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Baghdad's outposts bring new perils
The troop surge brought new tactics that have soldiers patrolling urban areas more frequently, away from bases.
from the March 22, 2007 edition
Page 3 of 4
Mistrust plagues US effort
By mid-morning Saturday, cranes started placing concrete blocks in the middle of a wide street just outside the new US outpost to separate it from a row of homes. Mohammed Jasim peered out of the gate of his house. Two US soldiers waved at him. He hesitated for a moment before coming out.
"We welcome your presence. It will encourage displaced families to return. We are peace lovers," says Mr. Jasim, as his neighbor Sarhan Abbas and his three sons also emerged out of their home.
They say that they are a few of the Sunni families left on 17th Street and that they do not trust the national police, which patrols the area. They say they would not dare venture to Seven Nissan Street, Amel's market street, because it is controlled by Sadr's Mahdi Army. "Only female members of the family shop there," says Mr. Abbas.
All the alleyways leading to 17th Street, which runs parallel to Seven Nisan, were blocked with low concrete barriers a few months ago. A young man emerges from one of the alleyways to welcome the US soldiers.
"It's all the doing of the Omar Brigade. They tortured and killed people and drove them out of their homes," says Ihab al-Gharrawi, a young Shiite man, referring to a Sunni extremist group purportedly linked to Al Qaeda.
In the early afternoon, members of the Iraqi national police battalion in charge of the area, arrive at the outpost in a battered pick-up truck sprayed with green camouflage-pattern paint.
Lt. Abbas Allewi asks Alpha Company's Lt. Mike Scheer why they had come to the area and how long they intended to stay.
"We are here to help people go to work and school. Sorry, we are here to help you help people go to work and school. We will be here for a while," says Lieutenant Scheer, a native of Sacramento, Calif.
"Okay, If this is going to be a permanent position for you, then we will let you take over security here and move elsewhere," Lieutenant Allewi says.
"No we want you to stay," Scheer tells him.
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