Iraq's brave hero's get new firetrucks

[crouse]

Now things are improving for Baghdad's 900 firefighters. The U.S.-led coalition here pays them $120 a month, 10 times their salary before the war that ousted Saddam Hussein's regime. The gray-and-white cement Karadah firehouse recently was renovated by U.S. Army soldiers and Iraqi contractors who added, for the first time, air conditioning and a water cooler. "Whenever we drink cold water from the machine, we say 'Thanks be to President Bush,' " says Lefta Suhail Ali, 52, one of Karadah's three fire chiefs.

The station also has five firetrucks, including a ladder truck and two Mercedes trucks received last week. They're among the first of 300 new trucks bound for Iraq. The 2002 model year Mercedes trucks, paid for by the old regime, were intended for the Iraqi army. When Saddam's government fell, the 300-truck contract was transferred to civilian firefighters.

These days, Karadah company responds to two or three calls a day. During the war, the firefighters worked long hours, often skipping sleep, moving from one fire or explosion to another. "Of course we were scared, but it was war so we had to put out the fires," says firefighter Salah Hafez, 30. When a nearby military telecommunications building was bombed, Hafez pulled out 22 bodies.

The firefighters of Karadah had their own wartime tragedy. On April 6, three days before Baghdad fell, Karadah Company lost Safah Najem, 28. He was responding to a bomb blast when he was shot in the head by U.S. soldiers who mistook him for a member of the Fedayeen militia that was loyal to Saddam, says colleague Raad Hussein, 29. Najem left behind a wife and two young children.

The fire brigade director, a ranking member of the ruling Baath Party, had skipped town with the emergency funds. So the firefighters scraped together what little spare money they had for Najem's widow. His colleagues say they don't blame U.S. troops for Najem's death. At the time, Fedayeen militiamen were using ambulances and firetrucks to launch attacks on soldiers.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/i...ire-usat_x.htm

[J-Excel]

It's really too bad only the doom-and-gloom about Iraq gets major press coverage.