Publication:Chattanooga Times Free Press
Date:Sunday, February 13, 2005
Section:Front Page; Page:1

DISPATCH Iraq

By Edward Lee Pitts Military Affairs

UMARLIYAH, Iraq — When Tennessee National Guardsman Capt. Dan Smith sat down last week in the mayor’s office here, it didn’t take long for the H Company commander from Boone, N.C., to hear about the city’s major problems.

"Water. Electric. Petrol," said Abbas Salman Hassan. The mayor of this city of fewer than 10,000 listed in stilted English the three items his residents have been forced to live without for the last 20 days.

With the euphoria of a successful election behind them, Iraqis here and members of the 278 th Regimental Combat Team’s 2 nd Squadron are back to tackling issues much more tangible for villagers than naming an interim national assembly.

1 st Lt. Todd Gilbert, 36, of Bristol, Tenn., said the town’s crisis began when electrical towers collapsed after recent heavy rains, knocking out the main power supply for nearly 40,000 people in the surrounding area. The situation grew worse when locals took pieces of the downed towers and sold them as scrap metal. In a domino effect, the lack of electricity has forced the area’s water supply to be pumped with generators powered by already-scarce diesel fuel.

Now electricity runs just three hours a day, and water runs only twice a day for a total of four hours.

"The people here are suffering," said Fadhel Abbas Jokel, the mayor’s secretary, who added that families are cold and dirty. "Ten days I have not taken water on my head."

Capt. Smith said he learned about the dilemma just the day before the country’s Jan. 30 elec- tions, and with the voting finished he is ready to focus on helping the city’s leaders find solutions.

But establishing a new government in Iraq means those in charge must learn how to depend less on U.S. soldiers, Capt. Smith said.

"I can’t give you an electrician," he told the mayor. "That is your government’s responsibility. All I can do is make sure the right people know about the problem so they can send the people down who can fix it."

Realizing the Humvees parked outside city hall signal the Americans are in town, about 25 Iraqi men crowded outside the mayor’s door hoping to voice their concerns.

"Tell them Capt. Smith knows, and we will take it up with their City Council," Sgt. Stephen Bailey said to a translator as the 30-year-old 278 th soldier from Monroe, Ohio, barred civilians from the mayor’s door.

An older Iraqi didn’t get the message. With arms waving and words coming so fast even the translator couldn’t keep up, the man, close to his boiling point, continued to rant.

Earlier, City Council officials decided to make improving schools and building more water wells the top priorities in the area, according to Capt. Smith. In response U.S. forces, including the 278 th, have helped finance the drilling of 46 wells at about $19,000 each in the 2 nd Squadron’s sector.

Sgt. James Thompson, 44, of Morristown, Tenn., said before the doors opened at the latest water distribution plant here, locals got their drinking and cooking water from creeks and even rain puddles. They often carried the water home on mules.

Capt. Rob Mathis, 32, of Newport, Tenn., said Iraq is about 100 years behind the times when it comes to the infrastructure required for a nation to be selfsufficient.

"They want to skip the boring stuff like sewer, water and electricity and go straight to the fun stuff like satellite TV and cell phones," Capt. Mathis said. "They see what America has on TV, and they want the icing without the cake."

The root of the area’s water and electric emergencies is the lack of sufficient heating and engine-powering fuel. Already, lines at area gas stations can be measured in days, not hours, despite the country’s rich oil resources.

"Fuel is as valuable as gold here," said Lt. Col. Frank McCauley, the 2 nd Squadron commander based at Forward Operating Base Bernstein. "The raw material is in the ground. What they lack is the ability to refine it and transport it."

Capt. Smith said the problems could get worse before getting better. The Iraqi government has plans to stop subsidizing fuel prices and fully privatize the resource during the next six to eight months, he said. Each family now gets 200 liters of fuel a month, but with no price controls the cost could skyrocket, he said.

"People will just have to buy what they can afford," Capt. Smith said.

Inside the mayor’s office, Capt. Smith continued his effort to wean the city’s leaders from reliance on the U.S. Army. The mayor and his secretary questioned Capt. Smith on how to make democracy work on a local level. Topics included how to set a local agenda, the best way to replace ineffective council members and how to divide city management responsibilities.

"People say this is a City Council problem while City Council (members) say it is a mayor problem," said Mr. Jokel, referring to an argument that stalls most local government meetings.

After the mentoring session, Capt. Smith and his H Company soldiers headed to the newly opened water distribution plant in an effort to untangle the water crisis.

When Capt. Smith asked how the station ran out of generator fuel so quickly, an Iraqi police officer accused an engineer from the nearby town of Tuz of hauling away some of the station’s fuel.

"He had no authority to take that fuel at all," said Capt. Smith. "Don’t let it happen again. Nobody takes fuel from here."

Capt. Smith said he suspects ethnic rivalries might have been involved. The Kurdish Tuz engineer may have taken the fuel from this largely Arabic area and redistributed it to towns with more Kurds.

"I didn’t come halfway across the world to solve personality problems, but a lot of the time that is what I end up doing," said Capt. Smith.

Back at Bernstein, Capt, Smith arranged to provide Umarliyah with 1,000 gallons of fuel taken from the squadron’s own rations. He said the fuel would power the water station’s back-up generator for four days. He said he hoped this would give the Iraqis enough time to repair the towers and get electricity running.

Despite the infrastructure problems, there is hope for the area in which Umarliyah lies, soldiers said. The region produces the second-largest amounts of grain and poultry in Iraq, primarily around Tuz.

E-mail Lee Pitts at lpitts@timesfreepress.com

U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Russell Lee Klika - Sgt. Stephen Bailey with the 278 th Regimental Combat Team guards the door to the Umarliyah, Iraq, mayor’s office as villagers crowd in to complain about a lack of fuel, water and electricity.

U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Russell Lee Klika - Sgt. James Thompson, 44, center, of Morristown, Tenn., pulls guard duty inside Umarliyah, Iraq’s City Hall last week.

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