About 30 workers started today clearing the Believer's Palace.

This work is in assistance of the National Assembly Building project for the Ministry of Housing & Construction. Marble, chandeliers, lanterns, desks and a variety of other items are being carefully removed from the Believer's Palace, which was bombed three or four times. The Believer's Palace will be eventually demolished, but this project is simply to save materials from this building so the new National Assembly building of Iraq can be constructed more cheaply and more quickly.

The National Assembly building is targeted for completion by June 30. 

The Believer's Palace, rear exit.

The inside of an "assembly" chamber.

Many bombs hit the buildings.

Marble columns will be re-used...

Huge quantities of marble are being pulled from the walls of the Believer's Palace.

A statue and bathroom fixtures...

One of about 20 chandeliers that will be deconstructed for use on the National Parliament building.

JumpStart International began work at the new Iraqi Stock Exchange Building in downtown Baghdad (Saduun, near Abu Nuwas) on Saturday 21.

The eight-story building will be renovated by the CPA for use by the new Iraqi Stock Exchange company. It was previously an Al Rasheed Bank building.

This is the first project where the CPA is planning on compensating JumpStart for our costs in clearing the building. All other clearance projects have been paid for by private charitable donors.

The project is headed by Diayaa. The work started with 45 workers and will reach about 70 workers tomorrow, including 20 workers who were maimed and tortured under Saddam's regime.

The damage to this building of the looting/burning variety.

Most of the building is parking structures, with a few stories of offices at the top of the building, and a space that years ago served as an Indian restaurant on the top floors at the East end of the building.

According to reports, the building had been taken over by the Iraqi secret police before the war.

Garbage often is dumped nearby abandoned buildings. Squattors also occupied this building for the last month, but will be relocated to other housing by the CPA.

Work began today on the tallest structure in Baghdad, "Saddam" Tower, a "space needle" type building topped with two restaurants.

Twenty workers will clear the building, which was hit by a bomb but was mostly damaged by extensive looting. The name of the building will likely be changed.

There are 46 stories from the bottom floor to the 2nd restaurant... and the stairs don't end there!

The base of the building was struck by some type of explosive. No damage to the tower itself, but the basement is flooded and we'll need to clear the rubble.

The building is adjacent to Al Mamoon telecommunications structure, which is over 100 feet tall itself.

This is the third project JumpStart has begun for the Ministry of Telecommunications.

A total of 20 JumpStart International's workers began clearing the Commission for Public Integrity's building at the edge of the Green Zone.

The building, which used to be a guard facility for Saddam's palace, will take just a few days to clear. It will be reconstructed immediately following clearance.

A total of 25 workers began clean-up today at the Shahine hotel in the district of Karrada, Baghdad.

The Shahine hotel was the site of a terrorist suicide car bombing on January 28th. Our workers have also offered to clear up the police station across the street, but yesterday their offer for assistance was declined by the police chief, who indicated he wanted to keep the bomb damaged building in it's current blown apart state.

A team of 50 JumpStart International's workers with jackhammer trucks and excavators began work today at the Vice Presidential Palace.

After clearance and renovation, the building will host Iraq's new Ministry of Defense.

The Vice Presidential Palace was hit by two cruise missiles (destroying two wings of the four-wing building) and one JDAM (destroying the building center).

One of the wings of the Vice Presidential Palace. The Vice Presidential Palace was actually the Presidential Palace until Saddam decided he needed a bigger Palace than his predecessor.

Some halls are damaged.

Some are not.

The exterior of the building looks in great condition from some angles.

The VP Palace is the first project that JumpStart has done inside the Green Zone. Our effectiveness is at least 20% lower because of the delays of workers and equipment getting into the Green Zone, which shorten our workday substantially.