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For Sunnis, an Uneasy Return Home
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A Shiite neighbor told Ali that members of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia had earlier targeted the family because they believed their sons were insurgents. The militia has ruled Hurriyah through threats and extortion, even with the heavy presence of Iraqi troops and U.S. patrols. The neighbor said the militiamen were still in the area.
Mehdi and Ali have returned in part because he needs kidney dialysis, available at a nearby hospital. He lay on a straw mat, exhausted from one of his treatments.
"We've never hurt anyone," he mumbled.
'We Will Keep Our Eyes on Them'
Sgt. Munder Abbas, a soldier who has helped to protect Mehdi and Ali, pointed at a large, gray apartment building on the corner of a bustling road. "The Mahdi Army is all around this building. We can't go there," Abbas said, slim and brimming with nervous energy.
Kareem Abdullah, a senior Mahdi Army commander, said he welcomed "the good Sunni families" back to Hurriyah. His own neighbor had returned, he said. But another returnee suspected of being an insurgent fled after militiamen tried to kill him, he said.
Since Sadr announced a cease-fire last year, his force has gone underground. Many of his fighters, Abdullah said, have joined the police force and are monitoring the Sunni returnees.
"Of course, we will keep our eyes on them," said Abdullah, a tailor, who said he and his men had executed about 20 Sunnis during the expulsion of 2006. "We can't make the old mistakes again. The killers can't come back again."
