Baqoubah Re-Opens Flour Mill - Normalcy is Returning

...And that means the insurgents are defeated in Baqouba!

The Public Distribution System that LTC Fred Johnson introduced to us in his interview here at The Thunder Run is coming back to life everyday in Baqouba. The most recent mews is that after being closed for a year the flour mill that had been closed when al-Qaeda controlled the city has reopened for business:

BAQOUBA, Iraq – The Baqouba public flour mill began processing wheat Monday, after being closed for nearly a year, marking the local production of flour in the Diyala Province as a major step toward Iraqi self-sufficiency.

“This is one more piece to the larger puzzle of providing normalcy here,” said Lt. Col. Fred Johnson, deputy commanding officer of the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. “It’s probably the most important thing we’ve done.”

Five-hundred and sixty tons of imported wheat arrived in a 21-truck convoy at the flour mill on August 16th from Baghdad.

The grain, imported from the U.S., will be cleaned in multiple processes and milled with a mixture of 25 percent locally-grown wheat. The product will then be sacked and distributed to the local population as part of the Public Distribution System, an Iraqi program dating back to the 1980’s. The distribution program largely collapsed after insurgent forces disrupted PDS operations in Baqouba last year.

The mill is expected to employ around 100 workers in addition to truck drivers. Its addition to the local economy is expected to help lower the price of bread for the people of Diyala province. The mill is capable of producing 200 tons of finished flour per day.

This is a major step forward for Baqoubah and Iraq. Restoring essential services is the key to defeating al Qaeda in Iraq and the insurgent groups jostling for power. As more of these services return and more Iraqies realize that Coalition Forces are there to help them and not kill them, more will come over and the tips will continue.

This my friends the two pronged approach is the way Iraq will be won. Militarily we will defeat the enemy and by restoring municipal services and helping local governments to throw off the mantle of oppression thrust upon by the insurgents.