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Sipping Tea in Miqdadiyah

Aug-13-2008 » Filed Under: 2nd SCR

Efforts by 3rd Squadron, 2nd SCR to revive the local economy in Miqdadiyah are highlighted in a new article by Bill Murray at The Long War Journal. Excerpt:

“A year ago, this guy wouldn’t be open selling kabobs, and we would have been sprinting from building to building, trying not to get shot by snipers – six months ago even,” said First Lieutenant Casey Campbell, commander of the White Platoon, Hawk Company, 3rd Squadron of the 2nd Stryker Calvary Regiment during a visit to the Suk. “Al Qaeda would coming into town in almost platoon formation and would shoot everyone, police included, chopping off heads, it was awful.” [...]

Now some furniture stores and a couple a coffee shops have returned. The U.S. State Department and the Iraq government are spending $1 million to help fix the Suk in the next year, while security has return to such a degree that Petreaus himself visited at the end of last month without his helmet and a Kevlar vest. Security was so poor during his last visit to the area in December that he couldn’t leave the nearby US military base.


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