ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel.
And we're going to begin this hour in Baghdad, where U.S. and Iraqi troops have cordoned off a predominantly Sunni neighborhood called Adhamyah. That area has harbored insurgents and it's been a regular target of Shiite militias. The operation is just the latest phase of a security plan for the Iraqi capital. The goal for U.S. and Iraqi forces is to spread out to other trouble spots without letting places like Adhamyah slide back into lawlessness.
From Baghdad, NPR's Anne Garrels has the story.
ANNE GARRELS: For a week, well over 1,000 U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces blocked all traffic inside Adhamyah while they searched more than 11,000 buildings. To provide enough U.S. forces for these intensified sweeps, the U.S. military shifted the Stryker Brigade combat team from the north, extending its stay in Iraq for an extra three months.
Calling this new mission a success, Stryker Commander Colonel Michael Shields says U.S. and Iraqi forces confiscated hundreds of weapons and closed down a car bomb factory.
Colonel MICHAEL SHIELDS (Stryker Brigade Commander, U.S. Army): Murders, small arms fire and reports of kidnapping are down. But I think the main effort of this operation is just beginning.
GARRELS: American and Iraqi reinforcements remain in Adhamyah. Traffic has now resumed but access in and out of the area is limited to certain roads and all cars are checked. Even with these measures strangers, including journalists, are not welcome there so residents were reached by phone.
Thirty-one-year-old Ahmed Mohammed, a trader in black market gasoline, says security has improved.
Mr. AHMED MOHAMMED (Resident, Adhamyah): (Through Translator) People have started going out. They have started shopping. They have started to breathe again.
GARRELS: But while the U.S. is at pains to cast this as a joint Iraqi/American operation, Ahmed Mohammed says from what he's seen it's very much an American-led effort.
Mr. MOHAMMED: (Through Translator) The Iraqis were only back-up. Only the Americans came into our houses. The Iraqis stayed outside. The Americans chose what areas to check.
GARRELS: And he says the checks went well.
Mr. MOHAMMED: (Through Translator) They were very polite dealing with us, even during the house checks.
GARRELS: Many Sunnis here who once resented the Americans now see them as their protectors against the Shiite-dominated government and security forces.
Mr. MOHAMMED: (Through Translator) In the past, cars would come in, shoot and leave. The Iraqi army saw them and did nothing. On my street alone, seven people were killed. No one knows who did this.
GARRELS: Mistrust of the Shiite-dominated government and security forces runs so deep that in the past residents blocked them from coming in and there were even pitched battles when they tried to enter.
While acknowledging earlier problems, Iraqi General Mohammed Bashir(ph), commander of the Ninth Army Division, says attitudes have now changed with this operation.
General MOHAMMED BASHIR (Iraqi Army): (Through Translator) People had no trust in the U.S. until the day we entered the area. They had no trust that we would deal with them this way. This is the truth.
GARRELS: But resident Haddi Tomar(ph), who has a small food shop, says people in Adhamyah are still suspicious of Iraqi forces and want the Americans to stay.
Mr. HADDI TOMAR (Resident, Adhamyah): (Through Translator) The Iraqis can't do anything. Americans direct them. Without the U.S., the Iraqi army would respond to us in a hostile manner.
GARRELS: With tensions between Sunni and Shiites still running high, Haddi Tomar's afraid to leave Adhamyah to buy provisions for his shop, fearing he might be targeted elsewhere. And he still fears Shiite militias will return to Adhamyah to kill again.
Mr. TOMAR: (Through Translator) Any stranger is unwanted here right now so I can't see you and you can't see me. Let's pray to God that will change and I can be hospitable. Now it's dangerous for both of us to meet here.
GARRELS: That makes it difficult for the government to send contractors to fix the crumbling infrastructure, the next phase of the operation. Some areas of Adhamyah haven't had electricity for 45 days. While General Bashir acknowledges it won't be easy to fix, he has thinly veiled disdain for Iraq's politicians. This time he speaks in English.
General BASHIR: We are providing the security. But let them work now. Let them start. I am asking the ministers themselves to start doing their job. We secured the area. Come on, show me your work.
GARRELS: Militias operating inside Adhamyah stayed out of sight during the searches, but Colonel Michael Shields anticipates gunmen will try to terrorize the area again.
Colonel SHIELDS: There is a chance that the militias or groups moved to another area within Baghdad or maybe the more rural areas. But again, it's really a combined effort across Baghdad to neutralize this threat and eliminate and disrupt the cycle of violence that's going on.
GARRELS: Shields says there's nowhere in Baghdad his forces won't go, echoing promises by American generals here they will tackle every neighborhood in turn. The question is, does the American military have enough soldiers to expand its efforts as it tries to sustain progress in the neighborhoods already secured? As of tonight, five more bodies were found in Adhamyah with gunshots to the head. And a member of Colonel Shields' Stryker Brigade was killed by a sniper.
Anne Garrels, NPR News, Baghdad. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
