Word: baghdad
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...Baghdad district of Sanak is exactly the kind of place Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli and other advocates of more "soft power" in Iraq like to see. Dozens of shops in the commercial area open each day offering everything from farming equipment to plumbing supplies. The daily bustle of trade in business wares on the streets of Sanak suggests the promise of jobs to be had in Iraq, a sense Chiarelli and others say is vital to slowing the bloodshed here...
...employment program can stop what happened that day in Sanak. The kidnappers appeared to fit the profile of Baghdad's most notorious moonlighters, officers in Iraqi security forces who draw a government paycheck while working with sectarian militias on the side. Still, the presence of U.S. forces might have deterred the kidnappers. Chiarelli has been one of the most prominent military figures to downplay the potential gains of increasing the number of U.S. troops in Iraq. But he acknowledges the effect of troops on the ground. "Those things that are purely sectarian, normally our mere presence, the mere presence...
...White House has signaled its interest in plans that could add as many as 30,000 more troops to the country. About 17,000 troops are currently in Baghdad trying to rein in sectarian violence that seems to widen every day, despite a major push by U.S. forces starting in June to secure the capital. The opponents of a troop surge say the failure of this campaign to bring order to Baghdad shows that greater numbers of U.S. forces are unlikely to have an effect on the situation. To be sure, even a doubling of U.S. forces in Baghdad...
...With some help from Iraqi security forces, U.S. troops have managed to bring the level of violence down in parts of western and southern Baghdad, neighborhoods like Washash and Mekanik. In areas where U.S. troops control traffic through checkpoints and mount regular patrols, sectarian murders tend to drop. Would-be killers who fan out across the city from militia strongholds have a difficult time carrying out attacks amid car searches and street watches by U.S. troops. Perhaps the most visible example of this came in October, when U.S. forces threw up a temporary blockade around the Shi'a slum...
...with ingrained grievances. That did nothing to stem the Mahdi Army's power. Now, though it can be seen as a place where increased U.S. troop presence can make a difference, the tense standoff between U.S forces and the Mahdi Army could easily erupt into open fighting and turn Baghdad into an urban battleground. Still, as a long as the uneasy prevailing peace remains, American troops exercise a broad measure of authority on the streets of Baghdad they claim...