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From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Melissa Block.
ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
And I'm Robert Siegel.
In Iraq, thousands of government troops backed by U.S. Special Forces rolled into the southern city of Amara this morning. Not a single shot was fired. The operation is the latest ordered by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in his drive to assert government control across Iraq.
NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro was in Amara today and she filed this report.
(Soundbite of siren)
LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO: At dawn, Iraq's security services moved into Amara. And by noon the city of 250,000 people was under their control.
So I'm standing at a crossroads in Amara and all around me are Iraqi Army, Iraq National Police, in armored Humvees, in armored trucks. The city has basically been blanketed by the Iraqi security forces. And so far today, so they tell us, there has been no trouble.
Unlike his operation in Basra in March, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki gave residents of this city four days to prepare for the operation dubbed Promise of Peace.
Captain Hussein Ali is an officer with the Scorpion Police Brigade.
Capt. HUSSEIN ALI (Scorpion Police Brigade): (Through translator) We didn't want many casualties in the city. Fights inside a city cost a lot of innocent civilian lives.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: He says the warning allowed most of the wanted people to slip away, averting the kind of heavy urban fighting that left civilian casualties in Baghdad's Sadr City and in Basra. Two years ago, British troops handed security in Amara over to the then-ill-prepared Iraqi Army. They quickly lost control to the militias. The Madhi Army, the militia loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, and other armed groups held the city. It became a lucrative smuggling route due to its proximity to Iran and Iraq's oil-rich city of Basra.
Today's operation was mainly led by the Iraqis. Though Captain Hussein Ali acknowledge they still need U.S. support. His brigade has a team of U.S. Special Forces advisers embedded with them.
Capt. ALI: We need the Americans for air support. Second, they have high tech weapons that we don't have so far. And third, they have more experience than we do.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Still, this is now the fourth major operation that the Iraqi security forces have led, and they are gaining confidence. Nebul Ibrahim(ph) is a resident of Amara who says until the army arrived, his city had been (unintelligible).
Mr. NEBUL IBRAHIM: It wasn't good. We couldn't go out at night or move anywhere because of the militias.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Still, he says, he doesn't think it was a good idea to let so many of the wanted people escape.
Mr. IBRAHIM: The majority of those who ran away are the Iranian intelligence, the real bad guys. And that upsets us because we know they will come back later.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Police sources say significant weapons cashes have been discovered so far and several militia members have handed in their guns. Amar Ismair(ph), a member of Sadr's political, has been arrested. When Iraqi security forces arrived near the city four days ago the local police chief fled, fearing he would be arrested for his affiliation with the Mahdi Army.
Amara is one of Iraq's poorest cities, and male resident lost no time trying to get work with the police. Dozens crowded outside one of the national police bases. Rajad Fashinur(ph) is a 19-year-old high school graduate who was standing outside in the hot sun hoping to be recruited.
Mr. RAJAD FASHINUR: (Through translator) There aren't any jobs except in the police or the army. Even the majority of college graduates try and join the police.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: In the past, he said, you needed contact with the tribal sheikh. You needed to pay bribes to get a job as a policeman. He lauded Maliki but also said the people of Amara want more opportunities. Better security, he says, is one thing, but everyone here is jobless and we need the government to do more.
Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, NPR News, Amara, Iraq. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
