Monday, June 04, 2007
Iraqi industries to support U.S. military in Iraq
Industry
(AFP) - After years using outside contractors to tend to the needs of its Iraq bases, the US military is now building zones outside its army posts so Iraqi businesses can actually benefit from their presence. The plan, which has been several months in preparation, is part of a wider effort to stimulate local employment and end years of funnelling lucrative contracts to providers from outside the country.
"Let's get American and third country contractors out of that business and let's get Iraqis into that business," Brigadier Steven Anderson, a driving force behind the programme, told AFP. "Let's get Iraqis employed and get them out of the bomb-making business and into the support-providing business," added the deputy chief of staff for resources and sustainment.
The Iraq-based industrial zone (I-BIZ) programme was conceived last year when military commanders recognised the need to boost employment to put a dent in the violence raging throughout the country. "There is a clear focus both by the Iraqi government and on the part of the US mission of beginning this process to see more jobs created," a US official in Baghdad told reporters in May.
The idea is comparatively simple and mirrors the support industries to be found outside US bases in South Korea and Germany. It will involve building a protected area for Iraqis to provide products, services and maintenance.
The plan is a major departure from the first four years of the US presence in Iraq when nearly every need was provided by large US contractors such as Kellogg Brown and Root, a Halliburton subsidiary. KBR in turn brought in thousands of foreign workers, mainly from south Asia. Unlike citizens from other countries hosting US bases, Iraqis have seen few financial benefits from having more than 140,000 US troops in their country.
A December 2004 suicide attack on a US military dining facility in Mosul killed 14 soldiers and for all intents and purposes ended the employment of locals on bases. Iraqi unemployment was bad before the 2003 US invasion, but following a series of decisions by the Coalition Provisional Authority to disband the army and shut down state-owned industries, it soared to an estimated 48 percent.
One of the most tangible results of this shift is the ongoing mission by Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Brinkely to restart dozens of mothballed state-owned factories. The I-BIZ programme would coordinate with Brinkley's efforts and the reopened factories could have storefronts in the industrial zones, Anderson said. For now, the project is in its infancy, with a two-year-old prototype near the southern city of Diwaniyah. The first true zone will open in August next to the massive Camp Victory base at Baghdad airport. Over the next year, further zones will appear at Tikrit's Camp Speicher, at Camp Taji just north of Baghdad and at Talil Air Base, in the south near Nasiriyah. Construction began six weeks ago on the Camp Victory Iraqi zone which will hold around 35 businesses over 25 acres.
"Let's get American and third country contractors out of that business and let's get Iraqis into that business," Brigadier Steven Anderson, a driving force behind the programme, told AFP. "Let's get Iraqis employed and get them out of the bomb-making business and into the support-providing business," added the deputy chief of staff for resources and sustainment.
The Iraq-based industrial zone (I-BIZ) programme was conceived last year when military commanders recognised the need to boost employment to put a dent in the violence raging throughout the country. "There is a clear focus both by the Iraqi government and on the part of the US mission of beginning this process to see more jobs created," a US official in Baghdad told reporters in May.
The idea is comparatively simple and mirrors the support industries to be found outside US bases in South Korea and Germany. It will involve building a protected area for Iraqis to provide products, services and maintenance.
The plan is a major departure from the first four years of the US presence in Iraq when nearly every need was provided by large US contractors such as Kellogg Brown and Root, a Halliburton subsidiary. KBR in turn brought in thousands of foreign workers, mainly from south Asia. Unlike citizens from other countries hosting US bases, Iraqis have seen few financial benefits from having more than 140,000 US troops in their country.
A December 2004 suicide attack on a US military dining facility in Mosul killed 14 soldiers and for all intents and purposes ended the employment of locals on bases. Iraqi unemployment was bad before the 2003 US invasion, but following a series of decisions by the Coalition Provisional Authority to disband the army and shut down state-owned industries, it soared to an estimated 48 percent.
One of the most tangible results of this shift is the ongoing mission by Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Brinkely to restart dozens of mothballed state-owned factories. The I-BIZ programme would coordinate with Brinkley's efforts and the reopened factories could have storefronts in the industrial zones, Anderson said. For now, the project is in its infancy, with a two-year-old prototype near the southern city of Diwaniyah. The first true zone will open in August next to the massive Camp Victory base at Baghdad airport. Over the next year, further zones will appear at Tikrit's Camp Speicher, at Camp Taji just north of Baghdad and at Talil Air Base, in the south near Nasiriyah. Construction began six weeks ago on the Camp Victory Iraqi zone which will hold around 35 businesses over 25 acres.
Labels: Brigadier Steven Anderson, Camp Victory, contractors, I-BIZ, Iraqi businesses, KBR, Paul Brinkley, U.S. military
