Word: sadr
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...strike, which brought down Imrais' house and part of a neighbor's, killing her son, came after a man fired on the helicopter with an AK-47, Saadi says. The U.S. military accused militia fighters of using civilian homes and side streets to launch rockets and mortars, thus making Sadr City residents vulnerable to U.S. attacks...
Still, these are small steps considering the vastness of a neighborhood so thoroughly devastated. Among the poorest and most marginalized sections of Baghdad, the Sadr stronghold has suffered neglect and disrepair since the days of Saddam Hussein. After the fighting in April and May, that damage is now exponentially higher. Indeed, rebuilding Sadr City will be a crucial test for Maliki if he is to succeed in consolidating his divided and war-ravaged country...
...Sadr City resident, Najim Kitam Kadem, head of a nine-person household that suffered two injuries during the fighting, says he is uneasy with the Iraqi troops now patrolling his streets. "The Iraqi army has done nothing good. They call you in the street, and if you don't hear them, they start jumping on you and they slap you in the face," he says...
...government is doing the best it can, insists Tahsin al-Sheikhli, the civilian spokesman for the Baghdad security plan, which manages the expansion of checkpoints and development projects in the city. Sheikhli says projects are being implemented to double the number of hospital beds in Sadr City, rehabilitate 51 schools, and provide basic services. Officials at the al-Shaheed al-Sadr hospital, one of two main hospitals in the district, say that government money has already bought them much-needed drugs and other supplies. Hospital electricity has been restored, out of a combination of city power and generators...
...slow," Sheikhli says of the rehabilitation efforts. "But we need time to do it the proper way. At the maximum, two or three years from now people will start to feel the benefits." But as to how many people in Sadr City's streets will respond to the government's current pace remains in question. For two straight blocks in sector 11, where over a dozen buildings in a row look as if they have been hit by a wrecking ball, residents are not so hopeful. Saadi warns: "The government has misjudged the situation in Sadr City. They...