Al-Qa'im (town)
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- For other uses of the word Qa'im, see disambiguation
Template:Location map Al-Qa'im (Template:ArB) is an Iraqi town located nearly 400km northwest of Baghdad near the Syrian border and situated along the Euphrates River, and located in the Al Anbar Governorate. It has a population of about 150,000.
Pre-war history
Al-Qa'im was reportedly the site of Iraq's refined Uranium ore production from 1984 through 1990. The "Chemical Fertilizer Complex," as this was called, was originally built by Belgian contractors in January 1976, and by 1982 it was processing Phosphate from the nearby Akashat mine. That year, Iraq decided to build a Uranium extraction facility on the same site, and hired Belgian contractors Mebshem to build the structure, completed in 1984. Unused Uranium from al-Qa'im was stored in nearby Tuwaitha.
The production facility was completely destroyed during a 1991 US bombing campaign during the Gulf War.
Iraq War
In the most recent war in Iraq, Qa'im has been a center of attacks by the Iraqi insurgency against US military personnel at the nearby military base of Camp Gannon. The U.S. military regards Qa'im as the entry point for foreign fighters into Iraq and regards it as a strategic importance.
It was reported by Newsweek in 2003 American soldiers stationed in the border city entered Syria. During the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment's control, a photojournalist embedded to the unit documented the city's events, and his photos were used in Time and Newsweek. A more candid article entitled "Iraq's a Wild West" appeared in the September 2003 issue of Maxim. In Novermber 2003, the 3d Cavarly conducted the highly successful and largely peaceful Operation Rifles Blitz. During the operation the city was sectioned into three portions and searched house-to-house over a two week period. Large numbers of weapons and suspected insurgents were captured during the operation, but some ill will was earned during the operation since it prevented Ramadan celebrations from taking place that year. Most notably, during the operation the sons of Major General Abed Hamed Mowhoush were captured. Later the general turned himself in to Forward Operating Base Tiger in hopes of allowing his sons to be released. The general was later killed by U.S. interragators.
On April 7, 2005, Iraqi insurgents captured the city, forcing the local police and US-supported Iraqi Soldiers to abandon the city. U.S. Marines launched several offensives in order to root out the insurgents and retake the city. In a recent effort to flush insurgents out of Qa'im, Marines launched the week-long Operation Matador, in which they faced stiff resistance from both local Iraqi fighters and foreign fighters.
According to local residents, Qa'im remains largely under the control of the insurgents. Along with towns like Haditha, they have imposed a Taliban-like law, in which Western music, clothing, and hairstyles are banned. In early September 2005, it was reported that a sign posted outside the town stated "Welcome to the Islamic Republic of Qa'im". [1]
In autumn of 2005, the US military launched Operation Steel Curtain and devastated the town, destroying schools, much of the hospital, and many houses, and driving thousands into refugee status. The town struggles for survival ever since. As of 2006 Qa'im like many cities in the Anbar province is believed to still be under insurgent dominance. the primary income of Qa'im is still smuggling, though damage from previous battles has somewhat depressed the local economy.[2]
