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New Leaders Of Sunnis Make Gains In Influence
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"Al-Qaeda killed a girl over there for not wearing a hijab," said Ali Salim, 25, a resident, pointing at a baby-blue complex pocked by bullet holes and referring to the head covering worn by many Muslim women. "Now, there's a big difference."
"We rely on ourselves to protect our community," said one of Hadi's fighters, Abu Omar, 42, eyes twinkling through his oval glasses. "This is the best we Sunnis can hope for under this government."
Last week, Hadi's men attempted to stop Iraqi army troops from conducting house raids with U.S. troops, prompting a firefight.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq still poses a threat. On Monday, Riyadh al-Sammarai, an Awakening leader who backed Hadi's men, was killed in a suicide bomb attack, one of several recent attacks against Awakening forces.
Not all residents trust Hadi's men. Abu Youssef, a 47-year-old Sunni taxi driver, fled the enclave last year after al-Qaeda in Iraq accused him of spying. Today, he fears returning to Adhamiyah "because many al-Qaeda members have joined the Awakening. . . . I have no confidence because of their history."
"The Shiite militias were police in the morning and criminals in the night," added Abu Youssef. "What is the point of replacing the Shiite militias with Sunni militias?"
Scrawled on a wall, near graffiti that hailed the "Adhamiyah Heroes," was an ominous sign of a future battle: "Death to the Mahdi Army."
Past the minarets of Adhamiyah's Abu Hanifa mosque, Iraq's holiest Sunni shrine, the Bridge of the Imams arches over the Tigris River toward the Shiite neighborhood of Kadhimiyah. There, the Mahdi Army, led by Shiite cleric Sadr, rules.
In a region awash in sectarian currents, many Awakening leaders are suspicious of Iran's growing power, convinced that it backs Shiite militias and its intentions are to control Iraq's government and undermine the Sunni world.
"If they don't cleanse Iraq from Iranian influence, at any moment we can be attacked," Hadi declared.
A half-hour later, he stared across the barricaded bridge toward Kadhimiyah.
"Of course, we will fight them if they choose to come over here," Hadi said. "Even children will fight the Mahdi Army. Even the Americans will join us."
