BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The capital's Sadr City section was once a hotbed of Shiite Muslim unrest, but it has become one of the brightest successes for the U.S. security effort. So far this year, there has been only one car bombing in the neighborhood, and only one American soldier has been killed.A year ago, militiamen with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades roamed the streets in open revolt against the American presence. But U.S. troops quelled the uprising and today calmly patrol the district, aided by loyalists of the radical cleric who spurred the violence.
Life in Sadr City, a slum of 2.5 million people, is dominated by the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose face is on posters everywhere. At police checkpoints, unarmed men loyal to Sadr enforce security, keeping car bombs and foreign fighters out. "They're hoping they can minimize the coalition's contribution to security," said Lt. Col. Gary Luck, whose U.S. Army unit is responsible for security in Sadr City.
Despite the lack of terrorist violence, Iraqi and U.S. soldiers constantly find bodies dumped in industrial areas, bound, blindfolded and shoeless. American commanders say Sadr controls a "punishment committee" that enforces vigilante justice against the cleric's opponents and those who violate religious strictures, such as those who drink alcohol.
| Still think we need to deal with Mookie. But does anybody think this part of Baghdad will want to be in the Sunni part of a federated Iraq? |