Demolition began today at the old Ministry of Defense Communications building, which was damaged by bombs.

According to the project, three buildings will be demolished. Engineer Foreman Hayder is managing the demolitions on this project.

The MOD communications building.

Only three buildings of the old MOD complex in downtown Baghdad were bombed. The other 15 or so were damaged, but not completely destroyed by the looters.

This one-story building is above a "nuclear bomb shelter". Most of the building needs to be demolished.

Children and squatters live amongst the rubble.

About 70 families squat at the old MOD facility. More families are prevented from moving in by armed guards who protect the complex.

JumpStart International started today the clearance of fire damage at the old Ministry of Defense Theatre building.

The project will employ about 40 workers for 3 weeks. Laith, who last served as a supervisor on the Ibn Al Beetar hospital project, is the foreman for this project.

The inside of the theatre. Much of the work involves torch men with oxygen tanks to clear the melted steel.

The head of the National Olympic Committee of Iraq (NOCI) asked JumpStart International to suspend our demolition efforts of the Olympic building skyscraper on the Palestine street.

NOCI was reportedly concerned that the metal would be looted or damaged in the demolition of the building. The committee indicated that they would start the following work day (Saturday, March 13th) with another crew. However, as of 23 March no work has restarted on the demolition of the building.

JumpStart finished our efforts at that site by capping off the water supply, which was flowing from an uncapped water main and flooding the grounds.

JumpStart International has begun working at the Ministry of Defense headquarters.

We will clear the 15-building complex of rubble and prepare squatter housing for new families that are currently occupying other facilities to move temporarily into the complex.

Two days ago a large unexploded bomb (between 500-1000 lbs) was found on the 9th floor of one of the skyscrapers JumpStart International is clearing. The army was called, and they responded with a team that disarmed the device the next day, using a laser torch to open the bomb and a liquid that disabled the explosive material inside.

        Orly Halpern, a freelance reporter, accompanied JumpStart as we made our rounds on 21 March.

Halpren made some notes on the mammoth bomb, much to the dismay of the JumpStart employee gesturing for her to get away from the bomb. The bomb burst through the ceiling but for some reason didn't explode. The JumpStart workers encountered the bomb while removing debris around and on top of it.

We've encountered landmines, mortars and RPGs as we do our work, but never anything as big as this. Likely a "smart" bomb, this one wasn't particularly brilliant.

Five medium to small-sized administration buildings are being demolished at the Al Karama Hospital at the request of the Ministry of Health. Foreman Abu Huda is the manager of this project.

JumpStart workers save doorframes and other materials before demolishing the building.

JumpStart workers save window frame for the Al Karama hospital to reuse.

One of the five buildings to be demolished to prepare for a new hospital.

JumpStart International has begun work at the Monsur Recreation Club, a heavily damaged facility, which was occupied by a paramilitary organization and subsequently squatters.

The Monsur Club has a gymnasium, auditorium, swimming pool, and park grounds. JumpStart's sign is visible on the upper left.

The swimming pool after we cleared the grounds but before we drained it.

The kitchen after looters had gotten to it.

The auditorium after the fire damage and rubble were cleared by JumpStart.

About 6 heavily bombed buildings in the Green Zone are being demolished to make way for new construction projects. The houses were evidently "Saddam safe houses". A large number of bombs destroyed most of these buildings pretty extensively, and looting has damaged the buildings even further. One of the buildings had about 12 iron safes, a relatively large number of safes for a single family.

Mohannid, a civil engineer who started as a supervisor with JumpStart on the Vice-Presidential palace clean-up, is foreman for this project.

 A main building. Saddam's initials are present in the gates and throughout the building. Unfortunately, the facade of this building is all that remains undamaged.

A rear view of the carnage.

About 6 buildings were originally in this compound.

A crew of 20 began work at the site of the terrorist bombing at Mount Lebanon hotel and the surrounding neighborhood. The workers will continue to be there to help in rubble removal, demolition, and moving possessions, building walls, etc., whatever is needed by the residents of the community, for the next few weeks.

JumpStart International is currently the only organization in Baghdad that provides this "clean-up" service to the victims of these terrorist acts. This is the 2nd time we have performed this service, the first time was at the bombing at the Hotel Shahine last month.

Work began today at the old headquarters complex of the Air Force.

There are four large office buildings in the campus, which range from 7 to 10 stories tall. Most of these buildings have been hit by bombs, and have suffered even more from extensive looting. A few smaller bombed structures will be completely demolished. The buildings are being cleared in preparation for their re-use and reconstruction as offices for the Ministry of Trade, and other projects.

Moamar is foreman of this project, which began with 50 workers and is expected to grow to about 200 workers within two weeks.

One of the four office buildings. They look pretty good from the outside, and structurally most of the buildings are sound in most areas.

A side view of three of the buildings. The buildings are surrounded by squattor housing, families who choose to illegally build structures on the campus of the buildings and reside there. As nothing is being done about squattors, and squattors are occasionally paid off to exit an area, squattor housing is springing up all over abandoned buildings in Baghdad.

