Embassy of the United States

PRT Medical Training Gives Hope to Iraqi Doctors
April 25, 2008 Nasiriyah, Dhi Qar – Innovative medical training by U.S. military doctors working with Provisional Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) has given to hope to a group of Iraqi doctors long cut off from professional associations because of turmoil in their country.

PRT Initiative Connects Iraqi Students with World
April 25, 2008 Al Kut, Iraq – An initiative that would expand the horizons of Iraqis beyond their village, district, province, and even the country itself is underway in Wasit province. The Wasit Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), in concert with the Wasit Director General of Education, started a yearlong initiative it calls Access to Information in March.

Iraqi Officials Learn of Millions PRT Devotes to Province
April 25, 2008 FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELTA, Iraq – Iraqi officials in Wasit Province recently learned that since January 2007 more than $38 million dollars was spent on capacity-building projects in their region by Provisional Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) in cooperation with Coalition Forces.

PRT Kick-starts Soccer Outreach to Iraqi Kids
April 25, 2008 Muthanna Province -- Barefoot kids and trash-strewn lots describe the state of soccer in this impoverished southern province today. Even the province’s elite “Soccer School,” the only one of its kind to develop the talents of its most promising young athletes, has no soccer field to call its own.

Iraqi Farmers Invest in Nation’s future with PRT Help
April 18, 2008 Mosul -- In the middle of a military push against Al Qaeda in Iraq, farmers in Ninewa Province are working across sectarian and ethnic lines to form diverse farmer associations spurring community cooperation as well as bringing hope for economic revitalization.

PRTs Indulge in Kebab Diplomacy in Iraq
April 17, 2008 Muthanna Province -- Forty local farmers and sheikhs from Iraq’s southern-most province recently joined the Muthanna Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) and its military team members over a traditional Iraqi lunch to discuss agricultural needs of the community.

Sewing center Helps Empower Women in Iraq
April 17, 2008 AL-KUT, Iraq – A women’s sewing center officially opened in Muafiqiyah village April 10, providing both employment and training for local women thrust into the position of bread winners whose men have been killed or thrown out of work by terrorist actions.

Iraqi TV Journalists Learn Skills at PRT Workshop
April 16, 2008 Erbil -- Kurdistan Region television journalists learned new techniques at a two-week training program in March and proved to be excellent students and colleagues, according to the American media expert who helped upgrade their media skills.

Increasing Engineers Target of PRTs in Iraq
April 15, 2008 Wasit Province, Iraq – As Iraq strives to overcome decades of government mismanagement and neglect, increasing the number of engineers is essential to design, contract, construct and maintain the country’s infrastructure, says Roberto Bran, Wasit Provincial Reconstruction Team’s (PRT) engineer development program manager.

Iraqis Gain Cardiac Training Courtesy of PRT
April 14, 2008 Dhi Qar Province -- Twelve medical residents from Samawa General Hospital in neighboring Muthanna Province received cardiac training April 10 in a day-long session led by U.S. Army Brigade Surgeon Colonel Thomas Dove, a cardiologist working with the Provisional Reconstruction Teams (PRT) operating in southern Iraq.

Dispatch from PRT Volunteer in Iraq
April 13, 2008 Mosul -- If it is a clear day you can look out over this city from Forward Operating Base (FOB) Marez and it looks like any other city in any country. You can barely see the destruction and the damaged buildings caused by terrorists that become evident as you travel through the city of just over two million inhabitants.

PRTs Mark Earth Day in Iraq with Palm Tree Donation
April 13, 2008 Al-Hillah – Iraq’s reputation as one of the world’s leading producers of dates is being resurrected with the help of a Provisional Reconstruction Team (PRT) that recently donated 1,000 date palm trees to Babil Province.

Rebuilding Iraq Requires Cement, PRTS Told
April 11, 2008 Muthanna -- As demand increases in Iraq’s new era of reconstruction, industry leaders in the cement business are keen to learn more about modern management and finance. They know that rebuilding Iraq requires lots of cement, and they are well positioned to make it happen.

