Baghdad has eight large shopping malls, all of which are owned by the Ministry of Trade. All eight of these malls were extensively looted and burned after the fall of Baghdad in April of this year. Most people from Baghdad and the surrounding region shopped regularly at these malls. Until now, these malls, which are probably about 300,000 sq feet (30,000 sq meters) each have continued to sit in ashes and rubble.

The manager of the Shopping Centers for the Ministry of Trade authorized JumpStart to begin work on clearing and cleaning these damaged and/or destroyed malls.

Tomorrow we begin work on the Souk Thelatha mall and the 28 April mall. Both will have small crews to plan the clearing process in the first day, then we will scale the projects up to about 100 workers on each mall in the following week.

Many of the malls are being continually looted for spare parts and other materials such as bricks and scrap metal. Here, a child pries up stones from the walkways surrounding the Al Qadassea shopping center in October.

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Al Quadassea Shopping mall.

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Another view of the Al Quadassea shopping mall, which was four stories including the basement.

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The Mansur mall is mostly destroyed by fire.

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The Mansur mall is in a nice section of Baghdad.

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 Most of the Mansur mall was individual shops, as opposed to other malls where the entire mall was one state-owned department store that sold everything.

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Another view of the 28 April mall.

This morning at 7AM when we arrived at the Souk Thelatha mall to begin work on the clearing of the project, we were stopped at the gate by a rogue group of armed "security guards" who, under the direction of Fathel, a cigarette distributor, had taken over the mall as if it was their own personal property. They will not let us begin the clearing and cleaning work and threatened to shoot our workers if we tried.

Work began Thursday at Souk Thelatha mall with 20 workers. Friday, the squatter Fathel ordered our crews not to work... an authority he doesn't have; however, he does have guns. Today we resumed the work with approximately 70 workers at Souk Thelatha.

Exterior, Souk Thelatha mall. About 300,000 square feet of looted & burned buildings.

Souk Thelatha is in the best shape of all the Baghdad malls. The structural damage is limited. It may well be the first mall to resume service in Baghdad (although of course there are many private markets throughout the city).

Souk Thelatha used to be a government run mall that offered the finest products from around the world at subsidized prices for employees of the regime, 7 days a week. On Tuesdays (hence "thelatha", which means Tuesday), regular Iraqis could shop there. This "tuesday market" program was discontinued in recent years, and so only regime employees could shop there.

About 70 workers are on site today, Saturday 11/8.

Scrap metal and ceramic tiles will be saved for re-use or sold.

Work began in earnest today (Sunday) at the 28 April Shopping Center in Kerkh, downtown Baghdad, just 1/4 mile from the North Gate entrance to the CPA's Palace headquarters, right across from the old Ministry of Information building.

For the previous week, security concerns had halted the work, as JumpStart International has a policy of not employing any workers who carry guns, and the Ministry of Trade's Shopping Centers Department, which required guards on site, did not immediately provide the guards. Looters continued to loot the building even up to the day after we arrived on site. One was caught red-handed with a large section of electrical wiring, although he fled once our workers encountered him.

After meeting with the Chief Officer of the Ministry of Trade, security guards were quickly arranged for, and a crew of about six JumpStart workers constructed an on-site security post and foreman's office at the site, in about 6 days.

An overhead view of half of the April 28 Mall. The two-story building, plus full basement, was flattened by fire and structural collapse. Different reports indicate that there may be many dead Fedayeen (feared/special soldiers) underneath the rubble, because half of the people seem to think the building was bombed rather than looted and burned. We'll see when we get there. Two jackhammer machines are working their way into the mall from the edges. The remainder of the mall was simply looted and burned.

The roof and the cooling tower of the April 28 mall.

Inside the non-flattened structure. We'll be clearing it and then structural engineers will look at it to see if any of the building can be re-used.

Ash, black and gray are the colors of the day. The second ceilings will be removed by hand and with oxygen torches to recycle scrap metal and prepare for possible re-use.

Clearing work will start at Souk Moustanzeria, Souk Monsur, and Souk Quadassea shopping centers after the end of Ramadan (December 1st). The centers, each of which would normally employ perhaps six or seven hundred people, were all destroyed by looting and burning after the war. Souk Monsur was also reportedly bombed during the war.

This is a view of Souk Mustanzeria. All the shopping centers look pretty much like this...

Even the escalator stairs were looted!

The atrium of Souk Mustanzeria. The mall is three stories in most places, four stories in some areas.

The six building complex of Souk Thelatha has been cleared and is ready for re-use by the Ministry of Trade. At this moment, the cigarette "gangster" Fathel is continuing to expand his control over the mall. It appears he is not paying anything to the Ministry and is simply an illegal squatter, but who knows, for his work to continue unobstructed, it's possible he is paying off someone in the Shopping Center Division of the Ministry of Trade.

Regardless, it isn't all bad, as at least he is employing people who are actively involved in productive and profitable jobs, which is a more useful and commendable activity than the state of disrepair and looting that the Shopping Center people have let the malls throughout the city continue to fester in. Fathel's guards are nice people and, after the first few troubling days, didn't interfere with our clearing and cleaning work.

Ten workers last night completed the finishing touches, renovating a looted 30 sq meter building into a guard station with electricity and toilet. Today begins the Eid holiday, and on Saturday work begins on the Souk Monsur Shopping Center and the guard stations for two other shopping malls.

Before clearing...

Workers checking in in the morning...

Daily laborers with a long day of backbreaking work ahead of them... but happy to be working.

Clearing...

After clearing... walls and ceilings were scraped and cleaned in many areas to clear the smoke damage.

Valuable marble tiles were saved for resale by the Ministry of Trade.

After clearing...

After clearing...

About 50 workers are on site at the 28 April Shopping Center in downtown Baghdad. Most of the work is being done by heavy equipment (2 jackhammer tractors, 1 bucket tractor, shovels and dump trucks), although teams of laborers are also needed to save the re-bar for resale, and to prepare the interior of the undestroyed building for clearing and re-use...

Supervisor Moamar, Iraqi Program Manager Sean, Foreman Omar, and Supervisor Maitham on a beautiful day in Baghdad, putting on their best grimaces for the camera.

Heavy equipment is a big part of the budget for this project.

Workers save materials for resale.

A crew of 28 April JumpStart workers.

Work began today at Souk Shaab with the construction of a guard house, bathroom, and foreman's room. This shopping center is in a relatively good shape, with relatively small structure damages, although the looting and burning throughout the complex is very extensive.

The project is expected to employ approximately 60 workers for one month. The most challenging parts of the project is the basement, which is flooded and filled with destroyed refrigeration units, shelving, etc., and the east entrance of the building, where fire in the basement has melted the steel floor supports, requiring structural repairs.

Work began today on construction of the guard shacks, bathroom and foreman's office at Souk Moustanzeria.

Damage at the shopping center is extensive.

Exterior, Souk Mustanzeria. Three to four-story structure, plus full basement, probably 140,000 square feet (14,000 square meters).

Interior shot. Fire damage caused roof collapse in a few areas. The building was looted and burned after the war.

Another view.

Souk Quadessia is a cookie-cutter shopping center design that was used throughout Baghdad. Some six shopping centers have an identical design: about 250,000 square feet (25,000 square meters) of shopping center area over 5 floors (including the basement).

Here's another angle. The damage was caused by looting & burning.

Here's another angle. The damage again was caused by looting and burning.

The Ministry of Trade, which owns all the shopping centers in Baghdad, wants the entire structure removed. The project is expected to take over two months. It began today with a small crew (15 workers), who started building a guard house and foreman's office and bathroom. These rooms, built from scratch, will be complete within seven days.