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BAGHDAD –Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers, with help from Iraqi Army counterparts from the 11th Division, had the opportunity to distribute Halal humanitarian meals to Sadr City residents Dec 7. Capt. Mohammed, 4th Company 3rd Battalion, 42nd Brigade, 11th Division commander made it his show, coordinating his soldiers and setting everything up. Once everything was ready, the Soldiers with Task Force 1-6, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, attached to 3rd BCT, 4th Infantry Division, started inviting the growing crowd of children in to receive their meal. The crowd grew steadily while the operation was ongoing. Capt. Mohammed handed...

BAGHDAD, Dec. 5, 2008 – For about 2 million Sadr City residents, clean drinking water running through their home faucets was a luxury few had. But now the water is flowing freely thanks to a new U.S. Army Corps of Engineers water treatment plant that was three years in the making. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project engineer Simeon Francis examines filter actuators as they are being cleaned at the R-3 water treatment plant in Baghdad. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “I am very happy for the 2 million people of Sadr...

BAGHDAD — “I am very happy for the 2 million people of Sadr City,” said Iraqi Engineer Aqeel Lami of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “I have been working here at the R-3 Water Treatment Plant for more than three years, since the start of the project. It’s the first in Iraq, fully automatic and with American standards of best quality,” Lami continued. “We meet the people in the streets of Sadr City and they are very happy. They feel that we are interested in them and their health. We are very proud of the success of this project.”...

Iraqi Army Soldiers from 4th Company, 3rd Battalion, 42nd Brigade, 11th Division distributed meals to more than 1,000 residents in the Sadr City district of Baghdad, Nov. 28, 2008. Photo by 1st Lt. Chris Young, 4th Infantry Division Public Affairs. BAGHDAD — Smiling faces stretched as far as you could see in the Sadr City district of Baghdad as Coalition forces, Iraqi Army, community project workers and two prominent Shaykhs helped distribute meals to more than 1,000 people, Nov. 28. The Soldiers of Task Force 1-6 Infantry, 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, currently...

BAGHDAD, Dec. 3, 2008 – In the not-too-distant past, Baghdad’s Sadr City district was considered by many to be one of the worst places to live in Iraq. Violence riddled the district, sewage-filled gutters overflowed onto the roads, and children played on trash piles containing concertina wire and rubble from houses -- the remnants of the violent fighting that drove Iranian-backed criminal elements out of the area. An Iraqi man digs a hole while repairing the sewer system in Baghdad’s Sadr City district. U.S. Army photo by 2nd Lt. Clayton Merkly  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Now, when...

Iraqi men play a game of soccer on a renovated field in front of a renovated school in Baghdad’s Sadr City District, Oct. 30, 2008. Photo by Maj. Michael Humphreys, 4th Infantry Division Public Affairs. BAGHDAD — More than $55 million in both U.S. and Iraqi funds have been pumped into Sadr City to improve the quality of life for residents there since the end of major combat operations this past spring. In a combined effort between both Iraqi and American forces, the people of Sadr City have benefited from renovated and re-opened schools, new parks, improved medical facilities, more...

Students look up from their lessons, Nov 3, 2008, at the Nujdom Alba School in the Sadr City District of Baghdad. Photo by Gordon Bostick, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division Public Affairs. BAGHDAD — Youngsters cry out with their hands in the air trying to get the teacher’s attention. One is selected and he marches up to the blackboard to recite the day’s lesson written there. When he finishes, the teacher praises him and he returns to his desk, a grin on his face. School is back in session here in Sadr City, and the students couldn’t be...

Women show off an information booth for Iraqi business women at the Sadr City Road Show, a business and employment fair, in the Sadr City District of Baghdad, Oct. 25, 2008. Photo by Maj. Michael Humphreys, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division Public Affairs. BAGHDAD — Heavy rains flooded the streets in front of the Sadr City District council building, but that didn’t stop a deluge of more than 150 Iraqi business owners and hundreds more Iraqi residents from the first business and employment fair in the popular Baghdad district, Oct. 25. A colorful tent longer than a football...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 19, 2008 – Noting that increasing employment, rebuilding infrastructure and providing basic services are tactics in the war on terror, coalition and Iraqi officials today discussed the pace of civil-military rebuilding in Baghdad’s Sadr City district today. Iraqi spokesman Tahseen al-Sheikhly said the government has been putting billions of dinars into reconstructing the Shiite section of the Iraqi capital. Sadr City – once named Saddam City – holds about 3 million of Baghdad’s citizens. Virtually ignored under the former regime, the area has severe infrastructure problems and a very high unemployment rate. The city was the scene of...

BAGHDAD, Oct. 10, 2008 – Schools are now in session in the Sadr City district here, an area that six months ago was the scene of some of the war’s fiercest fighting. Students from the Jawalala School in the Jamilla neighborhood of Baghdad’s Sadr City district show off their newly issued backpacks Oct. 9, 2008. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Zach Mott  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The rooms that children now fill at this school in northeastern Baghdad once were home to militia fighters who launched attacks against the Iraqi government and Iraqi and coalition forces. “I...

