Battling With Sadr for Iraqi Soldiers' Hearts

"I think we're definitely pushing these guys in the right direction to get to the point where they'll take over," said Capt. Peter Mahmood, 36, of Colorado Springs, who is on his third tour in Iraq.

During a recent house-to-house search in the mostly Sunni Arab neighborhood of Adhamiyah, Taylor and his crew followed Iraqi soldiers as they banged on doors and hunted for weapons caches. At times, the Iraqis appeared disorganized, gathering in large numbers in one spot on a street known to have snipers or taking breaks to buy bread. But they survived two gunfights with no casualties, rescued three kidnapping victims, found a large weapons cache and detained possible foreign fighters.

"They know what they want to do. They have a vision. They have a plan," Taylor said.

There are also signs that Iraqi commanders are willing to attack Shiites as well as Sunnis. At a staff meeting last Saturday morning, the Iraqi colonel suggested to his deputies that they consider conducting operations in Sadr City.

On the base, the two armies have separate living quarters and dining facilities, for security reasons. The Americans scrutinize the Iraqis' missions to make sure they are not targeting Sunnis more than Shiites. In addition, the Americans say, they suspect that some members of the Iraqi army have leaked information about raids.

"I have to operate under the assumption that within this unit there are people loyal to Jaish al-Mahdi and actively working for Jaish al-Mahdi," Taylor said. "I have to make that assumption so I have the proper security measures in place to protect my soldiers."

Sitting in his room on the base, Capt. James Ojeda, 32, of Logan, W.Va., a newlywed who hopes to quit the Army soon, gestured out his door toward the building where the Iraqi soldiers live. "You never know who's a bad guy over there," he said.

That sentiment is a window onto the complexity of the conflict: Taylor's soldiers said it is often unclear who the enemy is.

"One minute your neighbor is waving at you. The next minute he's got a mask on and telling you to get in a car," said Pfc. Kyle Buckingham, 20, of Marion, Ohio, describing the kidnappings that have become common in Baghdad.

No figure seems more of an enigma to these soldiers than Sadr. His militia battled U.S. forces in the spring and summer of 2004 in the southern holy city of Najaf, then he reinvented himself as a political leader whose loyalists won 30 seats in parliament. In a sign of Sadr's political influence, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who relies on the Shiite cleric for support, has banned most U.S. forces from conducting operations in Sadr City, home to 2.5 million people.

During a visit last week to another Shiite area in eastern Baghdad, known as Fadhil, about a dozen American soldiers walked through an empty square ringed with bullet-riddled buildings. On the wall of a bank was a picture of Sadr walking on an American flag.

"I see pictures of him walking on the American flag. Is that irritating?" Taylor said. "It's irritating, but Sadr is not my enemy. He is not considered a terrorist." Sadr, he added, is "a guy who can be part of the government or considered to be someone you want to negotiate with, and at the same time he has his hands in things you want to stamp out."