By Staff Sgt. Matt Meadows
4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division
FORWARD OPERATING BASE LOYALTY, Iraq – Karadah District local leaders and government officials of an Iowa town came together in partnership, Oct. 28, 2008, creating a relationship that could bind their communities for years to come.
Members of the Karadah District council, with Dr. Mohammed Al-Rubeiy leading them, met via video teleconference with Mayor Tom Hanafan and other Council Bluffs, Iowa, city officials to sign an "Agreement of Friendship."
"It's good to be exchanging culture and ideas between the district councils," expressed Al Rubeiy. "We pray from the bottom of our hearts to keep this friendship between our countries."
"We believe the cooperation from this agreement will make the city of Council Bluffs and the District of Karadah stronger," said Hanafan in the local newspaper.
The idea of linking the communities as sister cities was the brainchild of Lt. Col. Rick Burns, an Army Reserve civil affairs officer assigned to 418th Civil Affairs Battalion, who recently redeployed to Iowa after being attached to 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light). The agreement was a product Burns' hard work to establish a partnership between Karadah, where he worked with local leaders, and a city or a town in the United States, explained, Conrad Tribble, team leader for Baghdad 2 embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team.
Such a partnership could form a foundation for work and cooperation "that would last beyond his tenure in Iraq, a tenure he was very committed to," explained Tribble. This friendship could reach "beyond our tenure here ... something Iraqis and Americans, at a sort of people-to-people level, could build on over the next several years."
Tribble said Burns spent a lot of time and energy to develop support for the partnership in Council Bluffs, Iowa, which already had an established sister-city program. Council Bluffs, Iowa, citizens are open-minded and immediately supported the union, so Tribble helped put together the signing event via VTC, which he referred to as a launching of the partnership between the two areas.
A lot of work went into getting to this point, and now everyone concerned is looking toward how to build on it in the future. Tribble said, Karadah is one of the most secure and stable districts in eastern Baghdad that "has really come back to life in the past couple of years as a commercial district. When you drive down the streets, shops are open; they are selling like crazy. There is a real economy going on there."
Al-Rubeiy and the rest of the district council members are looking for support to continue building and progressing Karadah into an even greater commercial and business center within Baghdad. They are hoping the partnership with Council Bluff, Iowa, will aid them with these efforts through links and investments from international companies and stimulation of economic growth in Karadah, explained Tribble.
To assist Karadah representatives achieve these goals, the e-PRT plans to help send a delegation from Karadah to Council Bluffs, Iowa, next spring, said Tribble. The delegation will include two or three council members, two or three business representatives, several educational institution leaders, probably a couple non-government organization leaders; and municipality representative such as Public Works Department officials, he said.
The plan is for Karadah delegates to meet with their corresponding institution representative from Council Bluffs and surrounding area to see how they accomplish their tasks and goals.
"This will establish partnerships that will form the basis for future cooperation beyond the trip and [allow them to] have a look into how Americans in the middle of America organize themselves on things like business associations or universities and their linkages to the economy or how the public works department handles daily activies," commented Tribble. "The learning experience and the exposure Karadah representatives will get, they will bring back here to hopefully use to improve their situation.
Tribble said, Council Bluffs residents would benefit from the partnership too. He wholeheartedly agreed with Hanafan, who said the relationship with the people of Karadah gives Council Bluffs citizens "a real concrete connection to Iraq ... and it gives them a real connection to people in Iraq and personalizes the people verses what they see in the newspapers."
Tribble relayed that the Hanafan wanted local citizens to understand there are real people in Iraq who are doing good things for their country and are working with the United States. Tribble explained that, based on his time spent in other countries, "the people-to-people connections with Karadah delegates would give Council Bluff citizens enormous satisfaction and bring to them the realization that they are helping contribute to stabilizing and strengthening a county that has become very important to the United States."
The relationship between the Baghdad 2 e-PRT and civil affairs is a seamless one, explained Tribble. Burns' idea of linking Karadah representatives with connections he has in Iowa fit with the e-PRT programs of developing and promoting local business and economic growth, he said.
The Agreement of Friendship and the partnership it formed is a winning proposition for everybody involved, expressed Tribble. It makes sense from the brigade, civil affairs and e-PRT perspectives and is something they can all feel good about putting together in cooperation, he said.
"Americans read about the security issue in Iraq all the time. When you think Iraq, you think security. Whether it's good or it's bad, it's surge, it's bombing, it's improvements in security – that is the issue," said Tribble. "My deal is that this stuff – building up people-to-people relationships and developing contacts among non-governmental organizations and business leaders and colleges and universities; that is the stuff real progress is made of, that is the stuff that all the security is meant to enable."
"And so, developing this sort of program is why we are here in the first place, once we get past that security issue," continued Tribble. "This is the stuff that will last beyond us. This is stuff that will make the relationship solid and will help build the stability in Iraq that will enable us to withdraw troops and ... leave in good shape."