by Bryan Pearson

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BAGHDAD, March 23, 2007 (AFP) - To look at, the tiny Iraqi army outpost being set up in a deserted building in a rundown street in Baghdad's central badlands has little going for it.

As forlorn as its surroundings, it comprises barely more than a machinegun mounted on a small table at the doorway to a dreary pock-marked building, two sparsely furnished offices and some red traffic cones scattered haphazardly in the street to form a small chicane for passing vehicles.

A few chairs next to the desk and bare mattresses in the sleeping quarters on the first floor offer the only creature comfort.

But the very fact anything smacking of law and order is being set up at all in notorious Sixth Street, in Baghdad's Karkh district, is evidence that the tentacles of the Baghdad security plan are reaching far and long, a US military commander said.

"This street is a faultline -- on that side we have Sunnis and on this side we have Shiites," said B Troop commander Captain Christopher Dawson of the US army's 9th Cavalry Regiment.

He was briefing his troops as they rolled down Sixth Street in heavily-armoured Humvee jeeps on a vaguely sunny afternoon this week.

"It will help restore confidence if there is a permanent security presence here. Residents will get to know they are safer," added Dawson, whose patrol chanced upon the new outpost as pickup trucks were arriving with provisions and soldiers.

Iraqi army Lieutenant Ahmed Shihad, who is charged with installing the outpost, seemed pleased enough.

"It will be a 24-hour patrol point and we'll place a sniper on the roof," Shihad told the US soldiers.

The aim, he explained, is to offer security so that shopkeepers and residents who fled the street when it became a frontline last year in raging sectarian warfare between Shiites and Sunnis will return.

"We want them to come back. We want life to get back to normal," Shihad said pointing down the pot-holed, garbage-strewn, street and its long rows of shops and houses, most of them shuttered or empty.

Dawson, a tall man with blue eyes and a commanding voice, greeted Shihad and his small band of soldiers who were kitted out in an assortment of ill-fitting uniforms, including from the Jordanian army.

He explained that he and his platoon frequently patrol Sixth street and they would try to do so more often in future to support those manning the fledgling army post.

Iraqi and the US forces, he pointed out, were jointly involved in Operation Fardh al-Qanoon (Imposing Law), an ambitious plan launched in February to regain control of the city and quell sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shiites.

"We may wear different uniforms but we're fighting on the same side," Dawson, dressed in hi-tech military gear complete with built-in two-way radio and water pouch, told Shihad, who was sporting outdated American army fatigues.

The lieutenant, a slender man with a wisp of a beard, explained that the decision to set up the post had been taken earlier in the day at a meeting of US and Iraqi commanders steering Operation Fardh al-Qanoon.

"We came down immediately, bringing all we had. We had to borrow the traffic cones from a motorist," he said through an interpreter.

"Now we need some rolls of razor wire to offer a little more protection," Shihad told the US captain, who promised to see what he could do to help.

"If I have something I will give it to him and if he has something he will give it to me," Dawson said philosophically.

The two men swapped telephone numbers and promised to liaise.

Dawson and his platoon then drove off in their ultra-modern Humvees, bristling with weaponry and fitted with sophisticated radio communications, global positioning systems and Intranet devices.

Shihad, leaning on the wooden table next to the machinegun, waved goodbye as the Humvees navigated past his traffic cones on their way back to Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.

"Iraqi army track patrol point established," Dawson reported by radio to headquarters giving the coordinates of the post. "They're also putting a sniper in position. This should improve security in the area."

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