LOCAL RECONCILIATION?

We've been told by the Administration that at the local levels, reconciliation is working. That is another lie as we can see from this Baghdad report.


Market bombings: Baghdad locals want security, not Iraqi police

The Monitor accompanied a high-level militia member on a walk through an area near Friday's bombing.
By Sam Dagher Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
from the February 4, 2008 edition

Baghdad - "We are an independent state; no police or army is allowed to come in," proclaims Khalid Jamal al-Qaisi, deputy leader of the US military-backed and predominantly Sunni Arab militia in charge of security in the old Baghdad neighborhood of Al-Fadhil.

The Monitor accompanied Mr. Qaisi, a mid-level member of the former Baath Party, on a walk down the area's main thoroughfare, Kifah Street, on Saturday, one day after a female suicide bomber struck the Ghazil pet market about a mile away on Jumhouriya Street, killing 62 people, according to Iraqi security officials.

Qaisi says his men could have prevented Friday's bombings. He says the attacks only bolster his conviction that Iraq's security forces, both Army and police, are infiltrated by militias and insurgents and riddled with sectarian biases. He says his men do not recognize the authority of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and won't join the security forces under such conditions.

Qaisi proudly recounts how his men repelled government and US forces over the years. He blames the brutality toward Shiites in Al-Fadhil as well as their forced displacement on three Al Qaeda linked militants who, he said, have since been killed or arrested.

"The Americans asked to be our friends because we were the winners," he says, adding that the agreement he has with US forces precludes Iraqi forces from entering. No government forces can be seen. Qaisi's guards check every vehicle and person entering Kifah Street.

At the end of Kifah Street, a wall has been built to separate Al-Fadhil from the Shiite neighborhoods of Sadriya, Qanbar Ali, and Abu Saifyen. "We can't go beyond that," says Qaisi. "I can't guarantee your security there."