School Laptop Project comes to Fruition in Iraq
April 11, 2008 Combat Outpost 6, Muthanna -- It’s a long way from technologically-rich Cambridge, Massachusetts to Iraq’s poorest war-torn province – Muthanna. But the distance just got smaller because of a recent agreement to initiate training in both Cambridge and in smaller desert communities to implement the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC ) program.

PRTs Promote the Rights of Women in Iraq
April 7, 2008 Taji - "Although women have had certain constitutional rights [in Iraq], these often have proven insufficient to permit women to strive for and enjoy the same opportunities and quality of life as men," says US Army Col. G. Phelan, the Rule of Law Adviser and Women' Rights Advocate for Embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team located outside Baghdad.

PRTs Help to Bolster Local Self Government in Iraq
April 4, 2008 Taji -- "Security and effective local government go hand in hand” and are essential for reconstruction and stabilization, says Embedded Provincial Reconstruction (EPRT) Team Leader Thomas Burke.

Iraqi Scouts Help to Transcend and Heal Wounds
March 24, 2008 Baghdad -- Members of the Boy and Girl Scouts of Iraq recently paid a visit to a U.S. Military hospital bearing gifts of thanks and consolation for its patients and staff. Armed with popcorn and smiles, the Scouts treated both Coalition and Iraqi patients to cheer and snack food, called comfort food in America, as they visited treatment wards.

General Petraeus Lauds PRT Volunteers
March 23, 2008 Baghdad – The more than 800 volunteers on U.S. Provisional Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) in Iraq are critical to success in the war on terrorism and to the well-being of the Iraqi people, says Coalition Forces Commander General David Petraeus.

PRTs Help Rekindle Iraqi Entrepreneurship
March 22, 2008 Taji -- "The Iraqis have an entrepreneurial instinct which is at least as strong as ours," says Embedded Provincial Reconstruction (EPRT) member Bill Olds. Olds, the USAID Representative on the team operating out of Taji, a town in Baghdad District, made his comments to Embassy Public Affairs Counselor Philip T. Reeker during a visit on March 14.

Iraq Proves Fertile Ground for Rule of Law Programs
March 18, 2008 Baghdad – Following a year of partnering with Iraqis to improve their judicial system, U.S. Embassy Rule of Law Coordinator Jim Santelle reflected over what he termed the “steady effort” that proved as fulfilling as any work he ever did as a U.S. Federal prosecutor.

Not all Americans serving in Iraq wear military uniforms
March 17, 2008 U.S. State Department employee Sarah Francia was nearing the end of her career and looking for one last adventurous assignment. "I went to the Middle East bureau that handles Iraq in the department and told them to take me now," she said. "Of course, they did."

Iraqi Women Celebrate Spirited Women’s Day with PRT
March 14, 2008 Dhi Qar, Iraq-“The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.” These words from the famous poet William Ross Wallace are the ones that Shaza Al-Qaisi - leader of a civil society forum - chose to start off a spirited speech in front of 130 people, most of whom were women – at an International Women’s Day event sponsored by the PRT.

Iraqis Get Taste of American Society, Values with IVLP Visit
March 13, 2008 Baghdad – Contacts with Americans left a lasting impression on Iraqis who traveled to the United States recently courtesy of the State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), according to experiences they shared at an alumni reception hosted by the Embassy’s Cultural Affairs Office.

Iraqis “Ambitious” to Upgrade Agricultural Sector
March 12, 2008 Baghdad – The Iraqi government is determined to resurrect the nation’s status as the “Fertile Crescent” and breadbasket of the region while providing jobs for an agricultural workforce hard hit by a neglected and deteriorating infrastructure.

PRT Helps Anbar Province After ‘Long Night of Battle’
March 11, 2008 Forward Operating Base (FOB) Camp Ramadi, Anbar -- The best “good news” story coming out of Iraq’s Anbar Province in 2008 is the dearth of “bad news” stories. In September 2006, some U.S. military intelligence analysts declared the province completely lost to Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) and Sunni insurgents.