Baghdad neighborhood tells a tale of war

BAGHDAD - At an intersection in the Sadiyah section of the capital stands a stark example of what underlies Iraq's sectarian war and why any peaceful outcome will unlikely be determined by U.S. combat power.

On a recent afternoon, a convoy of humvees brought Army Brig. Gen. John Campbell for a look. The deputy commanding general of the First Cavalry Division did not like what he saw.

To the east of a north-south boulevard the Americans have dubbed Route Spruce, Campbell surveyed the eerie emptiness of an enclave that until recently was populated mainly by Sunnis. It now resembles a ghost town.

"It looks devastated," he said.

On display were rows of abandoned shops, empty houses, piles of debris. All were evidence of the retreat of hope for a reconciling any time soon between rival religious sects - the majority Shiites and minority Sunnis - in a desperate battle for power.

Here, one can sense the quandary facing the Bush administration, bedeviled by an unpopular war with no end in sight.

The Sunnis in Sadiyah have been driven away by encroaching extremists of the Mahdi Army, the Shiite militia that Campbell says is using gangland-style tactics to gain ground. Sunni extremists affiliated with al-Qaeda in Iraq are beginning to slip into the same neighborhood.

The problems in Sadiyah show how complex this war is. They also show why many U.S. military officers in Iraq believe they must sustain the troop buildup - despite strong opposition by many in Congress - well beyond September, when a review of the buildup's results is due.

And they expose the deep divisions in the Iraqi government, including a fear among Shiites that the Sunnis are determined to regain the dominant position they held under Saddam Hussein.

On Saturday, a group of American officers led by the First Cavalry's other deputy commanding general, Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks, met with Khalid H. Rasheed, an adviser to the deputy prime minister, Salam al-Zubaie, who is a Sunni. Brooks pressed the case for Iraqi government action in Sadiyah.

They told Rasheed that the government must hire more local Sunnis as police. Also, the government needs to put more money into rebuilding the area, starting with electricity, water and sewage services that have been devastated, they said.

The American military can help in the short term, but it cannot be expected to provide the ultimate answer. "It has to be an Iraqi solution," said Col. Ricky Gibbs, who was with the group.

What Brooks and Gibbs heard from Rasheed was a familiar complaint, that the problem is with Shiites.

"The root of the problem is related directly to the prime minister himself," Rasheed said, referring to Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite. "Sectarian-driven advisers" are steering the prime minister away from an accommodation with the Sunnis and delaying efforts to improve conditions in Sadiyah, he said.

So when local Sunnis volunteer to join forces with the Americans against al-Qaeda, Maliki's advisers tell him, " 'OK, look, it's a plot to topple you or overthrow the government,' " Rasheed said, speaking through an interpreter.

Accompanying Campbell to Sadiyah was the top Iraqi army commander for Baghdad, Gen. Abud Qanbar. He said in an interview that the area's problems show why it is too early for U.S. troops to leave.

"We need a lot of work to build our forces and make them stronger than they are today," he said through an interpreter. "We need them to be around us" for months to come.

Reminded of the pressure in Congress to pull out troops soon, Abud counseled patience. "It needs a lot of study before that decision can be made. Maybe at the beginning of the year or the middle of next year" it will be time to begin pulling out, he said.

The United States and Iran have set tomorrow as the date for ambassador-level talks in Baghdad on the deteriorating security situation in Iraq, the first such meeting since late May, U.S. and Iraqi officials said yesterday.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said the discussions would be at the ambassadorial level and would focus on the situation in Iraq, not U.S.-Iran tensions.

The United States is pursuing a two-track strategy with Iran that reflects the high stakes in any engagement with a nation President Bush accuses of funding terrorism and building a nuclear bomb.

In Baghdad, meanwhile, two powerful legislators said yesterday that prospects were dim for passage of a U.S.-backed oil bill before parliament's August vacation, casting a new cloud over a pivotal September progress report that could weigh heavily on the future of the U.S. presence in Iraq.

Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish lawmaker, and Abbas al-Bayati, a Shiite Turkman parliamentarian, said the oil legislation was not likely to be debated before September because political leaders have been unable to agree on a final draft of the legislation.

"There must first be political consensus between the major blocs on the law but there is not enough time for this to be done before the August break," said Bayati, a member of the the largest Shiite bloc in the 275-seat house.

The draft oil legislation was approved by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's cabinet but not sent to parliament because of widespread opposition.

Maliki has called for parliament to cancel its monthlong vacation or at least limit it to two weeks to deal with legislative matters - a plea that has not resonated among lawmakers.

- Associated Press

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