Muqtada al-Sadr disrupted and brutally ended the lives of innocents and Allied soldiers, but according to Central Command, failed to make a dent in the progress of rebuilding Iraq:
During combat operations in Najaf, I Marine Expeditionary Force’s 3rd Civil Affairs Group continued work on several projects that had been underway well before militia forces triggered three weeks of fighting there....Construction of the Sadeer Canal in An Najaf and a new bridge in Qadisiyah are almost complete. Repairs and reconstruction on the An Najaf Teaching Hospital are ongoing. A recent flooding problem has been stabilized and pipes and pumps are being brought in from Baghdad to fix the problem. Civil Affairs will help in the reconstruction of government buildings damaged in the fighting. New construction includes plans for a building that will house the Provincial Council, which is currently collocated with the Governor’s office.
Schools and mosques in both Najaf and Kufa will be refurbished, repaired and where necessary, rebuilt. A women’s center for Internet and newspaper access is under construction in Qadisiyah in order to improve the flow of information to residents in the area. Other projects include reconstruction of Misain and the Taha Hussein School, Al Sahla Mosque in Kufa repairs, clean-up of the Al Faris Al Arabi, Maarifa Nahil and Nabu Khuth Nasir Schools in Najaf, and Qadisiyah Teachers Union construction.
One of the lingering marks of terrorist mayhem since April has been its effect on physical reconstruction; Engineering News Record has been particularly attentive to constant frustrations to Iraq's oil exportation. Journalists have run a narrative sidecar to that reality, however; one that portrays every square inch of Iraq as dangerous, targeted and condemned to deterioration and collapse. A favorite description for Najaf has been a deserted, wrecked city; that even if al-Sadr's Mahdi gangs had been flattened again and the false cleric forced to advertise for street thugs with no sense of small-unit tactics or self-preservation, any semblance of restoration had been shattered, requiring everyone to pick up the pieces and start over at greater physical and political disadvantage. But this report shows another dimension of failure on behalf of Iran and their Islamist rabble-rouser, one that exemplifies the hard-won success that Iraq is on the path to becoming. Despite terrorist attacks, intimidation and destruction, Iraq and its people, helped by an American-led alliance, reclaim the dignity granted them by their Maker; their spirits haven't been broken, so why their walls and bridges?
THE PRESS AND ITS NARRATIVES: By now we've all heard or read of a precision attack on terrorists in Fallujah. Press reports ensure the claims of civilian deaths from insurgent-influenced, local officials are published. As usual, the military provides clarity: the target in question was a couple of buildings, surrounded by a field. Just a schoolboy clubhouse, eh, conducting a routine execution?
