New Leaders Of Sunnis Make Gains In Influence

Video

A Visit to Maderiyah

This video clip shows Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, the top U.S. commander for many areas south of Baghdad, walking through the village of Maderiyah with Sunni fighters of the U.S.-backed Awakening forces, who are wearing reflective belts.

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The U.S. commanders in Maderiyah knew little about Mahami -- only that he was a lawyer and a community leader. Most of his men were from the Islamic Army, an insurgent group that broke away from al-Qaeda in Iraq last year, Underwood said.

Mahami told the U.S. commanders that he needed more than weapons. He also wanted radio equipment and a car. He looked at Lynch, the U.S. regional commander, and asked him to blow up four nearby bridges to prevent al-Qaeda in Iraq from entering the village.

"We will be very happy to do it," Lynch replied.

'We Rely on Ourselves'

Riyadh Hadi is the field commander of the Lions of Adhamiyah, the Awakening force in a middle-class Sunni neighborhood in Baghdad. Tall with a long, goateed face, the 37-year-old Hadi said he commands 1,400 fighters, 700 of whom receive a $300 monthly salary from the U.S. military.

He described himself only as a metalworker and "a son of Adhamiyah" who rose up against al-Qaeda in Iraq after the group killed his brother. Residents and insurgents said he is a former Baathist who was a member of several militant groups, including the 1920 Revolution Brigades, which once had strong links to al-Qaeda in Iraq.

"Our men know who the al-Qaeda are," he said with pride, referring to its members. "Our men can catch them before they can do anything."

Many leading Sunnis joined the insurgency after U.S. administrators dismantled Hussein's system in the wake of the 2003 invasion. Adhamiyah, in particular, turned into an insurgent stronghold, and by 2004, a sanctuary for al-Qaeda in Iraq. But last year, many insurgents turned against the jihadists, who many Sunnis felt had undermined the image of the Sunni resistance and imposed Islamic laws that were too restrictive.

The Lions emerged on the streets of Adhamiyah on Nov. 10. Their forces quickly engaged in two clashes against mostly Shiite policemen, who were stunned to see the Sunni fighters now taking over the enclave.

In the first clash, Hadi was taken into custody and beaten by police officers who declared their loyalty to Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia, Hadi recalled. "We are Sunnis," he said. "It was a direct challenge."

He spent 30 minutes in a cell before U.S. troops arrived and set him free. Brig. Gen. Hussein al-Dulaimi, an Adhamiyah police commander, described the clashes as "a misunderstanding."

One day last month, Hadi's men were stationed at nearly every intersection. They checked vehicles at the entrances to the neighborhood, which was protected by tall blast walls. Elsewhere the fighters were much less visible. "Under Saddam Hussein, there was no army in the streets. He used intelligence men, his Baathists, he was controlling everything, like what we are doing now," Hadi said.

The area was brimming with cars and shoppers. Laughing children played in a small amusement park with a creaking Ferris wheel that had recently reopened. Some women walked across a busy traffic circle without head scarves, past grim buildings disfigured by war.