Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Houston Chronicle
April 23, 2008 2.5 million living in fear of daily shellings, clashes
By Kim Gamel, Associated Press
BAGHDAD — Parents are afraid to send their children to school. Once-thriving markets are nearly empty as residents fear being caught up in gunbattles and airstrikes or face intimidation by gunmen who rule the streets.
Sadr City is the Baghdad stronghold of Iraq's biggest Shiite militia, the Mahdi Army of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
But it's also home to 2.5 million people — nearly half of Baghdad's 6 million population. Tens of thousands more live in neighborhoods around Sadr City, carved out in the 1950s for workers from the provinces.
The current showdown between the militiamen and the Shiite-led government has turned Sadr City into a raw narrative for both sides: Each needs control of the district as the linchpin for the capital. This means that — for the moment — a huge segment of Baghdad is effectively held captive.
Many civilians stay holed up at home, venturing out only to go to work or stock up on supplies. With vehicle traffic limited, many of those who work in other parts of the capital have to walk to bus stops beyond the U.S. and Iraqi checkpoints that control access into the embattled area.
"Life outside Sadr City is normal but not inside Sadr City where we see daily clashes and aerial shelling," said Sabah Mohammed Jassim, who has lived in the district for nearly 25 years.
At least 315 people have been killed since the clashes began, although no breakdown was available for the number of militiamen, civilians and Iraqi security forces, according to an Interior Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information.
The fighting, which began late last month, has jeopardized recent security gains and put a severe strain on a nearly 8-month-old cease-fire called by al-Sadr.
Now, he's threatening to unleash his fighters in an "open war" if the U.S.-backed Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite rival, persists with the crackdown and efforts to politically isolate the cleric's populist movement.
But Lt. Col. Dan Barnett, the commander of the 1st Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, said the area has already tasted "all-out open war."
"It has dropped off significantly lately, but for the first three weeks of this conflict it was an all-out open war as far as we can tell," he told The Associated Press during an interview at a heavily fortified base his troops share with Iraqi security forces on the edge of Sadr City.
The fighting also has been cast as a test for the ability of Iraqi forces to take over their own security to allow American troops to eventually withdraw. But dozens of the Shiite-dominated Iraqi forces have abandoned their posts or refused to fight in Sadr City, often facing threats to their families or complaining of a lack of support.
April 23, 2008 2.5 million living in fear of daily shellings, clashes
By Kim Gamel, Associated Press
BAGHDAD — Parents are afraid to send their children to school. Once-thriving markets are nearly empty as residents fear being caught up in gunbattles and airstrikes or face intimidation by gunmen who rule the streets.
Sadr City is the Baghdad stronghold of Iraq's biggest Shiite militia, the Mahdi Army of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
But it's also home to 2.5 million people — nearly half of Baghdad's 6 million population. Tens of thousands more live in neighborhoods around Sadr City, carved out in the 1950s for workers from the provinces.
The current showdown between the militiamen and the Shiite-led government has turned Sadr City into a raw narrative for both sides: Each needs control of the district as the linchpin for the capital. This means that — for the moment — a huge segment of Baghdad is effectively held captive.
Many civilians stay holed up at home, venturing out only to go to work or stock up on supplies. With vehicle traffic limited, many of those who work in other parts of the capital have to walk to bus stops beyond the U.S. and Iraqi checkpoints that control access into the embattled area.
"Life outside Sadr City is normal but not inside Sadr City where we see daily clashes and aerial shelling," said Sabah Mohammed Jassim, who has lived in the district for nearly 25 years.
At least 315 people have been killed since the clashes began, although no breakdown was available for the number of militiamen, civilians and Iraqi security forces, according to an Interior Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information.
The fighting, which began late last month, has jeopardized recent security gains and put a severe strain on a nearly 8-month-old cease-fire called by al-Sadr.
Now, he's threatening to unleash his fighters in an "open war" if the U.S.-backed Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite rival, persists with the crackdown and efforts to politically isolate the cleric's populist movement.
But Lt. Col. Dan Barnett, the commander of the 1st Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, said the area has already tasted "all-out open war."
"It has dropped off significantly lately, but for the first three weeks of this conflict it was an all-out open war as far as we can tell," he told The Associated Press during an interview at a heavily fortified base his troops share with Iraqi security forces on the edge of Sadr City.
The fighting also has been cast as a test for the ability of Iraqi forces to take over their own security to allow American troops to eventually withdraw. But dozens of the Shiite-dominated Iraqi forces have abandoned their posts or refused to fight in Sadr City, often facing threats to their families or complaining of a lack of support.