Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Washington Post
March 31, 2008
Pg. 16
Residents Embittered by Politicians' Choices
By Sudarsan Raghavan, Washington Post Foreign Service
BAGHDAD, March 30 -- The mortar shells sailed across the sky Sunday evening and ripped through the corrugated tin roof of the barbershop. They shattered brick walls, mangled beams and knocked over leather chairs. Smoke, debris and glass covered the street outside.
There was blood on Abu Ghadeer's shirt. He had pulled out of the wreckage a boy who had come for a haircut but instead received a body full of shrapnel. Twenty minutes later, after an ambulance had taken the boy away, Abu Ghadeer struggled to understand.
"A week ago, life was good," he said. "Now, nobody knows what will happen."
For Iraqis, widespread clashes this past week have exposed their nation's brittleness. After months of relative calm and declining violence, many people were locking themselves inside their homes and shops again as Shiite gunmen battled U.S. and Iraqi forces. Curfews restricted their movement, yet they were still unable to escape the mortar and rocket fire.
In Baghdad's Karrada neighborhood Sunday, the despair was palpable. In alleyways and storefronts, people spoke about their frustration and dread, and about the misguided politics they blamed for running Iraq into the ground. Many said they were worried not about sectarian conflict but about war erupting right in their community.
Karrada, a mostly Shite enclave that is considered one of the safest areas of the capital, is a stronghold of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Dawa party and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, a powerful Shiite party that is part of the ruling coalition. Yet many Shiites here said the government's offensive in the port city of Basra, which sparked violence across southern Iraq and in Baghdad, showed that their politicians cared more about eradicating rivals than tending to the needs of their constituents.
"Every political party wants to control the situation and to be on top," said Adnan Radhi, 60, a municipal employee in Baghdad. "And the people are paying the price."
On Sunday, shortly before noon, Radhi and two friends sat in a grimy alley near Karrada's main commercial road. People walked past carrying bags of bread, and old women begged for food. A round-the-clock traffic ban was in place, leaving only police vehicles on the road. Piles of trash lay everywhere.
A few minutes earlier, a mortar had thundered nearby. In the past week, all three men had had close experiences with mortar attacks.
Radhi questioned why Maliki had decided to launch the Basra offensive. There were so many other priorities, he said.
"They promised us a rise in salaries and pensions. It was all lies," he said as his friends nodded. "There's hunger everywhere. No electricity, no water, no cooking gas, no kerosene. It's only promises. No action."
He paused, and sighed: "It's a crisis now."
Attacks on Karrada have increased in the past week. The Mahdi Army, loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and the main rival of Maliki and the Supreme Council, has been firing mortar rounds and rockets into the Green Zone across the Tigris River. But many shells and rockets have also struck Karrada, an enclave peppered with posters of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council. Sadr's followers say their rivals are trying to weaken them politically ahead of provincial elections later this year.
And so inevitably, conversation turned to politics and conflict.
"He rushed," Radhi said, referring to Maliki's decision to launch the offensive last week. "He should have sat at a table and negotiated, and solved the crisis."
"It's all for the oil in Basra," said Muthanna Hadhi, 46, a vegetable seller.
"Four days ago, a mortar killed a small girl near here," said Ahmed Mahmoud, 45, a fish seller.
Radhi listened to his friends. He had heard their laments all week. He stood up, said goodbye and walked away, passing two empty carts.
The carts belonged to Hadhi and Mahmoud. They have not gone to the wholesale market in a week because of the battles in Baghdad's Shiite districts.
"We can't leave Karrada," said Hadhi, a slim man with a stubbly beard.
The market was in the Dora neighborhood, once a haven for Sunni extremists, he explained. A year ago, Shiites like him feared to go there. Now, he fears going to certain Shiite areas, where being perceived as part of the wrong political party can lead to death. "Dora is safer than Shiite neighborhoods now," he said.
The curfew imposed Friday was supposed to end Sunday morning. Hadhi woke up at 5 a.m. to go to the wholesale market. But as he tried to leave Karrada, a policeman stopped him and told him that the curfew had been extended. "I was so frustrated," Hadhi said.
"When they impose a curfew, it shows there's no effective government," said Mahmoud.
"Everything is going downhill, day by day," Hadhi agreed.
Iraq's leaders, Mahmoud said, had spent too many years in exile before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 allowed them to return and take power. They are out of touch with the people, he said.
"They came for revenge, not to help the people," he added.
Mahmoud, who has a round, wrinkled face and a gray-speckled beard, remarked how quickly their lives had reversed in a week. "Suddenly a guerrilla war erupted," he said. "It's not easy to control street fighting."
"The situation is like Lebanon in the 1970s," said Hadhi, referring to the civil war there. "It took years to stabilize."
But Mahmoud noted that the conflict erupting across Iraq today is very different from the violence between Sunnis and Shiites in 2006.
"Now, people are hating each other more," he said. "It's not sectarian. It's within sects."
Both men said they felt safe in Karrada because the Badr Brigade, the armed wing of the Supreme Council, had secured the area.
"There would be a problem if Badr was not here," Mahmoud said. "The Sadrists would march into Karrada."
In a pet store down the street, Abu Zainab, a 47-year-old blacksmith, wondered aloud why he had voted for the ruling Shiite coalition led by Maliki.
"I blame the government. Why did they go to Basra?" he said. "The security situation is worse in Diyala province and in Mosul. They should send soldiers there."
Abu Zainab said he believed Maliki was responding to U.S. pressure to go after Sadr. "This government is taking orders from the Americans," he said, shaking his head in disgust.
"It's been five days. They are still fighting the militias. What if they have to fight a country? The very next day the foreign troops will enter our houses," he said.
As he spoke, mortar shells crashed down on Karrada.
Although Abu Zainab is a Shiite, he reminisced almost wistfully about life under Saddam Hussein, who favored the Sunnis. Back then, there was electricity for 22 hours a day. Abu Zainab said he hasn't had any electricity in eight days.
Farther along the street, though, shopkeeper Hadhi Fadhil had it worse. He does not live in Karrada and has slept on the floor of his store since Thursday because of the curfew. "Life was getting better gradually," Fadhil said. "Then things changed overnight. Now I am stuck here.
"The next time, I am not going to vote for anybody. I don't like anyone anymore."
March 31, 2008
Pg. 16
Residents Embittered by Politicians' Choices
By Sudarsan Raghavan, Washington Post Foreign Service
BAGHDAD, March 30 -- The mortar shells sailed across the sky Sunday evening and ripped through the corrugated tin roof of the barbershop. They shattered brick walls, mangled beams and knocked over leather chairs. Smoke, debris and glass covered the street outside.
There was blood on Abu Ghadeer's shirt. He had pulled out of the wreckage a boy who had come for a haircut but instead received a body full of shrapnel. Twenty minutes later, after an ambulance had taken the boy away, Abu Ghadeer struggled to understand.
"A week ago, life was good," he said. "Now, nobody knows what will happen."
For Iraqis, widespread clashes this past week have exposed their nation's brittleness. After months of relative calm and declining violence, many people were locking themselves inside their homes and shops again as Shiite gunmen battled U.S. and Iraqi forces. Curfews restricted their movement, yet they were still unable to escape the mortar and rocket fire.
In Baghdad's Karrada neighborhood Sunday, the despair was palpable. In alleyways and storefronts, people spoke about their frustration and dread, and about the misguided politics they blamed for running Iraq into the ground. Many said they were worried not about sectarian conflict but about war erupting right in their community.
Karrada, a mostly Shite enclave that is considered one of the safest areas of the capital, is a stronghold of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Dawa party and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, a powerful Shiite party that is part of the ruling coalition. Yet many Shiites here said the government's offensive in the port city of Basra, which sparked violence across southern Iraq and in Baghdad, showed that their politicians cared more about eradicating rivals than tending to the needs of their constituents.
"Every political party wants to control the situation and to be on top," said Adnan Radhi, 60, a municipal employee in Baghdad. "And the people are paying the price."
On Sunday, shortly before noon, Radhi and two friends sat in a grimy alley near Karrada's main commercial road. People walked past carrying bags of bread, and old women begged for food. A round-the-clock traffic ban was in place, leaving only police vehicles on the road. Piles of trash lay everywhere.
A few minutes earlier, a mortar had thundered nearby. In the past week, all three men had had close experiences with mortar attacks.
