Courtesy Photo | Soldiers with 1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, attached to the 2nd Brigade Combat...... read more read more
Maj. Chris Budihas
1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment
BAGHDAD - After four years of brutal fighting between insurgents, the Iraqi army and coalition forces, most of west Mansour's local population, is tired of the ravages of war that has prevented any sort of normalcy in this area since Saddam's regime reigned.
When Task Force 1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, from Fort Stewart, Ga., attached to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), arrived in Mansour in mid-June, the battalion was conducting full spectrum combat operations with a daily average of up to fifteen significant enemy events per day.
However, due to the battalion's aggressive operations in cooperation with the Iraqi army battalion they partnered with, 1-64 AR reduced violent activities to a daily average of zero to three enemy events daily.
Due to this new found security, local tribal and civic leaders in the Baghdad neighborhood of Jamia are forming a reconciliation committee. Sheik Wisham al Summaidi, a long-time resident of Jamia, has stepped forward to form this committee that will serve to be a voice for the local population to improve their municipal services and facilitate discussion about the return of former local residents who fled the area due to the violence that used to reign in the streets.
Now that the area is secured, former residents want to return to their homes, many of which have been occupied by displaced families from other areas of the city. This committee, chaired by Sheik Washim, would explore solutions to this complicated matter of resettling currently displaced people living in Jamia, while bringing back the original residents.
During a recent meeting, Dec. 8, Lt. Col. Edward Chesney, battalion commander; Maj. Chris Budihas, battalion operations officer; and Capt. Mark Battjes, Company B commander, met with Sheik Washim and the other representatives of the Jamia-Adl Support Council.
The group discussed some of the details surrounding functions that the council will perform and how it will integrate with the elected local government effort – the Neighborhood Advisory Council in Jamia. The chairman explained the committee's structure, membership, and all their goals to these coalition leaders. This successful meeting sets the stage for further dialogue between coalition and the committee, which will undoubtedly bring further stability to this former Iraqi "ghost town."
| Date Taken: | 12.13.2007 |
| Date Posted: | 12.13.2007 16:13 |
| Story ID: | 14685 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 541 |
| Downloads: | 517 |
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