Posted on 05/05/2008 3:19:24 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
NARHWAN, Iraq — Before Lt. Col. Mark Sullivan arrived in this city of 120,000, he had his eye on the map.
On the outskirts of Narhwan a big smoke-belching brick factory, once the economic engine of the region, was sitting idle. Before the start of the war, it employed more than 10,000. In the years that followed, though, it degenerated into a den of extortion. The extremists were shaking down the business owners.
“It was a sanctuary. Weapons and ammunition were stored out there,” Sullivan said.
But Sullivan, commander of the 1st Battalion, 10th Field Artillery Regiment, sensed an opportunity at the onetime employment hub turned weapons storage center.
“We saw it on the map and said we’re going to go after this sucker,” Sullivan said.
Seven months later, the mules are in motion. Conveyors are spitting out the bricks, which are being stacked up by the million. While the violence rages to the west in Sadr City, tensions have eased in Shiite-dominated Narhwan.
The reason is simple: People are too busy going to work every day, he said. “You have to provide an alternative to criminal behavior.”
The factory is once again the largest employer in Mada’in, an area southeast of Baghdad where the 3rd Heavy Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division has been operating since March of 2007.
In October, there were 2,500 workers at the factory. Now there are 15,000.
The facility — comprised of 167 mini-factories and numerous owners — has the potential to employ up to 25,000, Sullivan said.
Within two weeks a new unit will be coming in to take over Narhwan and work with the factory managers to keep the production going. The 2nd Brigade Combat Team,
(Excerpt) Read more at stripes.com ...
ping.
Incorrect.
1st Armor Division has MND-N and is not taking over that area.
3BCT/3ID is being relieved of that area by 2BCT/1AD. The area and the brigades remain under 3ID until 10th Mountain Division takes over MND-C later this month...
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