ninme

Chrenkoff’s Good News From Iraq, part 30 is out. Some items of note:

And Ukraine is planning to shift its role in Iraq from security to reconstruction: “Ukraine will continue to play a civilian role in the reconstruction of Iraq after the last of its 1,600 troops leave later this year, Foreign Minister Borys Tarasyuk said… ‘We will transform our presence into a non-military presence, having in mind cooperation on such projects as water supply, transportation, the oil and gas industry, the areas where Ukrainians have been known for decades in Iraq,’ Tarasyuk told reporters at an international conference on Iraq.”

Last I heard anything about, specifically, the Ukrainian presence in Iraq, it was that after the Orange Revolution and new elections, the new president was pulling troops out because he had other things to worry about, which was something I was perfectly comfortable with. Of course, the media couldn’t help mentioning it, instead of all the other interesting tidbits coming out of the Ukraine back then, because they just love it when that moron Bush’s policies backfire. Anyway, interesting.

This is sweet:

Spec. Matthew Rosebaugh, 22, of the 82nd Airborne Division recalls his time in Baghdad:

In a suburb south of Baghdad, Rosebaugh and fellow troops employed Iraqis as contractors to rebuild schools, paying them $2 to $3 an hour.

Rosebaugh said this is more money than they ever saw in their lives. He added that some troops paid people to cook meals and gave them $5.

“They almost couldn’t take it,” he said. “It was so much to them.”

Rosebaugh said the troops helped local economy in small ways, buying things from the market or stores and using Iraqis’ phones.

“They would charge you [to use the phone], but it didn’t matter,” Rosebaugh said. “A call to your family is priceless.”

In addition, the troops got water and power plants running again.

Rosebaugh said the press doesn’t show the people who are happy in Iraq, the people whose lives were changed with soldiers’ help.

“The media will show that there are only 40 percent of homes with running water,” he said. “It could have been only 20 percent before.”

Someone was saying (on the radio?) that these soldiers, 20-24 years old, are more adult than anyone their age here at home. It’s true. it’s really hard to make the connection between the source of that quote and the guy they say is 22.

And Iraqi troops have also taken control over the most dangerous stretch of the road in Baghdad:

Nearly two weeks ago, a special force of Iraqi soldiers took up their new post along one of the city’s most infamous stretches, the link between Baghdad International Airport and the center of Iraq’s newly forming government, the highway known as Airport Road.

The first few days proved a hard test for the new battalion of 261 soldiers, according to Capt. Richard Dunbar, one of eight Americans assigned to assist the Iraqis in coordinating their patrols and responses to attacks.

“It was a rough first night,” Dunbar said.

The first attack on the troops came before midnight, and one was wounded, he said. During the next 48 hours, one soldier was killed and another six were hurt, Dunbar said.

Since then the gunfire has calmed down, Dunbar said, at least relative calm for the road that many westerners tend to call the most dangerous in the capital city. There have been fewer attacks, and the battalion has begun to gather helpful information from the neighbors, he said.

Considering that’s the road the MSM loves to talk about; their pet project, their favourite road in the world, I’m a little surprised that didn’t make the news. Wait, no I’m not.