The interior of a 2-story structure (bombed). This one will be demolished.

The interior of most of these buildings looks like this. What damage wasn't done by the bombs and the fires was done by the looters, who still run rampant through the buildings.

Looters are fairly sophisticated. As shown here, they bring heavy equipment to use in destroying the infrastructure of these buildings (oxygen tanks and torches to cut out the plumbing & heating system pipes, etc). On the day this picture was taken, 15 March, there were perhaps 50 looters still operating throughout the large complex.

A 2 story structure that will be demolished.

From the top of one of the buildings, looking over to West-Central Baghdad.

Clearance of the Tahreer Shops underneath the traffic circle in Tahreer Square began today.

The shops were extensively looted after the war and haven't yet re-opened for business.

About 50 or so shops circle the square.

Garbage clogs the entrances to the circle.

The center of the circle is a little oasis in the square.

Work began today with 70 workers clearing the Baghdad Security complex.

Civil engineer Haider is the foreman for this project.

North building face.

It appears three bombs hit this building. Interior courtyard view.

South building face.

Work began on clearing and bulldozing the rubble fields that have been created in the Canal Road area near Souk Thelatha, the United Nations, and the nearby hospital buildings.

The roads will be cleared of rubble to allow traffic to navigate. The work is anticipated to take less than two weeks, using 2-3 front-end loaders and bulldozers to clear the 80 acre area, and a crew of about 10 laborers with hand shovels.

Work began today at the Ministry of Environment headquarters and accompanying theater.

The five-story building was extensively damaged by fire and looting.

View from the street

The theatre's roof needs to be demolished completely.

The interior of the 4th and 5th floors are being gutted in preparation for reconstruction.

A team of about 25 JumpStart International's workers began today cleaning and painting the new temporary HQ of the Minister of Education.

Security walls will be also constructed for this project.

The foreman for this project is Engineer Saad, who began working with JumpStart at the Ministry of Planning project.

The Tahreer building, owned by the Amanat Baghdad (city of Baghdad), at the foot of the Jumhuriyah Bridge and the Tahreer circle in downtown Baghdad, was hit by a few tank rounds.

The foreman on this project is Mohammed Swerji, who previously managed the Ministry of Planning headquarters complex. About 70 workers are on this project.

The view from the side close to the river.

The building has been completely looted, leaving only paper and useless materials.

The building was also hit by a bomb or tank round on the 11th floor. It's the biggest clean-up challenge on this building, to remove the damaged parts in preparation for reconstruction...

JumpStart International began a quick project to clear the 3-8th floors of the Board of the Supreme Audit building.

Wisam, who previously worked at the Ministry of Education project, was the foreman on this project, which took 20 workers and about five days to complete.

The Board of the Supreme Audit is on Haifa Street in Kerkh.

Several floors suffered from fire damage. This is the space after cleaning.

JumpStart International began working at the warehouse site of the Ministry of Water.

The foreman on this project is Muthanna, who previously worked at the Baghdad International Fair project.

About 14 warehouses at the intersection between the Ministry of Oil and the Ministry of Water Resources and Palestine Street were looted and burned after the war.

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

The Ibn al Beetar Hospital was about 1/3rd destroyed by fire and bombing during the war.

JumpStart International began clearing this project with about 50 workers. The foreman for the project is civil engineer Haider, who began as a foreman at the Baghdad International Fair project.

The burned buildings are the blackened roofs in the center left and center and center right of this photo.

From the inside.

From the outside. All the burned structures are being taken completely to the ground.

The metal warped extensively everywhere.

About 7 torch crews work to cut down the structure.

Workers have to organize the metal carefully due to the congested location that we have to operate within.

A bomb on the rear porch.

JumpStart International began work today at Al Adnan palace, a structure which has remained in very good shape since the war (it was occupied by Coalition troops).

JumpStart is simply cleaning the building and painting a number of rooms in preparation for the DBX expo, a reconstruction trade show to be held in Baghdad next month. The building will be used for conferences and for housing during the show, after which time the Ministry of Interior will use it for training security forces.

The two week project is expected to require no more than 25 workers. Abu Hooda is the foreman of this project.

Al Adnan Palace is located in the Green Zone. One would assume it was the Americans who put the two volleyball courts in the front yard.

Al Adnan Palace was provided to Saddam Hussein's brother in law. It is an extensive complex, with several guest houses, ballrooms, etc. Adnan died several years ago. 

JumpStart provides workers for the public benefit at no charge to the sponsoring organization... But in cases of reconstruction, materials (paint, bricks, construction materials, etc) are secured by others, while the worker pay, engineering management, and supervisory oversight is done by JumpStart. Most JumpStart projects do not currently involve reconstruction, just preparation for reconstruction.

Work began at the Police Academy with the demolition of a number of one-story buildings that suffered from bombing and looting damage.

About 30 buildings will be demolished, along with a number of walls, trenches and other miscellaneous grounds work, etc. Ali Hisham is the foreman of this project.