2007 Press Releases
PRTs Close Year in Iraq with Record of Achievement
(Secretary Rice cites steady progress after Iraq visit)
By Jim Fisher-Thompson
State Department Correspondent
December 31, 2007
Baghdad – Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) closed out 2007 with a record of success helping Iraqis rebuild a war-shattered economy while stabilizing their communities thanks, to increased security spurred by the military surge ordered by President Bush earlier in the year.
In areas that were once dominated by terrorists, like Anbar Province and Baghdad, more Iraqis are going to school, establishing small businesses and learning to budget resources thanks to the civilian/military PRTs that operate in cooperation with local partners.
A witness to that success was Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who after a quick one-day visit to Iraq recently told a State Department press conference that 2007 was “a positive year for Iraqis,” in part, because “the surge of our Provincial Reconstruction Teams is facilitating reconstruction and reconciliation at the local level, as I just saw firsthand in Kirkuk.”
During her December 18 stop in Kirkuk, Rice was briefed by PRT leader Howard Keegan who cited several successful programs his team conducted in 2007 including the refurbishment of a vocational technical school that serves as a job-creation spur to the local economy.
With that in mind, Rice told Washington journalists, “I think that we’ve seen progress in Iraq.” But, “All of this, of course, is still fragile and in the year to come, we will need to continue to help Iraqis translate security gains into lasting political progress. To be sure, serious challenges remain in Iraq, but they are increasingly the challenges of building on positive developments.”
Some of those positive developments are due to the more than 10 “embedded” PRTs, or EPRTs that work closely with the U.S. military in Anbar and areas of Baghdad as part of President Bush’s “New Way Forward” strategy.
Established after the military surge begun last summer, the EPRTS focus on developing governance and civil capacity with local authorities on the sub-provincial level in close cooperation with U.S. military units on which they depend for support and expertise.
The EPRTs, Rice said, are having some success working with local governing bodies and civic groups to build capacity and further reconciliation in the areas liberated from insurgent dominance. “Now, the key is to make those provincial and local developments -- that political reconciliation – [rise] to national-level legislation, political processes, [and] some of it is happening.”
Some noted EPRT achievements for 2007 included:
- The opening of the Fallujah Business Development Center in Anbar with funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Community Stabilization Program (CSP). With help from the PRT, the local Chamber of Commerce and the CSP staff are now reviewing grant applications for 400 local small businesses;
- holding a regional security summit in Taji sponsored by an EPRT located in Baghdad and facilitated by a Brigade from the 1st Cavalry Division. One hundred sheikhs from the Taji area met to discuss cooperating on security issues with strong participation by the Iraqi military and police and Coalition Forces. The Taji area is critical for security in the north of Baghdad and is strategically positioned where the provinces of Baghdad (province), Anbar, Salah ad Din and Diyala join;
- the opening of an agricultural bank in Ramadi by an EPRT located in Anbar Province. The Agricultural Bank of Ramadi closed in 2004, when terrorists occupied it. Now the facility is completely renovated and ready to support local agriculture. This is critical to the province, which depends highly on agriculture for jobs and prosperity.
Many of the regular PRTs – first established in November 2005 – also closed out 2007 with success stories, including:
- The PRT in Anbar Province, where some of the fiercest fighting against terrorists took place this summer, helped the Provincial Government better administer a capital budget of $107 million, which resulted in the central government increasing the provincial government’s annual funding allotment. The next step is to work with provincial authorities on long term strategic planning;
- The British-led PRT program in Basrah employed $93,000 in U.S. Quick Response Funds (QRF) to train 120 women as birth attendants. On completion, those who complete the training receive certification and medical supplies. One aim of the project is to spread health awareness in targeted villages;
- A Women’s Coalition Center, organized by the local PRT in Karbala Province, was established as an eventual self-financing, non-profit independent center for education and training. The Center is predicated on the ideas of tolerance, the equality of women and the importance of civil society in democracy.
Speaking with U.S. journalists on a December 27 conference call, Ambassador Ryan Crocker rounded out the year with the good news that the Iraqi Government “has just agreed to match $150 million of our funds with the same amount…. from the Iraqi Ministry of Finance for employment creation in the civil sector, and this will also involve a major vocational training element.”
Since 2003, when coalition forces ousted dictator Saddam Hussein from power, the U.S. Government has devoted $32 billion to reconstruction efforts in Iraq.