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An Enclave of Normalcy in Fearful Baghdad
Men repair streets in Baghdad's Sadr City, where Shiites work, pray and converse mainly with those of their own sect.
(The Washington Post)
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Hundreds of folders, stacked against the wall and under the stairs, contain similar references to Sunni insurgents. As the insurgents defy the new security plan with car bombings and targeted killings, Shiites are flooding here, turning to Sadr for assistance, deepening the homogeneity of his city.
They enter a well-organized system. Sadr City is carved up into 72 sectors, with roughly 3,000 families in every 8 sectors. Each sector is overseen by a Sadr representative and protected by the Mahdi Army.
Using funds from followers across Iraq as well as local merchants, Sadr's men deliver rice, tea, soap, beans, sugar, blankets and other items to the needy. They distribute cooking gas at 4,000 Iraqi dinars ($3.15) a canister. Outside Sadr City, it costs 24,000 dinars on the black market. Trucks full of goods flow out to Shiite enclaves outside Baghdad.
"This is the duty of the government. This is not our duty," said Abu Sadiq al-Shuweili, an administrative manager at the Social Committee office. "Where is the Displacement Ministry? Where is the Human Rights Ministry?"
Mixed Progress
On the fringes of Sadr City, yellow bulldozers line up next to a mound of dirt. Men are rebuilding a sewage main. In a nook elsewhere, Baghdad municipality workers in orange vests sweep a trash-strewn street. On a main road, newly planted palm trees hint at the city's promise.
The scenes stand in stark contrast to those in many other areas of Baghdad, particularly Sunni neighborhoods, where violence has stifled basic services and attempts to bring other progress. Yet Sadr City residents such as Muhammad, the retired civil servant, wonder when they will see a truly noticeable change. For 30 years, he has waited for improvement. Much of the enclave, he said, still lacks electricity and trash collection, and ongoing projects are taking too long.
"They dig a hole, and then they do nothing for months to fix the problem," said Muhammad. "Are these the streets of a capital city?"
Darraji, the mayor, said he had heard that the government has spent $40 million on projects in Sadr City.
"I don't see much rebuilding," he said. "Where has the money gone?"
He paused, then answered his own question: "This went to the contractors, not to the city."
Eleven days later, on March 15, gunmen ambushed his convoy, seriously wounding him. At the time, he was working with U.S. military commanders, in part to attract reconstruction funds to Sadr City.
The 'Protective Shield'
The slogans stare from walls and shop fronts along Dakhil Street, a bustling, dust-choked artery winding through the core of Sadr City. Near a concrete barrier, a white banner pledges: "The Mahdi Army will remain the protective shield of the city and the people."
