Legal Village

An unhappy anniversary - five years since Baghdad fell

Posted 8/04/2008 by Ben Hallman

Remember all the stories a few weeks back that marked the five-year anniversary of the Iraq war? As it turns out, that was a moment recognised mainly in the West. In Iraq, tomorrow (April 9) is the anniversary that matters. That was the day Baghdad fell to US forces.

Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr planned to mark the day with a “million-man” protest march in Baghdad. But after government forces began detaining young Shiite men on the way to the capital, Sadr abruptly called it off. Just a few minutes ago, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Malaki declared tomorrow a national holiday.

This marks the latest chapter in the confrontation between the Government and Sadr. It began with what appears to have been a poorly planned and executed Government assault on Basra, in southern Iraq. After that failed, Malaki ordered Sadr’s Madhi Army militia to disarm and disband and surround the Baghdad Shiite enclave of Sadr City (the source, I’m told, of the mortar and rocket fire last night). Sadr then pushed the question of whether to disband to senior clerics. If they say he should stand down, he will, he says.

Clearly there is a lot of posturing going on but this is a critical issue. If the two Shiite factions can resolve their differences, it would go a long way toward bringing Iraq back to the state of (relative) calm it enjoyed a few months ago. If not, expect the carnage of recent weeks to continue. This, at least, is the 10-cent analysis from the soldiers and journalists I’ve talked to over the past few days.

On a more personal note, what happens in the near-term affects my reporting. If things stay relatively quiet, I may still be able to travel outside the International Zone with the Baghdad Provincial Reconstruction Team. If not, I may try to catch a flight up to Tikrit, where things are calmer and a visit to local courts more likely. Tomorrow, by the way, I’m going to do some honest-to-God reporting. I’m spending the day at the US embassy.

Before I log off for the day, a quick shout-out to my roommates, a pair of journalists from CorpWatch. These guys are my heroes. This is their fourth trip to Iraq and for the past two days they’ve been out in the city on a trip arranged by a local 'fixer'.

Here I am, sweating the possibility of a mortar shell somehow penetrating the parking garage built on top of our quarters and they’re dining out at a pizza joint in Baghdad. Even better, they brought me back some. After four days of Army grub, it was heaven.