Word: sectarianism
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...There may be nothing unusual about such sectarian Muslim disputation in Baghdad, but in Dublin, it's a relative novelty. Refugees from Iraq are a new feature of predominantly Catholic Ireland's growing Muslim community - estimated by its leaders to number around 40,000, making it Ireland's third largest religion - and many have brought their Iraqi rivalries with them into exile. While the overwhelming majority of Muslims in Dublin are Sunnis, the trend is reversed among the Iraqi immigrant population...
...been nearly two years since they fled their neighborhood, al-Dora, after al-Qaeda in Iraq terrorists killed the wife and son of Hammadi's brother. His friends and fellow refugees in Damascus warned him that Baghdad was still too dangerous, with dozens being killed daily in sectarian tit-for-tat attacks. But Hammadi, 46, was counting on the increased U.S. troop presence to calm things down. "Nobody can stand against the power of the American military," he says. "I thought that once they increased their forces, the [terrorists] would not stand a chance...
...city looks different too. In our neighborhood, there are several new restaurants and kebab stands. Here and there, apartment buildings have received a fresh coat of paint. Even the concrete walls that crisscross much of Baghdad, erected by the U.S. military to protect neighborhoods from sectarian militias, have been prettified. The government has paid artists to paint huge, brightly colored murals on the walls, so a drive now takes you past bucolic scenes of farmers planting rice, fishermen in the marshes, peasants dancing in verdant valleys. The walls give Baghdad a somewhat disjointed feel, making it less a city than...
Within the walls, many Sunni neighborhoods that were once the focal points of sectarian violence are now policed by armed locals organized by the U.S. into Awakening Councils--or Sahwa, in Arabic. Many are former insurgents who are happy to accept salaries ($300 per month, paid by the U.S., not the Iraqi government) from the men they once hoped to kill. They are nominally under American supervision but increasingly operate with a high degree of autonomy. The Sahwa are one part vigilante and two parts mafiosi, but like the walls, they too serve a purpose. In Sahwa-protected neighborhoods like...
Bobby's report, which opens this week's magazine, is definitely a mixed one--he suggests that despite improvements in the security situation, the furies that were loosed during the sectarian war of 2006 have not been tamed. One thing that hasn't changed in Baghdad is the commitment of our Iraqi staff there, marshaled by the indomitable bureau manager Ali al-Shaheen. They are the front lines of support for our rotating cast of reporters: photographers Yuri Kozyrev and Franco Pagetti and correspondents Brian Bennett, Mark Kukis, Charles Crain and Abigail Hauslohner...