Iraqis cautious over Baghdad security crackdown

By Michael Georgy

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – U.S. commanders have declared their
security crackdown in Baghdad a contest for the future of the
entire country but many in the capital have a hard time
believing anything can save their city from further bloodshed.

General John Abizaid, the top U.S. commander in the Middle
East, said this week Operation Together Forward has brought
“great progress,” noting an extra 12,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops
on the street had eased insurgent and sectarian violence.

But boosting morale on the streets, where tracts of Baghdad
have become ghost towns even by day, will require a lot more
than an uptick in statistics on rebel deaths and weapons
seized.

Row upon row of shops stand shuttered along the main street
of Mansour, once a thriving, upscale commercial district with
salons, boutiques, jewelry stores and pastry shops all a few
streets away from most of Baghdad’s embassies.

Al Sa’aa, one of the city’s most popular restaurants, is
still operating there. But its staff say gunmen have killed
seven people on their street in the last two weeks alone,
prompting more people to padlock their businesses.

Down the street, grocery store owner Alaa Mohammed explains
why he fled to Syria, before coming back in the hope of getting
his business going again: “Gunmen just walked up to that toy
store and killed the owner and his brother. I saw them. They
were in normal clothes. It was very easy,” he said before
pointing to three other shops whose owners have been slain.

U.S. troops have taken control of four of the previously
most violent districts, hoping to provide a basis on which
Iraqis can take charge. But it is unclear whether militiamen
and rebels have quit or are just keeping their heads down
briefly.

The three-week-old clampdown has not convinced shopkeeper
Imad Fadil he will be safe anytime soon.

In the last week a roadside bomb blew up near an Iraqi army
patrol and a teenage plumber was shot dead, all within 10
meters (yards) of his store in Hay al-Jamiaa, which is near
Sunni insurgent strongholds taken over by U.S. and Iraqi
forces.

“I have not seen any of these American or Iraqi troops.
Where is our government?” he asked.

UNDER PRESSURE

Operation Together Forward is designed to show Iraqis that
their local forces are taking charge. But police commandos
stationed between two rebel strongholds seemed in little mood
to fight insurgents who have killed thousands of their
comrades.

“We have good training from the Americans. But we are often
attacked. The terrorists fire mortars or shoot at us,” said Ali
Abdul Ghani, pointing to rows of houses opposite his sandbagged
checkpoint and which provide cover for the guerrillas.

“This morning they fired on us during a patrol and I shot
back. Now I have to pay for some bullets because I fired too
many. It’s an Interior Ministry rule. I just want to go back to
my hometown,” he complained.

The conflict has crept to neighborhoods once known for
bustling restaurants and ice cream parlors. Palm tree trunks
have been set up as road blocks against suicide bombers in
cars.

“At night we have our own patrols and in the morning car
bombs usually explode between 7 and 8, so people don’t go out,”
said Seif al-Husseini, a computer specialist outside his
family’s villa in the once prosperous district of Zayouna.

Iraqi nerves have been especially frayed since militiamen
stormed the mainly Sunni district of Hay al-Jihad on July 9,
killing dozens of people and bolstering sectarian tensions.

Operation Forward Together has dramatically reduced
violence in places like the southern Doura district, site of
some of the most savage sectarian killings over the past few
months.

Waiting his turn, minibus driver Mohammad Daoud cheerfully
noted that gunbattles were rarer in the area. But like many
Iraqis, he doubts local forces can bring security on their own.

“As long as the Americans are here it is fine,” he said.
“If they leave it to the Iraqi police the killing will just
return.”

(Editing by Gareth Jones)