Najaf embraces stability in wake of U.S. offensive

By Patrick J. McDonnell
Los Angeles Times

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"We all live with hardships, but the people of Najaf are pleased with the tranquility and stability they are enjoying now," said Sayed Baqir Qubbanchi, a high-ranking cleric here. "This is much better than the time of war."

The utilitarian hotels that sheltered pilgrims are gutted and charred. Blown-out storefronts line the once-bustling labyrinth of alleys leading to the gold-domed shrine of Imam Ali, which remains resplendent amid the post-apocalyptic cityscape.

The bleak panorama is testament to the destructive power used by U.S. forces for three weeks in August to flush militants from their havens amid the warren of shops and hostels, as well as from the tombs in the adjacent cemetery, sacred ground to Shiites. Hundreds were killed and injured before a political settlement was reached that left al-Sadr free but removed his Mahdi militia from the city.

Despite misgivings about the devastation, there is much relief in this war-weary town that the young men in black with Kalashnikovs and grenade launchers appear to be gone — at least for now. The Shiite guerrillas were unpopular with large segments of Najaf's generally conservative, business-oriented populace, which relies on a religious tourist trade that evaporated with the fighting.

Large-scale U.S. reconstruction projects were launched immediately after combat ended in the city of 500,000 about 100 miles south of Baghdad.

Throughout Najaf, schools, clinics and other facilities are being refurbished as part of the U.S.-funded rehabilitation plan, which includes extensive repairs to roads, sewers and water infrastructure.

"We have to be able to get the contractors to work and not get shot at," said Erich Langer of the Iraq Project and Contracting Office, the Pentagon agency charged with distributing a multibillion-dollar aid package nationwide.

The United States estimates that the fighting caused at least $500 million in damage.

The Marines offer no apologies for the extent of the destruction and blame part of it on errant insurgent mortar rounds.

"We went to extensive measures to minimize damage to the city," said Col. Anthony Haslam of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit. "That's why the people of Najaf are so happy. Even though buildings were destroyed, they know that buildings can be rebuilt."
 
As many as 1,000 people were killed in Najaf and neighboring Kufa during the three weeks of fighting that ended Aug. 27 with a truce brokered by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, the nation's pre-eminent Shiite cleric.

The Health Ministry says 157 civilians lost their lives and more than 900 were injured. Forty policemen were among the dead. Also killed were seven U.S. Marines and two Army soldiers, the military said.

In the 90 percent of Najaf outside the Old City, life has returned to a semblance of normality. Street sweepers in orange jumpsuits clear the roads. Donkey carts, cars and trucks vie for space on the clogged avenues.

Residents wave at passing Marines — a remarkable sight amid the hardly veiled hostility that has become the norm in much of this turbulent nation.

The Mahdi militiamen "will never come back to Najaf," U.S.-backed Gov. Adnan Zurfi told reporters recently at his heavily guarded compound.

Security is extremely tight. Heavily armed contingents of Iraqi police and national guardsmen, backed by Marines, have replaced al-Sadr's fervent guerrillas. Checkpoints outside town restrict entry to block the return of Mahdi forces from Baghdad or anywhere else.

Many worshipers have returned to the Imam Ali shrine on Fridays. Residents tend to praise the resumption of law and order but bemoan the damage to the Old City and the continued lack of business.

"The situation is much improved from a security standpoint, but economic life is stagnant," said Muqdad Sami Abdul-Sahib, a grocery owner.

The military is trying not to repeat earlier missteps, including the battles last spring that ended in stalemate, leaving the Mahdi militia in place to fight another day. This time, U.S. forces are putting maximum effort into ensuring that there are ample Iraqi forces to maintain order.

Police recruits are turning up by the hundreds in Najaf. The reinvigorated force is vowing to confront any remnants of the Mahdi militia, which routed them from their stations in the spring.

Al-Sadr's representatives have accused U.S. forces and their Iraqi allies of breaking the cease-fire pact by harassing sympathizers. Al-Sadr has consistently demanded the withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq and prompt elections.

"Conditions of the truce are just ink on paper" to U.S. and Iraqi forces, an al-Sadr aide, Sheik Ahmed Shibani, said to journalists recently in al-Sadr's offices near the shrine. "We are saying that we want free elections and demand that the foreign forces get out of Iraq. That's all. Of course, this does not please them."

Two days after his comments, Shibani was arrested when arms caches were found in al-Sadr's headquarters, Iraqi authorities said. Ayatollah Sistani condemned the raid as heavy-handed.

But the move underscored the determination of U.S. and Iraqi officials to block al-Sadr's apparent plans to create a Hezbollah-style political-military organization that would vie for power in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq.