IRAQ: Small stuff, big change, hopefully

Informally, the project is called Home Depot in Al Qaim, a way to replace farming equipment stolen or destroyed by insurgents in the once agriculture-rich region near the Syrian border.

It's one of dozens of mini-projects being organized and funded by the Provincial Reconstruction Team embedded with Marines at Al Asad, a joint effort of the military, State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development. Other teams are in Fallouja and Ramadi.

The philosophy is grassroots: micro-loans to shopkeepers, help for sheepherders whose flocks are sick, classes in budgeting, tutoring in community organizing, home repair, cellular telephones. About $500,000 has been spent in three months.

It's separate from big-ticket Seabee projects involving water, electricity and sewage. John Matel, team leader in Al Asad, finds the residents in his portion of Al Anbar welcoming.

"They're sick of being poor in a rich country" that has oil, water, and decent farmland, said Matel, who blogs his experiences at his website.

It's unclear whether there will be a grand opening when the equipment-rental place opens.

"It's only been a year since it's been deadly dangerous to even be seen with us," Matel said.

— Tony Perry in Al Asad, Iraq