2007 Press Releases
Civilian, Military Cooperation Top Priority for PRTs
(Muthanna team extends outreach with military help)
By Barry Greenberg
State Department Special Correspondent
December 20, 2007
Tallil, Air Base -- It’s hard to imagine more rugged living conditions in Iraq than those found on a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) -- The State Department-led outposts scattered throughout Iraq’s 18 provinces. Yet U.S. civilian volunteers and troops are sharing those hardships and cooperating to help reconstruct and stabilize Iraq’s southern-most province.
The main goal of the 700 civilian and military members of the 28 PRTs in Iraq is to strengthen the capacity of people at provincial and local levels to rebuild their own nation through funding and expertise provided by team members representing agencies like the Departments of Justice, Agriculture and Treasury. Funding and expertise is also provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
Now, thanks to the U.S. military, the Muthanna PRT is looking to ramp up its effectiveness and extend its reach into the remote province by using Combat Outpost 6 (COP 6) as a mission support base in the province. The COPS are rugged security outposts manned by U.S. troops on a rotating basis.
Muthanna PRT is located at Tallil Air Force Base near Nasiriyah in Dhi Qar province—a two-hour drive from Muthanna’s provincial capital. Given the area’s comparatively permissive security environment, members of the PRT travel frequently throughout the province to meet with civil and tribal leaders, survey project sites for new roads and schools, and enjoy luncheon feasts in traditional tribal mudhifs as guests of the local sheikhs.
However, a common source of frustration for PRT team leader Paul O’Friel has been the limited amount of daylight to work in Muthanna. Speaking to Colonel Charles Flynn, the commanding officer for the 82nd Airborne brigade based at Tallil, O’Friel voiced his frustration and expressed his team’s need to spend more time in the province. The result was permission for the PRT to use COP 6 as a mission support site in the province, extending the team’s day-light reach into Muthanna.
The outpost is located within Muthanna along route Tampa (the main military supply route from Kuwait to Baghdad), provides a secure environment for meetings and overnight accommodations, and shaves more than an hour off of the PRT’s Tallil-based commute to Muthanna’s population centers.
Col. Flynn wasted no time in helping the PRT set up at the outpost and team members are now enjoying COP 6’s spartan but gracious hospitality courtesy of Army Captain Michael Donahue. “We will do everything possible to help the PRT fulfill its mission in Muthanna,” pledged Cpt. Donahue, in one of the early preparatory meetings, “and keep your team safe in the process.”
A twenty-man bunkhouse easily accommodated PRT members who enjoyed a good night’s sleep and were more than ready for their meeting with thirty local sheikhs later the next day. Agricultural expert Dr. Indu Ram was especially pleased noting the new base increased productivity and efficiency by adding “precious daylight hours to our site surveys in the province.”
Using the new base, Mr. O’Friel and his team made a number of site visits throughout the province —the bread and butter of the PRT’s outreach strategy. At the Al Towm village, for instance, Mr. O’Friel reviewed a proposal to construct a Water Compact Unit (WCU) that would provide the area’s first clean water supply. The site met the PRT’s requirements for providing “the most good to the greatest number of people,”
The team also visited the Ashaur asphalt factory where the PRT conducted an assessment for technical and financial assistance so the factory could resume operations. As the only non-agricultural employer in the area, many jobs depend on successful factory operations.
PRT member Christopher Wells added that the cooperation between the 82nd and the PRT within the walls of COP 6 mirrors their joint engagement strategy throughout the surrounding villages. “We’re able to help the 82nd project a more compassionate image and that creates a safer operating environment for all of us,” he said.
Once the cooperative precedent between the 82nd and the PRT had been established, others have already taken advantage of COP 6’s hospitality and geographic proximity. USAID representative to Muthanna PRT, Sean Osner, recently returned from an overnight trip there to assess quick-impact agricultural projects.
“COP 6 is a platform that easily enables a development practitioner such as me to outreach directly to the Iraqi people,” he noted. “The community members with whom I met were extraordinarily welcoming and understand the importance of working together for a better Iraq.”