CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE BASRA, Iraq – The top commanders of the 17th Fires Brigade and Basra Operations Center held a meeting with the influential shaykhs of Basra Province Dec. 13 to discuss recent issues.
Iraqi Army Maj. Gen. Muhammad Jawad Hawaydi spoke with the shaykhs about the close relationship that has developed between the Iraqi Army and the 17th FB.
“I have tried to advise U.S. forces on what projects would have a high success rate and would provide the greatest impact on the community,” said Muhammad. “One problem that we are working diligently to solve is the corruption issue with a few of the contractors that are not providing the full scope of work for the money they are being paid.”
Muhammad said that the Americans have been working tirelessly to help improve Basrah, and the acts of a few corrupt contractors discredit all of their work.
“What I want to do is provide tangible products to the people of Basrah,” Muhammad said. “I would like for the shaykhs to provide their influence in their areas to ensure that the projects are fulfilling the needs of the people.”
The shaykhs agreed that the corruption was detrimental to the development of Basrah and pledged their support to weed out contractors with selfish intentions.
As the meeting progressed, Col. Steven L. Bullimore, 17th FB commander, asked all the shaykhs for a report on the projects that are needed in their respective areas.
“I would love to be able to fix all of your problems, but now more than ever I am serving as the eyes and ears of the Government of Iraq,” said Bullimore. “The U.S. comes to these areas to determine what we can do to help and that’s where the input that you provide comes in to play.”
“Ultimately it’s the Iraqi government that gives approval of what projects we can do, the location of these projects and how much we spend on those projects,” he added.
His answer prompted an increased interest from the shaykhs for direct dialogue with their government.
“Since you are unable to spend any money without the approval of the GoI, then why do they not send a representative from the government to these meetings?” said Shaykh Muhammed Atiya Abu Raad, the tribal leader of the Hyyaniyah district.
“You’re absolutely right shaykh,” Bullimore replied. “They are an important factor in the decision-making process and should have a healthy involvement in these meetings as well,” he said. “We either have to get them to these meetings here, or go where they are, but you’re absolutely right; they have to become more involved with these meetings.”
The colonel closed out the meeting by reassuring the shaykhs that he would send teams out to conduct assessments of the ongoing projects throughout Basrah Province making sure that the needs of the people were being met.
“This was a very positive meeting. We value the input of the shaykhs because it essentially comes from their people,” Bullimore said. “Now what we would like is to have the Iraqi Government and the shaykhs working together to meet the needs of their people without the assistance of a U.S. mediator.”
