U.S. finds grudging acceptance

U.S. soldiers are the buffer between sectarian groups.

BAGHDAD (AP) — As the Americans patrol the Sunni Arab neighborhood of Azamiyah, people keep turning to them for help. One man asks them to bring in a fuel truck stopped by Iraqi troops. Another complains that Iraqi soldiers just beat up his brother.

The Americans used to be loathed in Azamiyah, a longtime stronghold of insurgents and the last place where Saddam Hussein appeared in public. Now the animosity has given way to a grudging acceptance, because the people of this northern neighborhood want American protection from a foe they hate and fear even more: the mainly Shiite Iraqi army.

“We feel safe when the Americans are around,” says a computer engineer who gave his name only as Abu Fahd. He stopped going to work because of his fear of militiamen at the Shiite-dominated Health Ministry and now makes a living selling clothes.

“When we see the Iraqi army, we just stay home or close our shops.”

The story of Azamiyah, once a favorite with wealthy Sunnis and nationalists, shows once again how difficult it is to measure the success of the latest surge of American troops amid the shifting allegiances in Baghdad.

Here’s the situation

The accommodation between Azamiyah and the Americans represents a major breakthrough for the U.S. military, which had long considered the neighborhood among the city’s most dangerous. Yet the success is largely due to a sectarian divide so deep that it has poisoned institutions such as the Iraqi army, jeopardizing the chances of reconciliation and leaving the Americans caught in the middle.

In that sense, the Americans have both won and lost.

Much of the new goodwill in Azamiyah hinges on whether the Americans can prevent perceived excesses by Iraqi troops. It also depends on how far they can ease the economic plight of a once prosperous neighborhood now sealed off from the rest of the capital by a security wall.

Capt. Albert J. Marckwardt, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division’s B Troop, 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, has about 100 soldiers to patrol the old section of Azamiyah, an area less than a half-mile square thought to be infested with insurgents and built around the Abu Hanifa mosque, the country’s most revered Sunni shrine.

His soldiers were among the last to arrive in Iraq from among the 30,000 reinforcements ordered by President Bush this year.

With so much riding on their mission, the soldiers must play roles as diverse as policemen, economic planners and mediators. Marckwardt personally carries out some of these tasks during daily patrols that take him and his men to busy outdoor markets and alleys less than 9 feet wide. They greet every man with the Arabic “Salamou Aleikom,” or “Peace be with you.”

It is not difficult to see why Azamiyah’s Sunnis resent the mostly Shiite Iraqi soldiers.

In desert camouflage and matching body armor, the Iraqi soldiers drive their newly acquired humvees perilously fast, leaving dust storms in their trail. They walk the streets with the swagger of victors and, according to residents, harass motorists and pedestrians at checkpoints and throw out sectarian taunts.

U.S. officers are aware of the problems. They say they conduct joint patrols with the Iraqis in the hope of showing them more balanced tactics. The U.S. military is planning to recruit as many as 1,000 policemen from Azamiyah, of whom 800 would be deployed in the neighborhood so Sunnis will protect Sunnis.

“When we do that, there will be no need for the Iraqi army here,” Marckwardt repeatedly tells residents.

With the increased U.S. presence, security is improving in Azamiyah. Lt. Col. Jeffery Broadwater of Radcliff, Ky., the overall U.S. commander in Azamiyah, said attacks on coalition forces were down by nearly 30 percent since July.