Courtesy Photo | Captain Mark Stoneman (left), native of High Point, N.C., and battery commander of...... read more read more
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Sgt. Jennifer J. Eidson
22nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
FORWARD OPERATING BASE NORMANDY, Iraq -- Coalition Soldiers are working to help Iraqis rebuild their country through rebuilding schools and forming a democratic government in Iraq.
However, some 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment Soldiers took it a step farther by helping locals turn their village into a town and elect the first-ever mayor of Hamrin, Iraq on July 20.
Khalid Ibrahim Khalif Aljaboori, Hamrin's new mayor, said he knows he has been given an important position and is honored by the election results.
"I feel very good and I hope to make everything safe for the people of this town," Khalif said. "I know this is a very hard mission, a hard job. I realize I represent the people here and they will help me with this mission."
Captain Mark Stoneman, native of High Point, N.C., and battery commander of Battery B, 1st Battalion, 10th Field Artillery Regiment, Task Force Liberty, said supporting the town of Hamrin with the reconstruction and development process is part of his unit's mission and they want to make sure the people are being provided with the necessary services.
"The town of Hamrin has never had a mayor or any kind of elected official in its history and consequently they were getting left behind their neighbors in terms of development projects and basically just the reconstruction of the country and the democratic process," Stoneman said. "We suggested to them that it might be a good idea for them to elect a mayor, an elected official to represent the whole town."
Stoneman said the locals embraced the idea and began work to elect a mayor.
"They organized an election themselves and they asked us to observe that election to make sure it was fair and equitable," he said. "Basically, we just sat in the back and let them run with it and provided advice and assistants when they needed it."
Khalif said he despite not being at the same level as the surrounding town he still wants to work to better Hamrin.
"We try to make it more beautiful and a city with more services than towns around," Khalif said.
The Coalition Soldiers are working on projects that will do just that for the town, said Stoneman.
"We've sponsored a project to run water to every house in town and that project is pending approval at this time," he said. "We are also trying to rebuild some schools.
There has been basically no money put in the town for about 15 years so schools are run down. Large parts of them are unusable so we're trying to fix that for them."
Khalif said local leaders talked to the government before about these problems, but would not receive any help. He said now the people of the town know that Stoneman and his Soldiers are here to help and are grateful for it.
"(Stoneman) feels about the people here and helped us to make this town," Khalif said. "He listens when the people here talk and he does what they want."
The Soldiers have other projects in the town that are waiting to be approved, and Stoneman said they are doing little things that will improve the town and relationships between Coalition Soldiers and the citizens of Hamrin.
"The smaller projects that we've been able to do, for example we were able to build a soccer field fairly cheaply and quickly, had an effect on the children in the town, because it gave them somewhere to play year-round," Stoneman said. "It's the same with rebuilding a school or running water pipes to everybody's house. If we are able to achieve that where Saddam Hussein's administration failed I think it would go a long way to giving them confidence in their new government and in us."
Khalif said he believes that when Coalition Soldiers leave the people of Hamrin will be able to continue keeping the town a safe and beautiful place to live, but for now they still need some help.
"We have the authority to do that," Khalif said. "We just need the support."
Stoneman agreed.
"I think they have already demonstrated that they are able to take over for themselves," he said. "They ran this election themselves; maybe 50 local Iraqi citizens organized and executed the elections. They ran the national elections in January and they maintain their own security pretty well.
"It is a fairly safe area," Stoneman said. "I am pretty confident that once we leave Hamrin will be able sustain itself as a safe a stable place to live."
| Date Taken: | 08.19.2005 |
| Date Posted: | 08.19.2005 18:47 |
| Story ID: | 2803 |
| Location: | FORWARD OPERATING BASE NORMANDY, IQ |
| Web Views: | 968 |
| Downloads: | 497 |
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