New US scheme to revitalize Iraqi reconstruction

BAGHDAD (AFP) — To properly pick up Baghdad's garbage, deputy mayor Hussein al-Bahraini says he needs 1,200 trucks to make the necessary two daily trash pickups to each of the capital's 600 neighborhoods.

What he actually has is just 425 trucks, half of which don't work, meaning that trash slowly piles up in the rubble strewn street's of Iraq's battered capital of six million.

"To manage this number of people and provide them all with services is not an easy job," said Bahraini, who gave up a comfortable life running companies in London to return to Iraq after the fall of the old regime.

Baghdad's underfunded and overwhelmed municipality is expected to get a boost with Sunday's launch of a new Provincial Reconstruction Team for the capital and its surrounding area which will increase cooperation between Iraqis and Americans in rebuilding the country. ...