Chrenkoff Today: It's a Rovian Plot

When they're not engaged in a massive conspiracy to torture prisoners or train out-of-control hit squads, Americans invest millions of dollars in Iraqi reconstruction and fight terrorism. Weird.

From Arthur Chrenkoff's Good News from Iraq, Part 31,  also carried by The Opinion Journal and Winds of Change:

THE COALITION TROOPS: The troops continue to collaborate with local authorities to improve the conditions of local residents:

In the midst of rebuilding a nation, local leaders here also want to rebuild their image with their citizens and their potential voters.

Much like U.S. military leaders and supporters of the coalition forces here, Iraqi governors want their residents to read about more than suicide car bombings and watch news coverage that includes more than insurgent terror.

They want them to know they are working to stem the violence while fixing leaking sewer systems, collecting trash and figuring out ways to get more electrical power into cities throughout north-central Iraq.

“We know that terrorism targets everybody,” the governor of Kirkuk province, Abdel Rahman Mostafa, said at a press conference in Baqubah, in neighboring Diyala province. “It concerns a lot of people.”

The governors from Kirkuk, Diyala, Salah Ad Din and Sulimaniyah gathered Saturday for a bi-monthly meeting with U.S. generals whose troops patrol the same provinces. The governors condemned the violence and said they are working together to come up with strategies to beat the insurgents. But they also said they are working hard to collaborate on improvement projects, such as sewage, utility and school renovations.

As the report notes, "in Diyala alone, $207 million has been earmarked for 260 improvement projects ranging from building a hydroelectric dam to buying medical equipment for hospitals to repaving roads, according to Capt. Myers Smith, a project coordinator for the 3rd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division, which is working with the New York guard in Iraq. A map in Smith’s office shows the hundreds of ongoing projects. Right now, the process of prioritizing, writing specifications, bidding and approving projects is a joint effort by the Americans and the Iraqis, Smith said."