Soldiers of Battery A, Task Force 2-11, 2nd Battalion, 11th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Advise and Assist Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, converse with Iraqi army soldiers while maintaining security during T-wall removal in the city of Samarra, Salah ad Din province, Iraq. Lt. Col. Andy Preston, commander, Task Force 2-11, and Lt. Col. Ghayath, director of the Samarra Joint Coordination Center, led the planning team that developed the Samarra security project, which includes the removing T-walls on the streets leading to the mosque, revitalizing markets on those streets, and installing new security equipment to maintain security for pilgrims, Samarra citizens and the mosque itself. The removal of the security barriers signified vast improvements in security for a once embattled city. U.S. Army photo by Capt. Pete Cox

Two days before the fifth anniversary of the bombing of Al Askari “Golden” Mosque, the security barriers protecting one of the holiest Shia shrines in Iraq came down.

“This is a great day for Samarra, and a great day for all of Iraq,” said Lt. Col. Andy Preston, commander, Task Force 2-11, 2nd Battalion, 11th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Advise and Assist Brigade, 25th Infantry Division.

“I’m happy for the citizens of Samarra, who will finally see their city restored,” said Preston, who hails from Edmond, Okla.

Following the bombing of the Al Askari Mosque, Feb. 22, 2006, U.S. and Iraqi security forces implemented enhanced security measures to protect the mosque and the Shia pilgrims who visit each year.

U.S. forces, working with Iraqi security forces, blockaded large portions of the city with “T-walls,” tall expediently emplaced concrete barriers that have become a common site across Iraq.

After Iraqis rebuilt the mosque, the T-walls remained, blocking pilgrims from the once vibrant marketplaces which colored the streets leading to the holy site.

Iraqi security forces required visitors to be escorted through blockaded T-wall channels to and from the mosque, a process which drastically impaired the tourism-based economy of Samarra.

“We have been working so hard on this project for so long, it is hard to believe it is finally happening,” said Lt. Col. Ghayath, director of the Samarra Joint Coordination Center, a site designed to synchronize the security efforts of U.S. forces, Iraqi army, Iraqi police, federal police and the Sons of Iraq.

“The people of Samarra wanted this for a very long time, and the security forces made it possible,” said Ghayath, who serves as the primary liaison between U.S. forces and the Samarra Operations Center.

The Samarra Operations Center, the command that oversees all Iraqi security forces in Samarra and much of southern Salah ad Din, developed the plan to leave T-walls around the mosque in place until a new permanent protective structure is built, said Ghayath.

ISF will maintain the re-established security in Samarra using additional police, security cameras, X-ray machines and better control of the site, he said.

Although the combined planning team primarily focused on security for pilgrims, local citizens and the mosque, other issues played an important role.

“One of the biggest problems we faced in Samarra was the lack of available employment,” Preston said. “No matter where you are in the world, people with no money and no prospects are more likely to turn to crime and violence than those who have the ability to make a way for themselves legitimately. Re-opening these markets by taking down the T-walls will provide that legitimate opportunity.”
Preston and his task force are not the first to attempt restoration of Samarra to its potential.

Two battalion commanders who preceded Preston worked alongside the leadership of Samarra through partnered efforts aimed at repairing damaged sections of the city and providing small business grants to shopkeepers to help prepare their stores for the day when the T-walls would come down.

“I wish I could see the faces of [Lt. Col.] Sam Whitehurst and [Lt. Col.] Eric Timmerman when they hear the news,” Preston said of the commanders of the last two U.S. units in Samarra—both personal friends. “I know that they truly cared about the people of Samarra and that they would love to be able to celebrate with their old friends.”

Command Sgt. Maj. Berk Parsons, senior enlisted leader of Task Force 2-11, conveyed the significance of the T-wall removal as an indication of progress in Samarra in terms of security.

“The city of Samarra holds a significant place in the history of Iraq,” he said. “Unfortunately, what most know about the city’s role is its contemporary history, specifically concerning its connection to the sectarian violence.”

“The progress of the Samarra government and the Iraqi security forces set the conditions which allow the city to begin its return to its former prestige,” Parsons said. “The removal of the T-walls is a tangible symbol and a phenomenal progression towards the city’s restoration.”

DVIDS

Iraq prepares for H1N1 flu pandemic

Doctors in Salah ad Din province are taking the threat of H1N1 seriously. They are taking no chances in preparing for pandemic influenza.

“They view it as a serious problem,” said Dr. Marcus, an advisor for the Salah ad Din Provincial Reconstruction Team.

With the announcement of the global flu pandemic and growing fears of an H1N1 outbreak within the country, the doctors in Salah ad Din province took action. Weeks of clinical preparations, public health announcements and professional preparations culminated in the mid-July provincial H1N1 Influenza summit in Tikrit, Iraq.

Six leading physicians from the Tikrit University College of Medicine, the Tikrit Teaching Hospital and the Salah ad Din Health Directorate, along with an American preventive medicine physician from the US military, presented on topics that ranged from the epidemiology of H1N1 to public health controls to prevent and respond to an outbreak in the province.

Clean water restored to Iraqi villages

For residents of the villages of Qalata and Khalkhalan, Iraq, access to a cup of clean drinking water is not always as easy as going to the faucet and pouring one. The current water purification plant that supplies both villages no longer produces clean, drinkable water, requiring residents to travel to a nearby city.

But soon the nearly 7,000 residents of the villages will only have to travel to their water pumps to get purified water.

“Local contractors are set to begin refitting the old water purification plant so it produces water people can actually drink,” said Hameed Faqi, the director of municipality for the villages.

“Right now all you can use the water from the old plant for is washing clothes and showering,” said Othman Hassen, a member of the district council.

Microgrants restores business around Samarra’s Golden Mosque

The area around the Al Askari “Golden” Mosque of Samarra, Iraq, once thrived as an open-air market serving thousands of visitors every year. Iraqi and U.S. forces are working to guarantee security, and that means more than safety. It also means rebuilding the economy.

Joined by Samarra Mayor Mahmood Khalaf Ahmed, U.S. Soldiers with the 490th Civil Affairs Battalion and the 25th Infantry Division’s 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, distributed $2.5 million in small-business grants to more than 900 local store owners, Aug. 3 to 5.

Following the bombing of the Golden Mosque in February 2006, business plummeted. Some shops shut down due to security concerns and the placement of protective barriers around the city.

“The closure of the stores around the Golden Mosque truly hurt the economy of Samarra,” Ahmed said. “Many of the visitors to the city would come and shop and provide the much-needed money for the city. With these microgrants, we will be able to return being the strong, economic city that we were in previous years.”

The Iraqi government and U.S. forces have allocated millions of dollars in grants for small-business owners, and to those who wish to become small-businesses owners, to revitalize the economy. The grants ranged from $2,500 to $10,000.