Work began on clearing the Al Qushla historic site from looter destruction today.

Al Qushla is a large complex of Ottoman empire buildings that had previously served as a headquarters for the rulers of Iraq, it was maintained and protected by the Ministry of Culture as a museum. It is situated on a beautiful riverfront location in downtown Baghdad.

Looters took the I-beams which served as ceiling support bars from throughout the extensive campus, because I-beams have a particularly large resale value. Window frames, door frames, etc., were also looted, but it was the ceilings which created the most structural damage here.

A typical view in Al Qushla.

Al Qushla now looks like an archeological dig site.

The architecture of the complex, when restored, will provide for a beautiful and striking compound.

 Walking through what was previously a hallway... Guards stand by at the site now to protect it from further looting damage.

JumpStart foreman Muthanna is the leader of this clearance project, which involves clearing the extensive grounds as well as the many buildings.

The Rasheed Camp Master Project is the first project, which will require over 1,000 JumpStart International workers to complete.

The Rasheed Camp is located only about three miles from downtown Baghdad and the Green Zone. Before the war, it housed up to 200,000 soldiers on its expansive base, which is about 1/3rd the size of Manhattan.

In the past year, looting continued unabated at the camp, transforming the endless campus of buildings into a wasteland of leftover building scraps. Even today, a year after the war ended, looters with heavy equipment continue to destroy buildings for their brick and steel components.

Perhaps 3,000 squatters live throughout the entire area. There would be many more, but the looters looted the water and electric supply, leaving squatters with suboptimal habitat.

The area JumpStart is going to begin with is the area closest to the river and the electric and water plant.

Our plan is to clear and clean the buildings and the grounds, and try to re-install civilization to a section of the grounds and then extend the works from there.

Over time, there will be roughly 30 foremen working at this site alone... for the duration of the time JumpStart is able to get funding to do our work in Baghdad. The projects anticipated for this site include (1) numerous clearance projects for the 12 square kilometers of buildings, (2) building housing projects (3) running a technical trades school to teach building trades to unskilled labor (4) running factories to supply building materials for the JumpStart construction projects throughout the Rasheed Camp and throughout Baghdad.

Looters quickly deconstructing some walls that line the Rasheed Camp for the concrete blocks.

Looters often have heavy equipment, like this front-end loader (shovel) pictured here in the background.

Heavy equipment is also used by bandits to demolish perfectly good buildings for the steel reinforcement bar (re-bar/sheesh).

Even the women and children get in the act.

Those who don't have heavy equipment destroy buildings using sledgehammers.

A building harvested for the brick and the sledgehammered sheesh.

What's left is a wasteland.

Miles and miles of wasteland. And no law enforcement is going on to block the illegal activity.

JumpStart has gone into a corner of the camp and started to reclaim buildings. This one still has the roof and ceilings, although all the plumbing and electrical infrastructure has been removed.

JumpStart workers build walls, windows and doors for a new dormitory-style apartment in one of the buildings.

A floor of one of the apartment buildings mid-way through reconstruction.

One of the JumpStart buildings mid-way through reconstruction.

Four buildings are being demolished in preparation for the creation of a base camp for the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps near the Muthana Airfield.

The headquarters building also needs to be cleared of the rubble and destruction left over after the organization that is squatting in it leaves.