Civilian
Death Toll Rises In Sadr City
By Dahr Jamail
12 June, 2004
The New Standard
Baghdad
, Jun 10 - Near the main office of Muqtada Al-Sadr, in the part of Baghdad
known as Sadr City, followers of the rebel cleric continue to fight
the US military despite suffering heavy losses. While the military claims
to have killed more than 800 Iraqis, most of them fighters, during the
last nine weeks in the sprawling urban slum area of over a million people,
leaders of Al-Sadrs Mehdi Army, along with residents of the area
and hospital sources, claim that many of the dead were unarmed civilians.
According to Dr.
Ali Jumali at Khadasiyah Hospital, the only facility in Sadr City with
a morgue, 221 residents from the area who died as a result of the fighting
were brought to the morgue between May 4 and May 31. Dr. Jumali said
another 100 bodies were sent to Adnan Hospital in central Baghdad during
the same time frame.
"We dont
receive [the fighters] bodies," Jumali said, "because
we are afraid the American military will raid the hospital as theyve
done in the past." Jumali also said the hospital cannot even provide
emergency care to men thought to have been resisting US patrols, for
fear the Army will raid the facility in search of suspects. According
to Jumali, during that four-week period in May, well over 300 civilians,
many of them children, died during the clashes.
"Even as a
doctor, I cant look at the childrens bodies," he said
quietly. "The biggest problem we have now is the Americans are
using a different bullet which shreds them, and we are left with performing
so many amputations now."
At Al-Sadrs
office, where black banners for the dead hang on the brick walls, office
manager Sheikh Hassan said, "We just want the American troops to
stay out of our city because they are killing everyone." He continued,
"Nobody expects good things from the soldiers any longer since
they break every promise they make to us."
Last Friday, on
the outskirts of the poverty-stricken area, members of the militia struck
a Humvee with a rocket-propelled grenade, killing five US soldiers.
Mehdi fighters have now killed 14 American servicemen since May 1, according
to the military.
A few nights later,
young men, many of whom belong to the Mehdi, stood in the courtyard
of the small Sadr City headquarters nervously discussing plans, as they
expected the US military to return later that night. Most are unemployed
and have had no military training. Yassim, a 16 year-old boy holding
a pistol in each hand while guarding the front gate of the Sadr office,
promised vigilance. "As long as the Americans come here, we will
be fighting them," he said.
On June 6, local
members of the Mehdi Army attacked the Al-Karama Iraqi Police station
in Sadr City, killing two policemen and damaging the building with explosives.
"We dont
like the Americans to use the police station," said Sheikh Abdel
Jabbar, a commander in the Mehdi militia, "Its not the Mehdi
Army that led this attack, it is the people."
While holding a
pistol, he added; "This is the second time the Americans have used
the police station. They use it for their protection because it is surrounded
by families houses and the market."
Al-Karama, known
for its residents strong resistance to the occupation forces,
underwent heavy fighting that night. Attackers are said to have cut
electricity and water for the area and instructed all area residents
to stay inside their homes for five days. As a result, the market was
closed. Children were not allowed to go to school and missed their yearly
exams.
"The solution
is for the Americans to stop entering the city," said the Sheikh.
While reports suggest
that popular opinion in Najaf and Kufa, to the south, has turned against
Mehdi militiamen who spent the past couple months patrolling those cities,
many residents of Sadr City say they support the Mehdi fighters here
for resisting the US occupation. Though they say they are growing weary
of the almost daily combat.
"My son was
killed here by the Americans," said Ali Hammad outside of his home
near the hospital. "And I am honored that he is a martyr for defending
us against their crusade."
Yet at the same
time, there are those who wish the Mehdi Army would leave the area,
in hopes their departure would make room for peace. One man, speaking
on the condition that he remains nameless due to fear of reprisals from
the rebels, expressed his desire for the militia to leave Sadr City.
"It is simple,
that if the Mehdi militia would leave here, there would be no more fighting."
But the Mehdi fighters
in Sadr City say they have no plans to disband or disarm.
Dahr Jamail the Baghdad correspondent for The NewStandard. Originally
from Anchorage, Alaska, Dahr writes about the effects of the US occupation
on the people of Iraq, since the mainstream media in the US has in large
part, he believes, failed to do so.
© 2004 The NewStandard.