Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
San Diego Union-Tribune
May 7, 2008 By Raviya H. Ismail and Jinan Hussein, McClatchy News Service
MADAEN, Iraq – Just a few months ago, two to three people a day were dying in Madaen, once a stronghold of al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Ammer Abdulrazaq Hamod never left the area, in the southeastern part of Baghdad province, but he was concerned about safety – especially for his three children. But now Madaen residents are coming out of their homes. Children ride their bikes, and residents mingle downtown.
“My children, they live a normal life,” Hamod said. “They are in the street, playing soccer games, going here and there.”
Residents credit the recent security gains to when U.S.-backed Iraqi forces entered Madaen in December and to the formation of an “awakening council,” a U.S.-allied Sunni armed group charged with fighting al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Now all the area needs is better services, residents say: cleaner water, regular electricity, better-equipped hospitals and schools.
“After only one month, terrorist attacks stopped,” said Hamod, a member of the council, which is mixed with Sunni and Shiite Muslims, rare among the awakening councils.
Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi, the head of the government's services committee, visited Madaen last week as part of a publicity tour. “The task is monumental, but we have money. We have the support of the U.S. to make it work,” Chalabi said.
Residents complained that of the 25 schools in the area, 10 have been destroyed. There are no beds in the hospital, little equipment and most of the clinics are closed, they said.
Safety in Madaen has been shaky for the past few years. A bus targeting awakening council members exploded and killed three people in February. Suicide bombers also have killed people, and insurgents bombed a building, killing several civilians. Several bodies have been found in the area.
But the streets of Madaen are now full of energy, with vendors lining the streets selling food, clothes and toys.
On a recent day, a men waited for haircuts at a barbershop. Women and girls were wandering the streets. Children were playing together all over downtown. Also filling the streets were men, and even young boys, carrying AK-47 rifles.
May 7, 2008 By Raviya H. Ismail and Jinan Hussein, McClatchy News Service
MADAEN, Iraq – Just a few months ago, two to three people a day were dying in Madaen, once a stronghold of al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Ammer Abdulrazaq Hamod never left the area, in the southeastern part of Baghdad province, but he was concerned about safety – especially for his three children. But now Madaen residents are coming out of their homes. Children ride their bikes, and residents mingle downtown.
“My children, they live a normal life,” Hamod said. “They are in the street, playing soccer games, going here and there.”
Residents credit the recent security gains to when U.S.-backed Iraqi forces entered Madaen in December and to the formation of an “awakening council,” a U.S.-allied Sunni armed group charged with fighting al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Now all the area needs is better services, residents say: cleaner water, regular electricity, better-equipped hospitals and schools.
“After only one month, terrorist attacks stopped,” said Hamod, a member of the council, which is mixed with Sunni and Shiite Muslims, rare among the awakening councils.
Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi, the head of the government's services committee, visited Madaen last week as part of a publicity tour. “The task is monumental, but we have money. We have the support of the U.S. to make it work,” Chalabi said.
Residents complained that of the 25 schools in the area, 10 have been destroyed. There are no beds in the hospital, little equipment and most of the clinics are closed, they said.
Safety in Madaen has been shaky for the past few years. A bus targeting awakening council members exploded and killed three people in February. Suicide bombers also have killed people, and insurgents bombed a building, killing several civilians. Several bodies have been found in the area.
But the streets of Madaen are now full of energy, with vendors lining the streets selling food, clothes and toys.
On a recent day, a men waited for haircuts at a barbershop. Women and girls were wandering the streets. Children were playing together all over downtown. Also filling the streets were men, and even young boys, carrying AK-47 rifles.