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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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"No. No. USA," reads graffiti scrawled on a shuttered store nearby.
Nearby, Ahmed Abu Hussein is seated on red-and-green carpet in his house, which is decorated with symbols of Shiite power and piety. A Mahdi Army commander who fought U.S. troops in the southern city of Najaf in 2004, Hussein is also the Sadr representative in charge of distributing social services to 1,700 households in Sadr City. The Mahdi Army, he said, is a popular army, whose job is just as much to assist Sadr's followers as to fight the U.S. occupation. Fighters make sure merchants don't inflate the prices of kerosene and cooking gas -- by force, if necessary.
They are widely believed to have infiltrated the police, the army and the Interior Ministry in efforts to defend their Shiite brethren.
Hussein said he and his men are growing apprehensive about the U.S. troops, even though the Americans are keeping a low profile in the area.
"They want to isolate the Sadr trend from society," said Hussein, short and muscular and wearing square, rimless glasses and a green-striped shirt with tan cargo pants. "They want to drag us into a war."
All his fighters "want to fight the Americans," he added.
Asked why they haven't risen up, he answered matter-of-factly: "It is the order of Sayyid Moqtada Sadr. He's telling us to avoid bringing to Sadr City the curses of war."
Seconds later, he added, "If Moqtada Sadr orders me to leave my family and sleep on the streets, I will go."
