REPORTS FROM THE FIELD

• The generals may be saying that the threat of civil war has been averted, but they are still moving AC-130 gunships back into Iraq.

• Chopper Pilot Sarah Piro, aka. "Saint Piro", is earning raves in Iraq for the job she does at the controls of her OH-58C Kiowa Warrior scout helicopter.

• The U.S. military is denying reports by British newspapers that American and British forces are preparing to leave Iraq in early 2007. The Coalition continues to maintain that its forces will not be withdrawn on a timetable, but only based on the Iraqis meeting certain conditions.

RECONSTRUCTION & THE ECONOMY

• Take a look at this week's reconstruction highlights:

Financial Management Information System (FMIS) training is nearing completion for government units responsible for over 95 percent of federal spending. Already, USAID partners have trained and equipped 56 government units, responsible for 85 percent of all government of Iraq (GOI) expenditures. Work continues on Phase II as USAID partners train an additional 65 remaining units (10 percent of expenditures).

USAID’s Agriculture reconstruction and Development Program for Iraq (ARDI) is supplying highly-productive hybrid tomato seeds and teaching farmers modern methods of tomato cultivation.

Neglect by the former regime and a lack of agricultural extension services have marshland farmers in southern Iraq hard pressed to improve agricultural production. To help address farmer needs, USAID will implement a summer crop production activity and provide marshland farmers with proper cultivation techniques for sorghum, alfalfa, maize, sunflower, and okra.

NDI’s governance and civil society development team and its implementing NGOs began conducting a series of civic forums as a part of the extensive three-stage program, Civic Outreach to Citizens on the Role of Parliament. The program will continue through April and is designed to promote long-term democratic processes through civic awareness and participation at the grassroots level.

USAID provides essential equipment for sewage pump station in a key Central Iraq city. One neighborhood district in a major central city, has suffered from severe flooding of raw sewage. This has been a major constraint, impeding further progress on construction of the sewer network and trunk lines, and creating numerous environmental problems for the local citizens.

OFDA partners delivered livelihood packages to over 1,100 destitute IDP families in the Salah ad Din governorate during December 2005.

IRAQI POLITICS

• Shi'ite and Kurdish lawmakers stand opposed to the re-selection of incumbent Ibrahim Jaafari as Iraq's prime minister.

• Iraqi Catholics are taking up a collection for the reconstruction of the destroyed Samarra mosque.

• This week's Carnival of the Liberated is up.

THE INTERNATIONAL STAGE

• The Times Online reports that Lieutenant-Colonel Nick Henderson, commander of the 1st Battalion, Coldstream Guards has resigned after failing to obtain armoured Land Rovers for his patrols.

• The United States has asked Japan to consider having senior ground troop officers transferred to Basra in southern Iraq to take part in a new reconstruction project there after Japanese troops' withdrawal from Samawah.

ETCETERA

• The trial of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and seven co-defendants resumed in Baghdad on Tuesday after a two-week hiatus.

• The Iraqi government announced on Thursday that a woman, suspected of being infected with the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus, had died in the southern province of Nassiriya.

• CENTCOM is finally getting hip to the blogosphere.

• Do you have your GI Bracelet? Many military families fall into financial hardship when the breadwinner is injured or killed. The entire purchase price of the GI Bracelet is donated to support our troops and their families! Please join us to give back to these brave people in their time of need.

• The troops are still there. So is the Winds of Change.NET consolidated directory of ways you can support the troops: American, Australian, British, Canadian & Polish. Anyone out there with more information, contact us!

• Don't forget Chief Wiggles' Toys for Iraq drive!

• Many American troops have taken it upon themselves to reconstruct schools and gather learning tools for the children of Iraq. Their efforts have been met with immense gratitude from the local Iraqis and their children. You can help too! Visit Operation Iraqi Children and get involved.

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