odds & ends

New website link posted at the Coalition Provisional Authority:

http://www.iraqibusinesscenter.org/

The Iraqi Business Center is located on the ground floor of the convention center. We are open everyday (except Friday) from 0900-1200. We offer the following services to the Iraqi Business community:

- Information on tenders coming out of various CPA and military contracting offices
- A place to anonymously report corruption among Iraqi and coalition contracting offices
- Support for businesswomen
- Support for young entrepreneurs
- Connections with foreign companies
- Connections with fellow Iraqi companies

Times of India has an article on a new division for reconstruction US military sets up new Iraqi reconstruction unit

The US Army Corps of Engineers inaugurated a provisional unit in Baghdad on Sunday whose job will be to speed up the reconstruction of Iraq 's infrastructure.

The Gulf Region Division numbering almost 1,000 US soldiers and civilian contractors is to repair vital oil, water, electricity and sewage facilities, its commander, Major General Ronald Johnson, told AFP on the sidelines of the ceremony.

He said he expected the temporary unit to complete its mission within "three to five years in some form."

A senior US military officer said the unit would also oversee the bringing in of large private contractors to help repair facilities the US engineers have so far been only able to patch up.

There is an interesting little document with additional information on the Gulf Region Division

Mission Update: RIO/GRD The new Div is now officially named the "Gulf Region Division" (GRD). The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been providing contingency engineering support to the combatant command through the deployment of Field Force Engineering (FFE) teams to operations in Iraq since February 2003.

There's only one problem: the war didn't start until March 19, 2003.