Peace, Productivity Sprout in Southern Iraq
By Scott Hogenson
CNSNews.com
Executive Editor
April 02, 2003
Umm Qasr, Iraq (CNSNews.com) - Coalition officials in the Iraqi port city of Umm Qasr are hoping recent changes this city can serve as a model for the rest of Iraq as American and British forces continue their drive toward Baghdad.
Umm Qasr, a city of some 30,000 people and home of Iraq's largest port facility, was a high priority objective for coalition forces in the opening hours of the war to drive Saddam Hussein from power.
Today, scarcely a week after the combat ended in a coalition victory, local residents are coming back to work, rebuilding the port facility and moving small amounts of cargo again.
British Royal Marines Col. Steve Cox said Tuesday about 100 workers have been re-employed at the port and are receiving the prevailing wage, paid by taxpayers in coalition nations.
"They want to be treated like human beings with a little bit of dignity," said Cox, who described local residents at "royally bemused," when the fighting ended and were invited by coalition troops to work at the port.
"These people were nervous, not quite sure what's going on," said Cox, adding that the problem is compounded by the absence of civil authority.
But a group of about half a dozen local doctors, teachers and other professionals are working with British authorities as something of an ad-hoc council in an effort to re-establish local government without Saddam's Baath Party supporters enforcing the policies of Baghdad, Cox said.
According to Cox, Umm Qasr's citizens have also played a valuable role in identifying local Baath Party officials, most of whom Cox said have been apprehended by coalition troops and sent to "internment camps."
Cox said many Baath Party officials fled Umm Qasr after the coalition victory became apparent, fearing that residents would "take revenge," on them.
Umm Qasr a model for Iraq
A British Army officer said the lesson of Umm Qasr is straightforward. "Life returns to normal very quickly and it's not just normal, but it's also free," said John Taylor, a major in the British Army Royal Engineers, which is also working to restore basic services to the city.
"What we're looking to achieve here is to improve the infrastructure to the point where it's not just as good as it was before, but better," said Taylor.
Among the top priorities of the 500 U.S. and British troops here, many of whom are Royal Engineers and U.S. Navy Sea Bees, was the restoration of electrical service, which was interrupted in the early days of fighting when government officials in Basra shut-off electricity flowing south to Umm Qasr.
Military electricians and engineers, working without the benefit of electrical diagrams, have re-wired the port facility's emergency power station and re-routed the electricity into the city, providing service to about 75 percent of the city's residents by Tuesday.
The response so far from the people of Umm Qasr is positive, according to Ahmed Al-Ghaen, a Kuwaiti electrical engineer who's working with coalition technicians here. "They're fine. They're happy, most of them. They're welcoming us in all ways."
"The port already is working," said Al-Ghaen. "There is more than a hundred Iraqi guys working the port."
Cox said additional workers, most of whom have worked at the port in the past, will be hired each day, increasing the facility's workforce and its capacity to handle incoming freight.
Throughout the city, evidence of Umm Qasr's opinion of Saddam Hussein is on display. Larger than life posters of Saddam are shredded on the ground, and some have been obscured by red 'X' marks painted across his face.
Mueen Adbal Samed Alman Ahmed, a local Iraqi who works at the port, said he is happy to see the pressure increasing on Saddam, but also wants to see a final resolution to the war and its goal of toppling him.
"I want Saddam gone," said Ahmed. "He must go forever." |
