MELISSA BLOCK, host:
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Melissa Block.
ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
And I'm Robert Siegel.
Until a couple of months ago, American troops in southwest Baghdad were caught in a daily fight. The area was devastated by sectarian violence. Soldiers of the 1st Infantry Division's 4th Brigade went house-to-house, street-to-street. The brigade has lost 80 men with hundreds more wounded. And now, violent incidents have been dramatically reduced, down from a high of 900 to just four a day. And for the 4th Infantry and local Iraqis, the name of the game is reconciliation.
NPR's Anne Garrels has this story from the neighborhood of Amil.
(Soundbite of radio transmission)
Captain SHAWN LYONS(ph) (4th Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, U.S. Army): Now, we're still waiting on the fashionably late element, which is the Sunnis.
ANNE GARRELS: For Captain Shawn Lyons, getting Sunnis and Shiites in the same room in a safe place is like herding ants. But the members of Amil's new reconciliation committee now meet with him every week to discuss their problems. Three months ago, that was inconceivable. The turnaround came when representatives of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, the power in Amil, gave the go-ahead.
Back in his combat outpost, the 30-year-old captain says Abu Dumu(ph), a leading Sadrist here, has been key.
Capt. LYONS: He's the one that broker a lot of deals with Sunnis, trying to make sure that the violence stayed at a medium level instead of blowing up (unintelligible). He's the one that if a guy came here with a bad attitude, he would make sure he was replaced, and somebody else who is more willing to work with the Sunnis.
GARRELS: Abu Dumu himself doesn't meet openly with U.S. forces and he doesn't attend the meetings. That's still taboo for Sadr's militiamen known as JAM. But Lyons's boss, Colonel Ricky Gibbs(ph), says there's a finesse.
Colonel RICKY GIBBS (4th Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, U.S. Army): We're talking to JAM leaders, not face-to-face, but through intermediaries. Gibbs says it's a dance worth engaging in because Abu Dumu provides results.
Col. GIBBS: And we can solve our differences. And he helped us with the ceasefire. So, if he's willing to turn his energies into a different direction, I'm all for it.
GARRELS: Once U.S. officials were leery of dealing with Sadrists, to put it mildly, the change reflects a new realism. Sadrist movement is split between those who are abiding by a ceasefire and those who continue to attack Sunnis and U.S. forces.
Captain Lyons says Sadrists who are willing to work with the Americans are taking real risks and are worth developing.
Capt. LYONS: There's a pressure put on them by the people just like a mafia, extremely powerful in their little world. And unfortunately, that's where a lot of their representatives that talk to us live.
(Soundbite of radio transmission)
Capt. LYONS: All right, keep in mind there was the IED detonated in the vicinity. Keep your heads on a swivel. Make sure you guys are paying attention.
GARRELS: Lyons still hunts down Sunni and Shiite extremists. Both communities continue to criticize the U.S. raids even though both are providing intelligence on their own bad guys. Lyons says it's another part of the dance.
Capt. LYONS: Hey, you can't do it yourself, and you told me you could, so now I'm going to help you out.
GARRELS: Given the fragility of the situation and the continued weakness of the national police, Col. Gibbs believes U.S. forces are key.
Col. GIBBS: If we left too early, it would probably crumble because it's, you know, the cement hasn't dried yet, but it's starting to catch.
GARRELS: Before declaring a ceasefire last August, Sadr's militia had forced out many of the Sunnis who lived here. Families now want to return. But Captain Lyons is taking it slowly after seeing violence erupt when large numbers of displaced families turn up to reclaim their houses at the first sign of improvements.
Capt. LYONS: They don't understand how fragile the situation was, so we had to push them off, and then sell them on a systematic approach, reintegrating their families. Unfortunately, if it's not controlled, then people end up getting killed.
GARRELS: The joint Shiite-Sunni reconciliation committee is going block-by-block in the most volatile neighborhoods to see which houses had been destroyed, damaged or occupied by squatters. The Sadr office promises it will help relocate Shiites now living in Sunni houses to help the process.
Lyons says Sunnis and Shiites wishing to come back will be vetted to prevent extremists returning.
Capt. LYONS: We'd like to welcome everybody to our sixth northwest Rasheed reconciliation conference.
Unidentified Man: (Speaking in foreign language).
GARRELS: For Amil, the reconciliation committee is the closest thing to a local government, which evaporated in the violence. But committee member Hisham al-Maqsusi(ph) tells U.S. commanders, the Iraqi ministries aren't backing them up.
Mr. HISHAM AL-MAQSUSI (Member, Reconciliation Committee): (Through translator) Let's go to the point, sir. We meet with the Americans, but where is our government? We are making promises we can't deliver, and no one is going to respect us if we can't deliver services.
GARRELS: It's a refrain heard again and again. And this is one thing on which Sunnis and Shiites are in complete agreement.
Anne Garrels, NPR News, Baghdad. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
