Inter Press Service <http://ipsnews.net/>
Analysis by Ali al-Fadhily and Dahr Jamail*
*BAGHDAD, Feb 22 (IPS) - What the U.S. has been calling the success of a =
"surge", many Iraqis see as evidence of catastrophe. Where U.S. forces=20
point to peace and calm, local Iraqis find an eerie silence*
And when U.S. forces speak of a reduction in violence, many Iraqis=20
simply do not know what they are talking about.
Hundreds died in a series of explosions in Baghdad last month. This was=20
despite the strongest ever security measures taken by the U.S. military, =
riding the "surge" in security forces and their activities.
The death toll is high, according to the website icasualties.org, which=20
provides reliable numbers of Iraqi civilian and security deaths.
In January this year 485 civilians were killed, according to the=20
website. It says the number is based on news re****ts, and that "actual=20
totals for Iraqi deaths are higher than the numbers recorded on this site=
=2E"
The average month in 2005, before the "surge" was launched, saw 568=20
civilian deaths. In January 2006, the month before the "surge" began,=20
590 civilians died.
Many of the killings have taken place in the most well guarded areas of=20
Baghdad. And they have continued this month.
"Two car bombs exploded in Jadriya, killing so many people, the day the=20
American Secretary of Defence (Robert Gates) was visiting Baghdad last=20
week," a captain from the Karrada district police in Baghdad, speaking=20
on condition of anonymity, told IPS.
"Another car bomb killed eight people and injured 20 Thursday (last=20
week) in the Muraidy market of Sadr City, east of Baghdad, although the=20
Mehdi army (the militia of Muqtada al-Sadr) provides strict protection=20
to the city," the officer said. "There is no security in this country=20
any more."
Unidentified bodies of Iraqis killed by militias continue to appear in=20
Baghdad and other Iraqi cities. The Iraqi government has issued=20
instructions to all security and health offices not to give out the body =
count to the media. Dozens of bodies are found every day across Baghdad, =
residents say. Morgue officials confirm this.
"We are not authorised to issue any numbers, but I can tell you that we=20
are still receiving human bodies every day; the men have no identity on=20
them," a doctor at the Baghdad morgue told IPS. "The bodies that have=20
signs of torture are the Sunnis killed by ****a militias; those with a=20
bullet in the head are usually policemen, translators or contractors who =
worked for the Americans."
The "surge" of 30,000 additional troops came to Iraq, mostly Baghdad, in =
February of last year. The total current number of U.S. troops in Iraq=20
is approximately 157,000. They were sent to end violence, and with a=20
declared aim of helping political reconciliation.
But where peace of sorts has descended in Baghdad, Iraq's capital city=20
of six million (in a population of 25 million), it comes from a=20
partitioning of people along sectarian lines. The Iraqi Red Crescent=20
re****ts that one in four residents has been driven out of their homes by =
death squads, or by the "surge".
According to an Iraqi Red Crescent re****t titled 'The Internally=20
Displaced People in Iraq' released Jan. 27, 1,364,978 residents of=20
Baghdad have been displaced.
The Environment News Service re****ted Jan. 7 that "many of the capital's =
once mixed areas have become either purely Sunni or ****a after militias=20
forced families out for belonging to the other religious branch of Islam.=
"
Some of the eerie calm in areas of Baghdad comes because togetherness=20
has ended. Sunnis and ****as who lived together for generations are now=20
partitioned. This is not the peace many Iraqis were looking for, surge=20
or no surge.
On Jan. 8, UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond announced that there were at=20
least 2.2 million Iraqis internally displaced within the country, and=20
that at least another two million had fled the country altogether. This, =
no doubt, would make many areas quieter.
The U.S. military has erected three to four metre high concrete walls=20
around several neighbourhoods, forcing residents to choose either Sunni=20
or ****a areas in which to live. Such separation has brought large-scale=20
displacement, and protests.
Sunni Muslims seem to have the worst of it. Many Iraqis are outraged by=20
the number of Sunni detainees the "surge" has taken.
Residents of Amiriya district of western Baghdad demonstrated Feb. 11=20
against mistreatment by U.S. and Iraqi forces involved in the "surge".=20
The "surge" aims to eradicate al-Qaeda from Iraq, but this has meant=20
that most military operations have been carried out in Sunni areas like=20
Amiriya.
"We are here to protest against the unfair arrests and raids conducted=20
against the innocent people of Amiriya," Salih al-Mutlag, chief of the=20
Arab Dialogue Council in the Iraqi government told IPS at the=20
demonstration. "This has gone too far under the flag of fighting terror."=
Al-Mutlag said they were also demonstrating against arrests in the=20
western parts of Baghdad, despite an apparently peaceful situation there =
as a result of residents' cooperation with Iraqi army units. Large=20
numbers of residents came out in the Dora region of southwest Baghdad to =
protest against the U.S. military for arresting 18 people, including an=20
80-year-old man.
"We are the ones who improved the situation in western parts of Baghdad=20
without any interference from the Americans and their puppet Iraqi=20
government," former Iraqi Army Major Abu Wussam told IPS in Amiriya. "We =
negotiated with our brothers in the Iraqi national resistance who agreed =
to conduct their activities in a different way from the traditional way=20
they used to work.
"It seems Americans did not like it, and so they are puni****ng us for=20
it, instead of releasing our detainees as they promised."
Some of the apparent peace on the street is a consequence of rising=20
detentions. In November last year Karl Matley, head of the Iraqi branch=20
of the International Committee of the Red Cross, declared that more than =
60,000 prisoners and detainees are held in prisons and other detention=20
centres. A large number of these were taken during the "surge".
By August 2007, half a year into the "surge", the number of detainees=20
held by the U.S.-led military forces in Iraq had swelled by 50 percent,=20
with the inmate population growing to 24,500, from 16,000 in February,=20
according to U.S. military officers in Iraq.
The officers re****ted that nearly 85 percent of the detainees in custody =
were Sunni Arabs.
Given that the majority of the detained are Sunnis, the "surge", rather=20
than bridging political differences and aiding reconciliation between=20
Sunni and ****a groups, appears to have had the opposite effect.
And yet, there could be more dangerous reasons to doubt such success of=20
the "surge" that is claimed.
Among the recent arrests in Baghdad, the U.S. military counted six=20
members of the Sahwa (Awakening) forces. This is a force of resistance=20
fighters now ostensibly working with the U.S. military. The U.S. pays=20
each member 300 dollars monthly. More than 80 percent of about 70,000=20
Sahwa members are Sunni.
The arrest of some Sahwa members is indication of U.S. military doubts=20
about the loyalties of some of these Sahwa fighters. ****a political=20
parties and militias already accuse them of being resistance fighters in =
disguise. Many believe that large numbers of Sahwa forces are resistance =
fighters simply riding the "surge".
"How come Sunni parts of Baghdad became so quiet all of a sudden," says=20
Jawad Salman, a former resident of Amiriya who fled his house in 2006=20
after Iraqi resistance members accused him of being a government spy.=20
"It is a game well played by terrorists to divert the fight against ****a =
groups. I lived there and I know that all residents fully sup****t what=20
the U.S. calls the terrorists."
The Sahwa strategy has brought down the number of U.S. casualties =96 for=
=20
now. But the U.S. strategy seems to have done less for Iraq than for its =
own forces.
(*Ali, our correspondent in Baghdad, works in close collaboration with=20
Dahr Jamail, our U.S.-based specialist writer on Iraq who has re****ted=20
extensively from Iraq and the Middle East)
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