Iraq Program Manager Sean O'Sullivan met with Deputy Minister Dr. Qasim, who approved JumpStart's assistance in clearing and demolishing a few of the many damaged telecommunications structures in Baghdad.

JumpStart will begin with the Al Mamoon and the Bab Al Moatham sites within one week.

The Ministry has asked for assistance in clearing over 20 buildings.

Work began today at the Al Mamoon Telecommunications building.

Some 20 workers began clearing the grounds around the bombed structure in preparation for the cranes, which will dismantle the structure.

A view of Al Mamoon from a few miles away. About one quarter of the structure is undamaged and will remain standing in preparation for rebuilding. The other 3/4ths will be cleared.

A view, up close.

From the inside, you can see how the steel structure is bent and is pretty unstable. Getting this building down safely will be a challenge.

Next door to Al Mamoon is "Saddam Tower", which is topped by two restaurants and viewing platforms, reported to be the tallest structure in Iraq, perhaps about 600 feet tall (60 stories) at its highest. The interior of this building has been badly looted. A separate JumpStart team will begin clearing this in a few weeks... a difficult task because there are no elevators and no interior windows out of which to throw the ruins... it takes about half an hour to climb the stairs to the top.

Work began today at the large Al Mamoon site with a crew of 15, four oxygen torch teams, two front-end loaders, two supervisors and one foreman.

The crew will expand over the next week as the ground surrounding of the building is cleared in preparation for cranes to come in to disassemble the structure.

View from 110 feet above the street. This work at this height is extremely dangerous, as a good deal of the building has been blown apart by bombs dropped in the first days of the war.

Iraq Program Manager Sean O'Sullivan surrounded by members of Iraq's Ministry of Telecommunications, the site foreman Alah and crew.

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 View of the Al Mamoon building from a few miles away, showing damage to the structure.

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View of the Al Mamoon building from a few feet away, showing ruins/rubble.

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The Al Mamoon tower next to the telecommunications building, called the "Space Needle" by visitors, is the tallest structure in Iraq, and is topped by two floors of rotating restaurants, which rotated a full 360 degrees every 90 minutes. JumpStart will begin clearance of this tower, which was extensively looted, in about 2 weeks. Clearance of this building is complicated by the fact that the elevators were also looted and it takes about 30 minutes to walk the stairs to the top of the building.

All of the network exhanges of Baghdad were hit in bombing raids in the opening days of the war.

The Bab Al Moatham exchange is in the downtown area, near the banking district and directly next to the city headquarters (Amanat) building. The entire building, except for a five-story staircase on the side of the building nearest the Amanat, will be leveled. The tower also has to go; a bit of a challenge.

The project is headed by the civil engineer Emad, who previously managed demolitions and clearing work for JumpStart at Zafrania.

The project is anticipated to take between 2-3 months, employing about 50 workers.

The interior of the building is a spaghetti of twisted metal and old network exchange equipment, extensively looted.

Exterior view.

Work began today on the demolition of the bombed Telecommunications network exchange building in Salhea, across the street from the National Museum.