PROGRESS

Neighborhood councils.

There are 88 neighborhood advisory councils in Baghdad alone. None of them existed a few months ago. Representatives from each neighborhood were chosen to form eight district councils. From there, a few were picked to form the city council, which is currently meeting twice each week...

The councils aren’t exactly running the areas they’re responsible for.

Rather, they serve as a forum to discuss issues and try to resolve problems. They make recommendations to the military units in their areas or to the appropriate Iraqi ministries.

“This will get Iraqis to respond to Iraqis,” said Lt. Col. P.J. Dermer, another officer assigned to the Coalition Provisional Authority. “Instead of 10,000 screaming Iraqis in front of a ministry building, they have a body now where hopefully they can work things through”