Long-Closed Baghdad Bridge Reopens

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
Washington Post
November 12, 2008
Pg. 14

Sunni, Shiite Areas Linked by Span, Scene of Deadly Stampede
By Mary Beth Sheridan, Washington Post Staff Writer
BAGHDAD, Nov. 11 -- In the most dramatic sign yet of improving security in Baghdad, officials on Tuesday reopened a bridge where one of the signature horrors of the Iraq war occurred, a stampede that killed more than 800 Shiite pilgrims.
Hundreds of politicians, tribal leaders and local residents packed a ceremony on the Bridge of the Imams to mark the reestablishment of the link severed three years ago between Sunni and Shiite neighborhoods on opposite sides of the Tigris River.
"We have broken the backbone of terror," Lt. Gen. Aboud Qanbar, commander of Baghdad military operations for the Iraqi army, declared in a speech. "The opening of this bridge is an achievement for all Iraqis."
The 2005 stampede, sparked by the rumor of a suicide bomber, was the most deadly single incident following the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. After the tragedy, the Bridge of the Imams was barricaded and remained closed as sectarian warfare raged in Baghdad.
In recent months, violence has plummeted in Iraq, but the U.S. military has not yet handed over security responsibility for Baghdad to Iraqi forces, as it has for 13 of Iraq's 18 provinces. An average of four attacks a day occur in the capital, according to the U.S. military.
On Tuesday, a roadside bomb went off in Mustansiriyah Square in eastern Baghdad, killing three people and wounding 17, Interior Ministry officials said. The U.S. military put the toll at 19 wounded and no fatalities.
The decision to reopen the Bridge of the Imams was made by Iraqi authorities, the U.S. military said. A senior police official, Gen. Karim al-Khazraji, said the goal was "to make the citizens feel okay, that security is good."
Rana Jassim, a 30-year-old mother of two who lives near the bridge on the heavily Shiite Kadhimiyah side, noticed the crowds streaming onto it Tuesday morning and realized the rumors of its reopening were true.
As she strolled across the span with her family, she began clapping and dancing, she recalled later. It had been two years since she had been in mostly Sunni Adhamiyah on the opposite bank.
"The situation was bad," said her husband, Samel Lafta, 35, a government employee. "Not because of the regular people of Adhamiyah. It was some foreign people. Foreign terrorists -- they tried to destroy the relations between us."
He was referring to al-Qaeda in Iraq, a mostly homegrown Sunni extremist group that has been led by foreigners, according to the U.S. military.
"There were good relations in the past between the people of Adhamiyah and Kadhimiyah. We used to come here and eat dinner at restaurants all the time," Jassim said.
As she spoke, a white-haired man in a dishdasha robe walked by. "Ask them who killed all those people!" the man yelled at a journalist, pointing to a cemetery on the banks of the Tigris on the Adhamiyah side.
The white-haired man, who identified himself by a nickname, Abu Karam, said he was still uneasy about security. "I think it's too early to open this bridge. Why? Because the situation is still not very stable," he said.
He was from Adhamiyah, which was one of the last neighborhoods in Baghdad to stop fighting U.S.-led forces during the invasion. "I am a Baathist -- yes!" the 60-year-old teacher declared, referring to the party of toppled president Saddam Hussein.
Abu Karam added that he had no problems with most residents of Kadhimiyah. But he still worried about "uneducated people" stirring up trouble. He glanced at the cemetery, which was a public park before the invasion. Now, it is a dusty expanse of headstones marking the victims of sectarian violence, including, he said, his cousin and nephew.
"This huge number of people, can you tell me why they're here?" he demanded. "Three thousand! Three thousand!" he cried.
He appeared to be one of the few downbeat people crossing the bridge. Three young men in jeans and T-shirts walked by, merrily belting out a popular tune: "Iraq, we're always singing in your name."
Still, concerns about security remain widespread. On the Adhamiyah side, Mohamed Falah, 31, a barber shopping with his family, said they were not yet ready to cross the bridge to Kadhimiyah, which he had not visited in years.
"The commanders aren't very good," he said, indicating the Iraqi police and soldiers.
The security forces were taking no chances with the reopened bridge. Soldiers at checkpoints on either end forced motorists to stop and open their trunks before crossing the span.
"The government is strong," said one taxi driver, Walid Khalaf, who was transporting two passengers to the other side. "I'm very happy."
Special correspondent Qais Mizher contributed to this report.
 
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