Publication:Chattanooga Times Free Press
Date:Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Section:Front Page; Page:1

DISPATCH Iraq Brick-Building Economy

By Edward Lee Pitts Military Affairs

CAMP CALDWELL, Iraq — Soldiers with the 278th Regimental Combat Team ventured last week into a sweltering wasteland of poverty and child labor.

The goodwill mission to a series of brick factories where Iraqis live and work enveloped by smoke served as a stark reminder of just how far Iraq has to go to leave its past behind.

"I’ve driven all over Iraq, but I don’t think I was prepared for what I see today," said Staff Sgt. Monty Fritts, 41, of Kingston, Tenn.

Even from a distance the brick factory area is an eerie place, according to Staff Sgt. Fritts. The row of about 50 smoke stacks, some 100 feet tall, stretches along the horizon just two miles from Camp Caldwell. Black clouds of burning oil spew from each stack.

But up close the sight of children laboring around endless stacks of gold and red bricks and oil-blackened furnaces seems torn from the pages of a Charles Dickens novel.

VALUABLE SUPPLIES

Life in the brick factory for the estimated 2,500 workers here takes place under a constant haze of smoke and the fumes that soon scratch a visitor’s throat.

Work for the men, women, children and mules here is an endless cycle of moving bricks with rusted implements. When the day is done, the workers retreat into square shacks built from loosely stacked discarded bricks.

"This is their life," said Lt. Col. Archer, 44, of Knoxville, commander of Support Squadron. "This is where they are born, grow up, live, eat, sleep and die. It makes you wonder what they know about the world outside of the brick factory."

The color green cannot be seen here. No trees. No bushes. No grass. Nothing about the brick factory is fresh. Nothing is clean. It is a world dominated by dirt, clay, oil and bricks.

But on Thursday, a 17-vehicle convoy of 278th and Iraqi army soldiers drove into this desolation to bring workers some fleeting relief.

As the convoy ventured deeper into the factories, workers with outstretched arms came pouring out of buildings and homes. Most had layers of clay on every exposed body part. Faces, arms, legs and bare feet had been turned gray by the caked mud.

Children younger than 10 flashed palms already turned bright orange from handling drying bricks.

The Iraqi army soldiers provided crowd control as the workers lined up in two rows — one for adults and one for children — behind the military supply truck carrying school supplies, food and hygiene kits of baby wipes, toothpaste and mouthwash.

The Iraqi brick factory workers went from U.S. soldier to soldier asking for shoes by pointing at their feet and pleading for clothes by tugging at their shirts. Soldiers standing guard beside a ring of Humvees opened vehicle trunks to hand out boxes filled with more items. After the boxes were emptied and the soldiers closed their trunks, children sprinted to the next vehicles. They rushed away loaded down with items only to reappear moments later empty-handed and ready for more. After receiving her pad of paper and pencils, one Iraqi girl responded by saying in English, "Thank you very much."

To the delight of the children, the 278th soldiers did not forget to bring toys. Boys and girls cradled Matchbox cars and stuffed animals. One 278th soldier taught a girl how to jump rope. Another soldier and an Iraqi boy tossed a Frisbee back and forth.

Sgt. Tracie Muniz entertained the children and adults by taking pictures of them on her digital camera. The Iraqis could not disguise their wide-eyed looks after seeing themselves on the camera’s screen.

"It’s a good feeling when you can make a stranger smile and you don’t even know their language," said Sgt. Muniz, 33, of Johnson City, Tenn.

The Iraqis cherished every item. Two men held a tug of war over the last plastic trash can. A smiling woman dragged two empty cardboard boxes into her hut. Another man left content with just a trash-can lid, while several Iraqi workers walked away with armloads of plastic trash bags.

While 278th soldiers doled out the goods, many Iraqi workers continued to toil. Bulldozers scooped the sand up from ever-deepening craters and deposited the clay onto conveyer belts. The clay then emerged from a metal contraption as wet bricks stacked in rows on rotted wooden pallets. A line of soot-colored mules waited in silence to pull carts carrying the wet bricks to a place where they could dry in the sun.

Having trod the same path over and over, the mules needed no guides. A few mules collapsed from the weight or exhaustion only to be beaten back on their journey by men and boys with sticks.

The sun-dried clay is carried by more mules to gigantic furnaces, where workers cram the clay in neat rows before crude oil fires harden it into bricks.

"As bad as it looks, these people actually have it pretty good," said Capt. John King, 1st Squadron’s Civil Affairs officer. "They have a steady income, which is something 70 percent of the people around here don’t have. This is a coveted job."

Each smokestack represents a different brick factory owned and operated by a separate family, 278th soldiers said. Amid the pandemonium of the day, some brick factory owners blew whistles in an effort to get their people back to work. On earlier visits soldiers saw the owners beat children for not working.

"A TORMENT TO LIVE HERE"

Sgt. James Liner, 53, of Etowah, Tenn., said he has traveled more than 10,000 miles in Iraq, including visiting the slums of Sadr City and Baghdad with his Support Squadron convoy unit, and the brick factory is the poorest place he has visited.

Sgt. Buddy McCartt said the drinking water at the factories is tinted green from the traces of oil and sulfur.

"The people are really enslaved here," said Sgt. McCartt, 35, of Oneida, Tenn. "These kids don’t grow up. They just survive. It has to be a torment to live here."

Even with the temperature hovering around 100 degrees at nearby Camp Caldwell, the heat around the furnaces felt 10 to 15 degrees hotter, several 278th soldiers said.

This was the fourth visit by 278th soldiers to the brick factories. The stark poverty and short distance from Camp Caldwell makes the site a popular place for humanitarian missions. While the visits boost the morale of Iraqi workers, Capt. King said the regiment hopes to leave a longer-lasting legacy here than just truckloads of toys, food and clothes.

Army commanders in Washington recently approved a proposal to spend nearly $5 million here installing waterlines so each family can have running water.

"Americans have taught Iraqis how to beg," said Staff Sgt. Fritts. "But those kids today weren’t begging out of habit. They were begging out of necessity."

E-mail Lee Pitts at lpitts@timesfreepress.com

U.S. Army Photo by Staff Sgt. Russell Lee Klika - A soldier with the 278th Regimental Combat Team stands among smokestacks at a brick factory in Iraq.

U.S. Army Photos by Russell Lee Klika - An Iraqi worker unloads bricks for storage.

Brick factory workers load dried bricks onto a cart.

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