Radhi questioned why Maliki had decided to launch the Basra offensive. There were so many other priorities, he said.
"They promised us a rise in salaries and pensions. It was all lies," he said as his friends nodded. "There's hunger everywhere. No electricity, no water, no cooking gas, no kerosene. It's only promises. No action."
He paused, and sighed: "It's a crisis now."
Attacks on Karrada have increased in the past week. The Mahdi Army, loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and the main rival of Maliki and the Supreme Council, has been firing mortar rounds and rockets into the Green Zone across the Tigris River. But many shells and rockets have also struck Karrada, an enclave peppered with posters of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council. Sadr's followers say their rivals are trying to weaken them politically ahead of provincial elections later this year.
And so inevitably, conversation turned to politics and conflict.
"He rushed," Radhi said, referring to Maliki's decision to launch the offensive last week. "He should have sat at a table and negotiated, and solved the crisis."
"It's all for the oil in Basra," said Muthanna Hadhi, 46, a vegetable seller.
"Four days ago, a mortar killed a small girl near here," said Ahmed Mahmoud, 45, a fish seller.
Radhi listened to his friends. He had heard their laments all week. He stood up, said goodbye and walked away, passing two empty carts.
The carts belonged to Hadhi and Mahmoud. They have not gone to the wholesale market in a week because of the battles in Baghdad's Shiite districts.
"We can't leave Karrada," said Hadhi, a slim man with a stubbly beard.
The market was in the Dora neighborhood, once a haven for Sunni extremists, he explained. A year ago, Shiites like him feared to go there. Now, he fears going to certain Shiite areas, where being perceived as part of the wrong political party can lead to death. "Dora is safer than Shiite neighborhoods now," he said.
The curfew imposed Friday was supposed to end Sunday morning. Hadhi woke up at 5 a.m. to go to the wholesale market. But as he tried to leave Karrada, a policeman stopped him and told him that the curfew had been extended. "I was so frustrated," Hadhi said.
"When they impose a curfew, it shows there's no effective government," said Mahmoud.
"Everything is going downhill, day by day," Hadhi agreed.
Iraq's leaders, Mahmoud said, had spent too many years in exile before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 allowed them to return and take power. They are out of touch with the people, he said.
"They came for revenge, not to help the people," he added.
Mahmoud, who has a round, wrinkled face and a gray-speckled beard, remarked how quickly their lives had reversed in a week. "Suddenly a guerrilla war erupted," he said. "It's not easy to control street fighting."
"The situation is like Lebanon in the 1970s," said Hadhi, referring to the civil war there. "It took years to stabilize."
But Mahmoud noted that the conflict erupting across Iraq today is very different from the violence between Sunnis and Shiites in 2006.
"Now, people are hating each other more," he said. "It's not sectarian. It's within sects."
Both men said they felt safe in Karrada because the Badr Brigade, the armed wing of the Supreme Council, had secured the area.
"There would be a problem if Badr was not here," Mahmoud said. "The Sadrists would march into Karrada."
In a pet store down the street, Abu Zainab, a 47-year-old blacksmith, wondered aloud why he had voted for the ruling Shiite coalition led by Maliki.
"I blame the government. Why did they go to Basra?" he said. "The security situation is worse in Diyala province and in Mosul. They should send soldiers there."
Abu Zainab said he believed Maliki was responding to U.S. pressure to go after Sadr. "This government is taking orders from the Americans," he said, shaking his head in disgust.
"It's been five days. They are still fighting the militias. What if they have to fight a country? The very next day the foreign troops will enter our houses," he said.
As he spoke, mortar shells crashed down on Karrada.
Although Abu Zainab is a Shiite, he reminisced almost wistfully about life under Saddam Hussein, who favored the Sunnis. Back then, there was electricity for 22 hours a day. Abu Zainab said he hasn't had any electricity in eight days.
Farther along the street, though, shopkeeper Hadhi Fadhil had it worse. He does not live in Karrada and has slept on the floor of his store since Thursday because of the curfew. "Life was getting better gradually," Fadhil said. "Then things changed overnight. Now I am stuck here.
"The next time, I am not going to vote for anybody. I don't like anyone anymore."