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For Sunnis, an Uneasy Return Home
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"Inside I know they feel different about me," Mashadani said later. "They are the same people who drove me out."
'Justice Will Be Done'
Last week, two dozen tribal leaders from Hurriyah met at an Iraqi army base in Baghdad's Kadhimiyah neighborhood. They sat at a long table, with Sunni leaders largely on one side and Shiites on the other. Hickman and Brig. Gen. Sameer al-Iqabi, the top Iraqi commander in eastern Baghdad, tried to persuade the leaders to return to Hurriyah from an area called Tarmiyah, about 30 miles north of Baghdad.
But the Sunni leaders were concerned that Iraqi security forces would arrest returnees they suspected of being insurgents. Iqabi promised that any arrests would follow proper legal procedures.
Some of the Sunnis wanted the Shiite tribal leaders to provide guarantees of protection. But the Shiites said they could not offer that.
Since the expulsion in 2006, Sunni extremists have attacked Shiite homes, staged kidnappings of Shiites and set off bombs in Hurriyah.
"My force and I will protect those coming back," Iqabi said.
A Shiite tribal leader wearing a white-checkered headdress and dark glasses raised his voice.
"If those who committed bloodshed come back, there will be a big problem. There will be more bloodshed. There are a lot of victims in Hurriyah," warned Jalil Khuribut al-Bidhani. "We should not let the families of the killers back."
"When they are back, justice will be done," Iqabi promised.
Salman Mahmud Hamadi, a Sunni, shot back: "And how about the other side? If the killer still lives there? If I return and see the man I know who killed my son? What happens then?"
'The Law Should Be Fair'
One day last month, Ahmed Gizhar, 54, and wife Salwa Mizher, 45, walked into Farook Mosque, a Sunni shrine that is now an Iraqi army base. For two years, the couple occupied a Sunni house in Hurriyah. That morning, six Sunni men representing the owner gave them three days to leave. Gizhar came to the base to complain to the government that was backing his eviction.
"What can I do?" Gizhar asked 2nd Lt. Hussein Rahim, 38, a burly man with a thick mustache. "I am sick. We cannot afford to rent a house."
