Iraq's Untold Story: Rebuilding Continues in Fallujah

From Azzaman.com, a Sept. 8 file by Qassem Salman:

The government has allocated $46 million for the construction of a new hospital in the war-ravaged city of Falluja.

Minister of Industry and Minerals Asama al-Najafi has laid the foundation stone for the 200-bed hospital.

“The building of this hospital has a lot of symbolic significance because it is being implemented in a city that has suffered a lot of oppression and tyranny,” Najafi said, without elaborating.

He said the hospital will “offer services of an international standard.”

Najafi inspected the city which was the scene of some of the most ferocious fighting in the two and a half years since the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Falluja was literally destroyed as U.S. troops stormed the city, deploying tanks, armored vehicles, heavy artillery and air bombardment.

In a bid to help the 300,000 inhabitants to rebuild their city, Najafi agreed to subsidize sales of cement and other construction materials to Falluja.

The minister promised other projects among them a $20 million housing complex with 504 flats.

Work is continuing to rehabilitate the city’s public services and compensate the inhabitants for damage....

The story also talks about voter registration by local Sunnis and the hopes of Sunni leaders to defeate the constitution. Guess two of the keys here are whether Sunnis accept the democratic decision of the rest of the nation if they lose--and whether enough Sunnis may decide on their own that the Constitution isn't so bad after all.

The story adds:

Relative stability has returned to Falluja recently and the city’s police chief, major-general Salah al-Ani said his force of 700 officers was in control.