Word: checkpoints
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...David Dehart, a military intelligence officer working with Brown and other commanders in an area of southern Baghdad that used to be a no-go zone for U.S. troops. "A lot of these guys are $50 away from either putting in an IED [roadside bomb] or standing on a checkpoint with an AK" guarding the neighborhood for us, says Dehart...
Commanders on the ground draw their money from CERP (Commander's Emergency Response Program) funds. CERP funds are meant to cover everything from condolence payments to water and electricity infrastructure improvements. They also can give out micro-grants to neighborhood patrol and checkpoint contracts. The CERP budget for fiscal year 2007 was $750 million and while no cutbacks are expected for 2008 the money hasn't been authorized yet by Congress, which means the army's top brass is playing it safe and tightening its belt. According to Lt. Col. Gerry Messmer, A U.S. civil military operations officer in Baghdad...
...contractor's take from 25% to a 4%-8% range, upon renewal of each contract. However, he says that officers spoke out and now the reduction is going to be more gradual, from 25% to 20%, and then to 10%. There will be cuts for the salary of checkpoint supervisors as well. "You are asking them to risk their lives and then cutting their salary down. It's not fair," says Brown, who regularly stops by his contractors' homes in the evening to sip small cups of sweet, hot Iraqi tea and learn about the neighborhood...
...Hamad's "Postcard: Bethlehem." Christians, Palestinians and Israelis worked hard to make this the best Christmas for Bethlehem in many years. Security precautions were relaxed. Shops and hotels were full of joyous pilgrims. But unscrupulous partisan journalists buried this good news. Waiting for an hour at a Bethlehem security checkpoint is preferable to being blown to bits by bombers. The situation is not the fault of Israel. Ami Isseroff, REHOVOT, ISRAEL...
...hear them all referred to as a "bunch of thieves." But this piece of legislation has largely been welcomed. "It's the best law they've passed so far," says Ahmed Hashim Mohammad, an Iraqi army captain-turned-insurgent who now works on the U.S. payroll as a checkpoint leader in a neighborhood watch, part of the Sunni "awakening movement" that has been key to restoring order in al-Qaeda-infested areas...