Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
ABC
May 29, 2008 World News With Charles Gibson (ABC), 6:30 PM
CHARLES GIBSON: Overseas now to Iraq and one of the most crucial battlegrounds in the fight by U.S. and Iraqi troops to clamp down on violence. It is in the Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad, the Shiite stronghold where the Iraqi government has vowed it will gain control.
ABC’s Nick Schifrin went into Sadr City.
NICK SCHIFRIN: In the center of Sadr City today, the only soldiers on patrol are wearing Iraqi uniforms, which is exactly how the U.S. and the Iraqis want it. These soldiers were trained by the U.S. Lt. Col. David Mount oversees that effort.
How important is it to get Sadr City kind of under control?
ARMY LT. COL. DAVID MOUNT: It’s more than just Sadr City itself. I think they can show the rest of the nation that, hey, we’re not here to come in and completely destroy a city to save a city, we’re here to try and help you save yourselves.
SCHIFRIN: Before now, government troops have mostly stayed out of Sadr City, which has been controlled by the Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. His Mahdi Army has targeted Americans and Sunni Muslims. Two months ago, the militia escalated its rocket attacks on the Green Zone, the seat of the U.S.-backed government. U.S. soldiers moved in and walled off the neighborhood, provoking attacks by the militia.
Now, following a truce between the government and the militia, the Iraqis are trying to win over the population and the U.S. is trying to provide services long missing here. This will give you a sense of how massive the clean-up operation is in Sadr City. This is the edge of the Jamila market. It saw two months of heavy fighting. Now the goal is to try and clean this up enough so people can shop here again.
[To Sparks.] Tell me what you’re trying to do here.
ARMY LT. NATHANIEL SPARKS: We’re trying to revitalize the market. So if we can revitalize this area, it will affect more than just Sadr City, more than just the Jamila market, but all of Baghdad.
MAJ. MICHAEL BAILEY [Chief, Civil Military Operation Center]: Thank you for coming here –
SCHIFRIN: To do that, the U.S. set up a center where Iraqis can ask for help. Alaa Abdulhussein is looking for money for his drug store. He showed us pictures before and after the recent fighting.
BAILEY: We’re here to be their friends and we’re here to help them in whatever they need.
SCHIFRIN: The Iraqi military is also making friends and collecting some Mahdi Army weapons. “If we keep a large number of troops here,” 1st Lt. Ahmud Abbas says, “we should be able to finish the militia off for good.” And, they hope, convince Iraqi Shiites to rely on the government instead of al-Sadr.
Nick Schifrin, ABC News, Sadr City, Baghdad.
May 29, 2008 World News With Charles Gibson (ABC), 6:30 PM
CHARLES GIBSON: Overseas now to Iraq and one of the most crucial battlegrounds in the fight by U.S. and Iraqi troops to clamp down on violence. It is in the Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad, the Shiite stronghold where the Iraqi government has vowed it will gain control.
ABC’s Nick Schifrin went into Sadr City.
NICK SCHIFRIN: In the center of Sadr City today, the only soldiers on patrol are wearing Iraqi uniforms, which is exactly how the U.S. and the Iraqis want it. These soldiers were trained by the U.S. Lt. Col. David Mount oversees that effort.
How important is it to get Sadr City kind of under control?
ARMY LT. COL. DAVID MOUNT: It’s more than just Sadr City itself. I think they can show the rest of the nation that, hey, we’re not here to come in and completely destroy a city to save a city, we’re here to try and help you save yourselves.
SCHIFRIN: Before now, government troops have mostly stayed out of Sadr City, which has been controlled by the Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. His Mahdi Army has targeted Americans and Sunni Muslims. Two months ago, the militia escalated its rocket attacks on the Green Zone, the seat of the U.S.-backed government. U.S. soldiers moved in and walled off the neighborhood, provoking attacks by the militia.
Now, following a truce between the government and the militia, the Iraqis are trying to win over the population and the U.S. is trying to provide services long missing here. This will give you a sense of how massive the clean-up operation is in Sadr City. This is the edge of the Jamila market. It saw two months of heavy fighting. Now the goal is to try and clean this up enough so people can shop here again.
[To Sparks.] Tell me what you’re trying to do here.
ARMY LT. NATHANIEL SPARKS: We’re trying to revitalize the market. So if we can revitalize this area, it will affect more than just Sadr City, more than just the Jamila market, but all of Baghdad.
MAJ. MICHAEL BAILEY [Chief, Civil Military Operation Center]: Thank you for coming here –
SCHIFRIN: To do that, the U.S. set up a center where Iraqis can ask for help. Alaa Abdulhussein is looking for money for his drug store. He showed us pictures before and after the recent fighting.
BAILEY: We’re here to be their friends and we’re here to help them in whatever they need.
SCHIFRIN: The Iraqi military is also making friends and collecting some Mahdi Army weapons. “If we keep a large number of troops here,” 1st Lt. Ahmud Abbas says, “we should be able to finish the militia off for good.” And, they hope, convince Iraqi Shiites to rely on the government instead of al-Sadr.
Nick Schifrin, ABC News, Sadr City, Baghdad.