West Baqubah Road Reopens
A road in a Western Baqubah neighborhood that had been closed to local travelers for more than a year reopened Sept. 1.
“This was in the works since early May,” said Capt. Kevin P. Ryan, the officer who coordinated the opening. “My idea was to transition this area of operations back to the Iraqi people and to open the roads up, to give something back to the people.”
To do that, though, he had to work with Iraqi Security Forces to set up a series of three checkpoints and meet conditions required to reopen the road to local traffic. The checkpoints will allow the ISF and their Sons of Iraq partners to search vehicles headed to the western part of the area, long off limits to civilian traffic for security reasons.
“This was the foothold of Al Qaida in Iraq,” Ryan said. “So, they banned all traffic due to clearing operations and never allowed it to come back in because the situation didn’t allow it.”
Ryan also said the road opening was a step forward for ISF members who are increasingly taking on responsibilities in the area.
“For the most part, right now, ISF is in the lead and U.S. Forces have been over-watching,” Ryan said. “The Iraqi dependency on the U.S. is decreasing. That’s the way we need to keep going. Today was one of the steps in the right direction. A big step.”
