"After the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, the Iraqi infrastructure
was shattered. Few land lines worked, and less than 2% of the
population owned a phone. American and Middle Eastern companies soon
jostled for lucrative contracts to provide cellular networks, but the
contracts were delayed almost a year amid allegations of corruption."

"Officials eventually divided the country into four segments â€" Baghdad
and environs, the south and two areas in the north â€" and the cellular
network contracts were awarded."

Because foreign providers operate the cell phone system in Iraq, cell
phones used by U.S. forces work at least some of the time.  From an
OPSEC point of view that is VERY bad because of discussions about
locations, movements, timing, logistics, convoy composition,
operations and tactics.  Especially in areas where only analog
service, easily interceptible, is used (or insurgent moles in the
phone services remotely switch soldiers' phones from digital to analog).  

Those same moles can observe (or set up remote transmissions to an
insurgent base) the GPS location and movements of GPS-capable phones
(most are now set up for GPS) carried by soldiers.  They could then
alert insurgents to either flee or prepare ambushes/IED's along
specific routes taken by U.S. forces.  That may be sometimes why it
appears the insurgents are everywhere and numerous when in fact they
might be few but efficiently targeted.

Another OPSEC item.  It is possible to remotely turn on many cell
phones so just telling troops not to turn them on when they carry them
on an operation is not enough.  Cell phones should be left at base
camp with each soldier's locker. If pilferage is a problem, keep the
phones in a shielded area or container so that there is no indication
they are bunched up (an indicator the unit is on the move). Time
enough for troops to use the phones (gingerly and carefully) when they
return from an operation.

David Bier



http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-cellphones5aug05,0,3580717.story?coll=la-home-world

Out of Necessity and in Style, Iraqis Connect to Cellular Age

Banned under Saddam Hussein, mobile phones have already become an
indispensable part of life in a land torn by war yet fixated on fashion.

By Louise Roug
Times Staff Writer

August 5, 2005

BASRA, Iraq â€" Just before dusk, the setting sun illuminates in golden
hues a scene of bustling commerce. Vendors crowd the sidewalks here,
their produce stacked in appealing but fickle pyramids. Families shop
for apples, dates and saffron-colored marsh candy.

And cellphones.

Almost every store on Al Jazair Street in this southern Iraqi city
sells mobile telephones, and business is brisk.

Banned during Saddam Hussein's reign and introduced only last year,
cellphones are an obsession in this country. Iraqis give them
nicknames and spend inordinate amounts of money on the latest models,
accessories and ring tones.

Cellphones have become an indispensable part of everyday life, crucial
for families negotiating commutes to school and work amid bombings and
bloodshed. They also have a status function. In Iraq, they are a
fashion symbol nonpareil.

"If there's a new style, everybody wants it," said salesman Mohammed
Rayad, 24.

Fancy some miniature denim jeans tailored for your phone? Rayad at the
Orange store on Al Jazair Street offers those, and just about every
other imaginable telephonic trinket.

Looking for the Nokia 7260, with its "sleek, Art Deco-inspired design,
with VGA camera and camcorder, flash messaging and MMS, Java, XHTML
browser and downloadable themes," as one ad puts it?

Try a few blocks down the street at the Kanary store, where the window
display has goldfish swimming in an aquarium filled with cellphones.

Inside the marble-and-glass store, shoppers eyed a Nokia model
popularly known as the Yawer after the country's Sunni Arab vice
president, Ghazi Ajil Yawer, because "it's fat like him," said Ayad
Ali, the manager. "Rather than saying, 'Do you have a Nokia
such-and-such?' they say, 'Do you have a Yawer?' "

Customers have nicknamed the newest, most expensive phone in his store
(a $675 Nokia) the Sahaf after Hussein's notorious information
minister, Mohammed Said Sahaf. Among its features, of course, is a
built-in camera.

Ali, whose cousin owns the store, fondly remembers the good old days â€"
two years ago â€" when his family was alone in the business on Al Jazair
Street. Then they sold mostly satellite phones in a largely cell-free
society.

