors.
The area still needs sewage disposal, a proper power supply, and water treatment. The Iraqi government set aside $100 million for the city, but has yet to start any projects here while the U.S. military is criticized for moving too fast.
STAFF SGT. FRANK LUGO [Task Force Gold]: There’ll be naysayers but, you know, prior to us getting here they said that this couldn’t be done in Sadr City, and we’re going to prove them wrong.
MCNAUGHT: In Sadr City, Baghdad, Anita McNaught, Fox News.