The four-square mile, fortressed area in Baghdad that’s supposed to provide safe haven for important people trying to reinvent this war-torn nation in the biblical part of the world known as the cradle of civilization is porous. Bullets and bombs are getting through. First-responder wireless communications are not. The delay continues.
Time was when the U.S.-led coalition envisioned a nationwide first-responder network in Iraq significantly deployed by Christmas, if not sooner. What a wonderful present that would have been for Iraqi security officers, especially as they nervously await Jan. 30 elections and later trials of deposed dictator Saddam Hussein and his goons.
Instead, there is disappointment. And death, almost daily lately-most recently on the edges of the permeable Green Zone. I guess you just have to suck it up and go to war with the Army and communications you have.
Last Thursday, the No. 2 official in Iraq’s Communications Ministry-Kassim Imhawi-was gunned down in his car on his way to work in Baghdad, Reuters reported. Besides soldiers, other prime targets of insurgents include Iraqi government officials, security guards and foreign contractors.
It’s no use pointing fingers at the sad state of first-responder communications in Iraq at this late date, given lackluster transparency in the contracting process. To be fair, there appears to be good-faith efforts here and there to make it happen. And then, there’s been truly weird stuff, like alleged efforts of a former senior Pentagon official, his pals and CDMA advocates to use an Alaska Native firm as a front (and a preferred contractor) to bring communications to police, firefighters and medics in Iraq.
Jack Shaw, chief of international technology security at the Department of Defense and reportedly the target of an FBI probe, was fired Dec. 10 by the Pentagon. Shaw, who wanted to give CDMA a fair shot in Iraq, alleged corruption in the award of three regional GSM mobile-phone licensees in Iraq.
While mobile-phone infrastructure is being deployed and wireless services are expanding in Iraq, first- responder communications remain on hold. The entire TETRA contract in Iraq may ultimately be worth more than $100 million.
A couple of months or so ago, Lucent Technologies Inc.-which has the telecom reconstruction contract in Iraq-awarded a subcontract for first-responder network gear to an unnamed American wireless manufacturer that reorganized of late. Work is progressing.
More recently, the U.S. Army awarded the first-responder handset contract to Sepura Ltd. of England. Lucent and Motorola Inc. protested the contract award, valued at up to $50 million. Graham Matthews, managing director of Sepura, called the protests “totally without merit.”
Norm Sandler, a Motorola spokesman, replied: “Motorola is confident of its ability to compete on pricing and products. More to the point, technology leadership and experience in-country since April 2003 make Motorola uniquely qualified to provide the timely delivery of network-compatible radios to meet critical security needs in Iraq.”
The Bush administration hates the word, but first-responder communications in Iraq may well qualify as a quagmire. A totally unnecessary one.