JAMILLA, Iraq, Oct. 6, 2008 – Iraqi children in Baghdad’s Sadr City district are preparing to start the school year in safer, refurbished facilities, thanks to the work of U.S. soldiers here. Workers rebuild a wall at Al-Wadi School in Sadr City's Jamilla neighborhood, Oct. 1, 2008. Schools in Sadr City are being rebuilt by the Iraqi government and U.S. soldiers assigned to the 1st Armored Division, which is currently attached to 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. U.S. Army photo by 2nd Lt. Gordon Bostick, Multinational Division Baghdad  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Before Company A,...

JAMILLA, Iraq –This year the children of Iraq will have safer, refurbished schools thanks to the work of Renegade Soldiers.Before Company A, Task Force 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, arrived in Sadr City’s Jamilla neighborhood, the schools here were not even used for classes; militants were using the grounds as makeshift hiding places and torture cells. At the few schools that remained open, militants would kidnap children as they went to or from school and hold them for ransom.“The schools in Jamilla were places of terror, not places of learning,” said 2nd Lt. Nicholas Boykin, Co. A, TF 1-6, 2nd...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE WAR EAGLE, Iraq, Sept. 18, 2008 – A Spring, Texas, native who’s serving his second tour in Iraq has seen Baghdad’s Sadr City district as the scene of heavy fighting and as a community with a promising future. Army Staff Sgt. Matthew Radcliffe, a Spring, Texas, native, provides security for a member of the Striker Brigade command team during a patrol through northern Baghdad’s Adhamiyah district, Aug. 14, 2008. Radcliffe is a team leader with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Multinational Division Baghdad. U.S. Army photo...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE WAR EAGLE, Iraq, Sept. 12, 2008 – The soldiers of Earth Movers Platoon, Company B, 46th Engineer Combat Battalion, gathered for their mission briefing. Army 1st Lt. Jeremy Atkinson briefs his platoon before the soldiers head to Baghdad’s Sadr City district Sept. 9, 2008. Atkinson serves as a platoon leader with Company B, 46th Engineer Combat Battalion, 926th Engineer Brigade, Multinational Division Baghdad. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Jerry Saslav, Multinational Division Baghdad  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. They would pick up a quality assurance/quality control team and then head into Baghdad’s Sadr City district....

BAGHDAD — When bells ring for a return to schools throughout the Sadr City district of Baghdad later this month, students at 38 schools throughout the area are in for a big surprise. Following the end of hostilities in Baghdad’s most densely populated district, nearly all the 38 schools located in Task Force Gold’s operational environment were selected for repair and refurbishment by the Soldiers of the 926th Engineer Brigade. “The youth of Sadr City represent the future,” said Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Talley, commander of the 926th Eng. Bde., in speaking about the importance of the project. “They are the...

CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq, Sept. 5, 2008 – When bells ring for a return to schools throughout Baghdad’s Sadr City district later this month, students at schools renovated by Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers are in for a big surprise. Local contractors in Baghdad’s Sadr City district work on refurbishing the Thatt Al Salasel School, Sept. 3, 2008. Multinational Division Baghdad spearheaded the renovation of 38 schools throughout the area. U.S. Army photo   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Following the end of hostilities in Baghdad’s most densely populated district, nearly all of the 38 schools in Task Force Gold’s...

BAGHDAD — It was a grand opening without any grandeur. No ribbons were cut, and no speeches were given. But an Iraqi Assistance Center (IAC) opened Sept. 1 in Baghdad’s Sadr City district nonetheless. The center, housed in a trailer near the Sadr City District Advisory Council building, is where Iraqi citizens go to file damage and condolence claims for losses suffered due to combat between Coalition forces and enemy elements in this northeastern Baghdad district. The second client for the IAC at its new location was a father seeking help for his son. The father was going over documents...

Patients walk past Iraqi Soldiers providing security from the 11th Iraqi Army Division, Aug. 20, 2008, during the combined medical engagement conducted in Sadr City. Photo by Sgt. Philip Klein, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division Public Affairs. BAGHDAD — When much needed health care is provided to citizens, it’s a welcome gift. The gift is even more welcome when Iraqi citizens see their own Soldiers taking the lead to help them. The 11th Iraqi Army (IA) Division delivered medical supplies and provided treatment to the citizens of the Thawra 1 neighborhood of the Sadr City District of Baghdad,...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 18, 2008 – From Mosul in the north to Basra in the south, insurgent-committed violence in Iraq continues to decrease as stability visibly increases, a senior U.S. military officer posted in Iraq said today. Video “For 10 of the last 11 weeks, we’ve sustained less than 200 attacks per week nationwide,” Army Lt. Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, commander of Multinational Corps Iraq, told Pentagon reporters during a satellite-carried news conference from his Baghdad headquarters. Attacks in Iraq had once reached more than 1,500 a week a few years ago during the zenith of insurgent-committed violence. “It...

Iraqi Army Soldiers with the 3rd Battalion, 42nd Brigade, 11th Iraqi Army Division, sort through a large cache discovered in the Sadr City district of Baghdad, Aug. 14, 2008, after a resident informed the unit of its location. Photo by Sgt. Zachary Mott. PATROL BASE COMANCHE — In the three months since the Iraqi Army began patrolling inside the Sadr City district of Baghdad, the Soldiers conducting these patrols have worked hard to cultivate a relationship with the people there. Constant patrols, handing out food and water as well as providing medical services have helped advance this new relationship. In...