"We were the last country in the world to receive this service," said
Seerwan Moosa, a technician in the Education Ministry. "Saddam was
trying his best to isolate Iraq."

The cellphone had Moosa at hello.

A year ago, he borrowed a friend's phone. Today, he said, "life
without a mobile would be like living on a deserted island."

The country has changed, and so has this Basra neighborhood.

First Orbit opened kitty-corner to Kanary, and "overnight [the street]
was filled with shops," Ali said. His are quality goods, he said,
adding that he wasn't so sure about the competition's products. "It
says 'Made in Finland,' but it's actually made in China."

Regardless, the technology is costing Iraqis a lot of money.

Of 400 people surveyed in a recent Baghdad University study, the vast
majority said they spent a quarter to half their income on cellular
gadgets and phone bills.

A land-line phone costs a family less than $5 a month on average, but
it's not always reliable or practical. For example, it can't be used
to make an international call.

In Iraq, cellphones and cellular service sell at Los Angeles prices,
even though the average monthly income in Iraq is only about $150.
Many Iraqis use prepaid phone cards, but at least 2.2 million people
in the country of 26 million have bought cellphone subscriptions since
the technology was introduced a year ago, say spokesmen for three of
the four service providers. More than 1 million Baghdad residents
subscribe to a cellphone service.

Hiam Kahdem said her husband was among the first to sign up. Today the
couple spend about $220 a month on their phone. "That adds up to
almost one-third of our monthly salary," she said. "I don't think I
can live without it, but it's expensive."

She uses the phone to keep tabs on her family in a city besieged by
violence. When she hears of a bombing, she calls to assure herself
that they are safe.

"When you call the one you love during a crisis and discover that they
are fine, you get to catch your breath, and that's worth all the money
in the world," Kahdem said.

Whereas the phone to her is mostly a practical tool, "many of the kids
out there have turned this issue into fashion," she said, adding that
she has noticed that even many schoolchildren have fancy phones.

"I use a very simple regular cellphone because I believe that
cellphones are made to make calls on, not to be proud of the model
that you have," said Ahmed Izzideen, a computer engineer. "But my wife
has a $650 phone because she wants to show it to friends and family
members. For her, it's just a part of her looking good, like a dress
she has."

Izzideen, who makes $600 a month, spends $200 to $300 on
cellphone-related expenses. He uses his for business but occasionally
calls friends and family to say hello or make sure they're OK.

He uses a money-saving emergency system: calling and hanging up, with
the "missed call" display signaling his wife and family that he's safe.

In the Baghdad University study, most respondents said their work
necessitated the purchase of a cellphone. Others cited poor security
and the lack of reliable land lines. Some even acknowledged the vanity
factor: getting the phones because their friends and relatives had them.

The phones were popular in Iraq even before they were usable.

After the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, the Iraqi infrastructure
was shattered. Few land lines worked, and less than 2% of the
population owned a phone. American and Middle Eastern companies soon
jostled for lucrative contracts to provide cellular networks, but the
contracts were delayed almost a year amid allegations of corruption.

Still, it became chic among people in Baghdad to wear the unusable
phones clipped to a belt.

Officials eventually divided the country into four segments â€" Baghdad
and environs, the south and two areas in the north â€" and the cellular
network contracts were awarded.

Mirroring other communication problems in this country beset by
ethnic, religious and regional tension, calling between different
areas can be difficult. In the semiautonomous region of Kurdistan, a
simple call between two main cities, Irbil and Sulaymaniya, is
impossible on a cellphone because different providers serve the cities.

Hardly a day goes by without a story in the Iraqi media about
cellphone problems. Moaning about poor reception has become a national
pastime.

Despite having to suffer colleagues' constantly upgrading their phones
in "some kind of showoff behavior," said Moosa of the Education
Ministry, he loves the technology and plans never to be cellularly
deprived.

He sounded not unlike a jingle for a certain gadget.

"Mobile equals life," he said.

*

Times staff writers Suhail Ahmad, Caesar Ahmed, Mohammed Arrawi,
Zainab Hussein and Salar Jaff and a special correspondent in Mosul
contributed to this report.





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