Neighborhood advisory council returns to Hateen Headquarters in Western Baghdad

Neighborhood advisory council returns to Hateen Headquarters in Western Baghdad
Black Anthem Military News
By 1st. Lt. Brian Cooke, 2nd Battalion, 32nd Field Artillery Regiment
Jun 30, 2007

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Encouraged by improved levels of security, a western Baghdad neighborhood advisory council, or NAC, decided to return to its former headquarters in Hateen June 23.

Hateen, a neighborhood in the western Baghdad district of Mansour, established a NAC during a 2004 initiative by Coalition Forces to improve local governance. The Hateen NAC originally held its meetings in their purpose-build NAC Hall, but moved to the larger Mansour District Advisory Council Hall when violence escalated in their neighborhood last year.

In February, Battery A, 2nd Battalion, 32nd Field Artillery Regiment, attached to 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, assumed control of Hateen as part of the greater Baghdad Security Plan. The battery's constant presence on the streets has quelled violence in the neighborhood, according to their commander, Capt. Brian McCall, of Junction City, Kan. McCall has attended every NAC meeting since arriving in Hateen and made bringing the meetings back to the neighborhood one of his top priorities. The Hateen NAC returned to its former headquarters last Saturday.

The Hateen NAC is chaired by Mohannid al-Saadi Abbas, and has three representatives, Hadi Zaid Hamza, Hassan Jafer Choban, and Abdul Karim Hussein Elwi. The four NAC members met with McCall June 23, along with his Iraqi Army counterpart, Maj. Muhammed of 2nd Battalion, 5th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Infantry Division, and had what McCall described as an extremely positive meeting.

"The NAC enjoyed being back in their old building," McCall said, "and were telling old stories about it."

The NAC members discussed a number of infrastructure improvement projects and a program to hire more workers in Hateen. More importantly, the Hateen NAC decided to permanently move back to their original headquarters. They also started to design a plan to expand the Hateen NAC Hall and add a park for children on the NAC grounds.

"This meeting was entirely NAC-driven," McCall said, impressed with the focus of the meeting. "This has been a welcome change to the sometimes reluctant pace of Iraqi politics."