Into Sadr City
The surge goes where it inevitably must:
Hundreds of U.S. soldiers entered the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City on Sunday in the first major push into the area since an American-led security sweep began last month around Baghdad.
…Soldiers conducted house-to-house searches through the densely populated grid of squat two- and three-story buildings, but met no resistance in a district firmly in the hands of the Mahdi Army militia led by the radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, said Lt. Col. David Oclander.
Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, a U.S. military spokesman, told Al-Arabiya television U.S. officials spoke daily with community leaders in Sadr City before entering the stronghold.
“If you go to Sadr City today you will see joint Iraqi and American troops cooperating with the head of the Sadr City council,” Caldwell said in comments translated into Arabic. “There is no problem between the two sides, and we are trying to set up a small security center there.”
Al-Sadr withdrew his militia under intense pressure from the government, but there were worries that a large-scale military push without political clearance could bring a backlash and jeopardize the entire security effort.
“The indication that we are getting is a lot of the really bad folks have gone into hiding,” Oclander said.
Police said there had been U.S. military activity at the al-Jazair police station in Sadr City since Friday, where troops were thought to be converting the facility into a joint operations center. Bulldozers maneuvered in the station’s yard.
No one is under any illusions: there has been a concerted effort to lay low during the surge. Yet the halt in violence is a good thing in and of itself, and furthermore, it has the added benefit of at least laying the groundwork for enduring stability. It’s doubtful ordinary Iraqis are going to be very welcoming to those who would return the city to its former chaos.
There seems to be little doubt that the surge is having an immediate – and quite positive – influence on daily life in Baghdad…
Thus the “laying low” tactic is risky as the longer it is employed the more it has the potential to undermine the insurgents and embolden the rest of Iraq to keep it supressed. Another reason why the surge cannot be a two or three month campaign – the increase in security and activity must outlast the insurgents ability to lay low. Once they see whatever support they have eroding they will emerge from their hidey-holes. We must be there when they do.