Al-Sadr's militia appears in control in parts of a vast Shiite slum marred by violence
By Mariam Fam, Associated Press, 8/12/2004 02:09
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) In the vast Baghdad slum of Sadr City, Shiite militiamen direct traffic, search cars, set up roadblocks and even claim to make arrests.
On Wednesday, there were no police in sight, as the fighters set tires ablaze to melt the road's asphalt, apparently to plant bombs meant for U.S. patrols. No one intervened as the militiamen directed traffic in their unique way; once a fighter fired two shots in the air as a warning to a car driving on the wrong side of the road.
The fighters are from the Mahdi Army, followers of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. They have fought U.S. and Iraqi forces rages across the country for a week, and now appear almost entirely in control in parts of this neighborhood of 2 million people in the Iraqi capital.
''Sadr City has almost fallen into our hands now,'' boasted Ayad Ali, a 25-year-old Mahdi Army fighter. ''If a police car came here, we would attack it right away.''
Fighting has persisted here for more than a week, sparked by clashes between the heart of al-Sadr's militia and U.S. forces in the city of Najaf. While U.S. and Iraqi officials deny the militants have control, one fighter, Odai Sada, boasts that his cohorts do everything from clear trash to detain thieves.
The Shiite militia have long had support here. Sadr City, once known as Saddam City, was renamed for Muqtada's father, a senior Shiite cleric killed by suspected agents of Saddam Hussein in 1999. And dozens of junior clerics gained widespread popularity for restoring services and security after Saddam's fall.
Residents and fighters say that by now, police rarely emerge from their stations because of either fear or sympathy. Some residents say militiamen have blown up stores selling alcohol or CDs deemed pornographic, which would violate their strict interpretation of Islam.
U.S. and Iraqi officials contend that these displays of force by the militia are inconsistent and will be short-lived.
Capt. Brian O'Malley of the 1st Brigade Combat Team in charge of the area said police still patrol the neighborhood. O'Malley argued that the Mahdi Army shows more power than it actually has. ''They try and take control but it doesn't always work,'' he said.
U.S. troops have torn down roadblocks set up by the militia that sometime prevent residents from going to work. O'Malley said there's even evidence that support for the militia is waning.
Previously, ''if we shot the Mahdi Army, the people would remove the body from the street very quickly,'' O'Malley said. ''Now they leave the body out there.''
Interior Ministry spokesman Sabah Kadhim agreed.
''They control a street or an area and then they leave,'' he said. ''This happens sometimes when there's a security vacuum.''
Kadhim said the government had refrained from unleashing its full force at the militia to spare civilians. He vowed, however, to fight the Mahdi Army and restore stability, adding that Sadr City fighters were behind some attacks against government ministries in Baghdad.
Al-Sadr's followers rose up against the Americans in April after the then U.S.-led occupation authority closed al-Sadr's newspaper, arrested a key aide and announced a warrant for al-Sadr's arrest in the April 2003 murder of a moderate cleric.
In response to the violence, the government imposed a 4 p.m. curfew on the neighborhood. Apparently not wanting to be outdone, the Mahdi Army announced its own 1 p.m. curfew. Both sides say the curfews, not always observed, are meant to protect residents.
With the violence and the new restrictions, many in Sadr City feel squeezed between an armed militia that has turned their neighborhood into a battlefield and a government that has failed to bring any measure of normalcy or security to their lives.
No matter the militants' claims of performing some of the neighborhood's services, cars and passers-by maneuver around pools of greenish sewage water and mounds of trash and debris. Power outages leave residents sweltering in Baghdad's oppressive heat. Families share tiny apartments and the neighborhood's squat and dilapidated houses are coated with the drabness of poverty and neglect.
Venturing out is often too risky. Many have shut down their stores and live off meager savings. Men and women flee at the slightest hint that U.S. forces may be on their way. And almost every night is punctuated by the thuds of explosions and the crackle of gunfire.
''The Mahdi Army is forcing a siege on us as if it's an imposed government,'' said Ismail Ibrahim, who sells CDs. ''The Americans cannot bring security.''
''It's the people who are paying the price,'' he said.
Abed Ali, 50, said the Mahdi Army should set its priorities straight. ''Sadr City needs electricity, water and a sewage system. They should be asking for these things.''
Sadr City's garbage-strewn streets have been fertile recruiting grounds for the ragtag army, whose fighters many young and unemployed admire al-Sadr's fiery rhetoric and his stand against the Americans who they say have brought them little but chaos. Some of al-Sadr's followers are also faithful to the memory of his father.
They say they are fighting to rid the country of a non-Muslim occupier and to protect the holy sites.
The militiamen say they are backed by the neighborhood's residents, pointing to food, sodas and cigarettes that some bring them. But many here, even those unhappy with the U.S. presence, are just tired of the violence.
''If this situation continues, I think the residents will explode,'' Ibrahim said.
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