Progress finally takes shape in Rutbah

[unhappycamper]

Progress finally takes shape in Rutbah
By Jimmy Norris, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, November 21, 2008

RUTBAH, Iraq — As with other cities in western Anbar province, Marines and provincial reconstruction teams in the Rutbah district are hard at work trying to jump-start the local economy.

But in Rutbah, they’re a little behind the curve.

Despite the fact that the U.S. government has spent about $3.5 million in Rutbah over the past two years, reconstruction in the district is about a year behind other cities in the western Euphrates River Valley, said Mark Humphries, embedded PRT liaison.

Humphries attributes the slow progress to the delay in getting an EPRT liaison to the area.

He was the first EPRT liaison to work full time in Rutbah and arrived in July. Other areas were receiving EPRT liaison officers as early as January.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=58954