Five years after fall of Baghdad, all-day curfew is imposed

The fifth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad and the toppling of the statute of Saddam Hussein–a symbol of US victory and might–was marked on Apr. 9 by death and destruction across the country and an admission from the White House that projected troop withdrawals would be delayed. The Iraqi capital remains under curfew after another round of bloodshed in which mortar rounds landed in Sadr City, killing seven people, including two children, and injuring 24 others. Further gunfights in the sprawling Shia slum led to six more dying and 15 others being wounded. The area is a center of support for the Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, and came after days of clashes between his militia, the Mahdi Army, and Iraqi government forces in which 55 people have been killed and more than 200 injured. The Shia fighters vowed last that retribution would be taken for the "unprovoked attack" in Sadr City which they claimed was the responsibility of the US forces. Meanwhile in Washington, President Bush was set to accept the plea of General David Petraeus, the US commander in Iraq, for a "pause" in pulling out some of the thousands of troops sent in for the "surge." Much of Baghdad was a ghost town on Apr. 9, with the government imposing a curfew from 5am to midnight on vehicles in an attempt to stop car bombings. Similar restrictions were imposed in Saddam Hussein's home town of Tikrit. "This is not quite what we had expected five years on," a State Department official in Baghdad acknowledged. More than four million people, many from the intelligentsia who were supposed to rebuild the country, have fled abroad and Baghdad, a city with a shattered infrastructure, now has more than two million internal refugees who have fled from fighting in other parts of the country. The pulling down of Saddam's statue in Firdous Square was supposed to have been an expression of popular joy at the downfall of a tyrant. The "impassioned populace," it turned out later, were people bused in from Sadr City, then called Saddam City, for a propaganda photo-op effort, stage-managed by the US military. Ibrahim Khalil, who was in the crowd that day, said yesterday: "If history can take me back, I will now actually kiss the statue of Saddam. I am sorry that I played a part in pulling it down. I think now that was a black day for Baghdad. We got rid of Saddam, but now we have 50 Saddams. In his days we were safe. I ask Bush, 'where are your promises of making Iraq a better country?'" Abdullah Jawad, another who took part in the destruction of the statue, said: "Let me see what has happened since then, just to me. I have had a brother killed and a niece who has been kidnapped and we have not seen for five months. Our country has been destroyed by foreigners, not just the Americans but the extremists who came to fight them on our soil. "Saddam was a brutal man and we were supposed to be free when he went. But there is no freedom when you fear for your safety every day. When I see on television people in America and England say things are getting better in Iraq, I think, why don't you come and live here and see what it is really like?" The latest "surge" in violence began two weeks ago when Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki launched an ill-prepared offensive against militias in the southern port city of Basra. It ebbed after a delegation of the Iraqi governing parties traveled to Iran for talks with a top commander of the Quds force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. This week, it transformed into a conflict largely between the Mahdi Army and US forces. Twelve US troops were killed since Apr. 6, at least eight of them in the capital, several of them from rocket and mortar attacks fired into the so-called fortified Green Zone. Apr. 8 was the last day of Maliki's ultimatum for militias, mainly the Mahdi Army, to turn in weapons for cash or face a battle. The day before, Maliki added more fuel to the fire, saying followers of Sadr would be barred from elections unless their militia disbanded. But far from disarming itself and handing its weapons to forces dominated by Shiites in Maliki's Dawa party, Sadr threatened to end the ceasefire he declared in August. "If it is required to lift the freeze [cease-fire] in order to carry out our goals, objectives, doctrines and religious principles and patriotism, we will do that later and in a separate statement," he said in a statement read by his aide, Salah al Obaidi. Sadr also postponed his planned million-man march in Baghdad to protest the US occupation on the five-year anniversary of the fall of the capital. Sadr's followers are due this year to participate for the first time in elections for powerful provincial government posts and are poised to win control of southern cities from less-popular Shiite parties that back Maliki. Mustafa Alani of the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center said one of Maliki's goals was to sideline political rivals ahead of the vote: "Obviously, this is the liquidation of parties ahead of provincial elections." Hiltermann said the crackdown could put the election itself in jeopardy, which could suit Maliki: "He has no interest in the election taking place because he will not do well." Meanwhile, battles between rival Shia groups have spread from Basra in the south to Baquba in the north. Clashes between the Mahdi Army and the Badr Organization militia of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC) have been reported in the predominantly Shia district of Hwaider in Baquba, the capital city of Diyala province located 40 km northeast of Baghdad. A policeman told Inter Press Service on condition of anonymity that US jets and helicopters launched attacks to target Mahdi Army fighters. But rather than Mahdi Army members, two policemen were wounded, he said. "After that, US troops stormed houses to search for the Mahdi militants." The policeman and two others said politicians from Diyala province attempted to conceal the incident.