Monday, February 22, 2010

A Model of Harmony Is Found in a Flashpoint City for Iraqi Sectarian Fighting

By TIMOTHY WILLIAMS SAMARRA, Iraq — Busloads of Iranian pilgrims arrive every day at this city’s Askari Shrine, one of Shiite Islam’s holiest places, which was badly damaged by a bombing four years ago that prompted reprisal killings and pushed the country to the brink of civil war. The city, where firefights between American soldiers and Sunni insurgents took place as recently as last year, is now generally peaceful — and has been presented as a model of the harmony that can be achieved in other violent areas of the country. Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, who is running for re-election, has said that Iraq’s security forces are able to keep the peace in Iraq without any American role. But in Samarra, local commanders do almost nothing without checking with the American military first, raising concerns about what will happen after the scheduled departure of United States combat troops at the end of August and the exit of all American forces from the country by the end of next year. Even in its peace, there are rumblings of discontent in Samarra. The city’s pacification has meant its division by a long stretch of gray blast wall separating the shrine and its pilgrims from the rest of the city; by rare — and even then, often brittle — social interactions between Sunnis and Shiites; and by the presence of dozens of police and army checkpoints. The economy is ruined, and the danger of fresh violence persists. Still, Samarra has come so far from its days as a place of unrelenting violence that many in Iraq insist that it can ultimately be an example of nation building for the rest of the country. There is agreement among both the American military and the Iraqi government that Samarra must succeed if Iraq is to move forward without further fits of sectarian killing. “National reconciliation started here when the people asked for international help in rebuilding the Askari Shrine,” said Mahmood Khalef Ahmad, Samarra’s Sunni mayor, who was wounded by gunmen from Al Qaeda a few years ago. “What we have achieved here should be a clear example to other provinces in Iraq.” Much of that success, however, is due to the generally unseen hand of the United States, even as Americans minimize their current role in Samarra. Publicly, Mr. Ahmad is also dismissive of the continuing American influence in Samarra. But the mayor was appointed to his post by the American military, and as is the case of almost every other political, tribal or security official in town, he consults with the American military and civilians on an almost daily basis — though almost always in private. The transition from America’s exclusively military role in Iraq to one of moderator, persuader and occasional arm twister is not new, but it has taken on new urgency with the progression of the withdrawal and the difficulties in establishing democratic principles in a country unfamiliar with them. “We are coaching them, we are advising them, we are often a go-between,” said David Stewart, team leader of the State Department’s 55-member provincial reconstruction group for Salahuddin Province, where Samarra is located. “Our goal is to be out of the picture.” The military has also adopted a behind-the-scenes strategy in Samarra. It has established a 24-hour joint operation center with the Iraqi police and the Iraqi Army where situational updates arrive in both Arabic and English. The United States forces also have a team of enlisted men and officers working with Samarra Operations Command, which is responsible for the city’s security and answers directly to Prime Minister Maliki. “The interaction is constant,” said Col. Hank Arnold, commander of the Fourth Infantry Brigade Combat Team, First Infantry Division from Fort Riley, Kan., the American military unit currently responsible for Samarra. Moreover, American forces meet nearly every day with the city’s Awakening Councils — well-armed groups of former Sunni insurgents who acknowledge having killed American troops in the past. And, according to Iraqi security officials in Samarra, American soldiers also continue to undertake raids — with and without the participation or knowledge of their Iraqi counterparts, which would appear to violate the Status of Forces Agreement, which regulates the activities of American troops and their eventual withdrawal from Iraq. “They have many operations that we don’t know about inside and outside the city,” said Bassim Majid Jafar, deputy chief of the Samarra police. “We don’t know everything they do. But we trust them. The relationship is good.” Samarra resembles a dusty armed camp. It is policed by about 3,000 Iraqi security force members and an almost equal number of Awakening Council fighters. Buildings, many made of mud, are crumbling. Bullet holes mark houses, walls and shop windows. The roads are riddled with potholes. While many Iraqi towns are packed with traffic jams because people have been able to afford relatively cheap imported automobiles, Samarra has little traffic and many people ride bicycles and mule carts. Open sewers flow through some neighborhoods. The blast wall that protects the shrine but divides the town prevents pilgrims from shopping, eating in local restaurants or staying in hotels. Many businesses have been abandoned. “The streets have been blocked, many buildings have been destroyed, and the people of Samarra have lived like strangers in their own city,” said Mahdi Aran, a member of the local provincial council. “If they want life to come back to the city, they have to take the wall down.” The Americans, who put the wall up, also say they would like it removed and replaced with an iron fence with gates and security cameras. But Colonel Arnold said he was awaiting the approval of the government in Baghdad, which is more skeptical about the safety of the shrine than the Americans. Repairs are under way at the 10th-century shrine but are still two years from being completed. It is topped by gray concrete instead of its famous golden dome, but it still attracts more than one million pilgrims each year, many from Iran. While many Sunnis in Samarra view the Shiite shrine with reverence, many also regard it with anger. They say that it is a symbol of Iran’s dominance of the city and that it attracts far more government attention and money than the city’s predominately Sunni population does. Sheik Khalid Flaeh, an Awakening Council leader, said he was trying to halt what he believed was an attempt at a Shiite takeover in town. “Iran has a big conspiracy in Samarra,” he said. “Iranians go to buy a house from the owner and offer to pay four times the amount. But we will not allow people to sell their houses to Iranians.” He said he used fear to discourage home sales. “We defeated Al Qaeda, and as long as we are here, there will be peace,” he said about Sunni tribes in Samarra. “But if there are no jobs, if they are not allowed to join the police and army, I might not be able to prevent them from joining Al Qaeda.”

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