October 6, 2004
NAJAF, Iraq — They destroyed the Old City in order to save it.
More than a month after a U.S.-led offensive against the militia of Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr, the historic core of this holy city remains a sealed-off zone of devastation and rubble.
The utilitarian hotels that sheltered pilgrims are gutted and charred. Blown-out storefronts line the once-bustling labyrinth of alleys leading to the gold-domed shrine of Imam Ali, which remains resplendent amid the post-apocalyptic cityscape. Stray dogs paw the ruins along deserted streets in a district that for centuries has been the domain of turbaned holy men, their acolytes and the devout masses.
The bleak panorama is testament to the destructive power used by U.S. forces for three weeks in August to flush militants from their havens amid the warren of shops and hostels, as well as from the tombs in the adjacent cemetery, sacred ground to Shiites. Hundreds were killed and injured before a political settlement was reached that left Sadr free but removed his Mahdi militia from the city.
Despite misgivings about the devastation, there is much relief in this war-weary town that the young men in black with Kalashnikovs and grenade launchers appear to be gone — at least for now. The Shiite guerrillas were unpopular with large segments of Najaf's generally conservative, business-oriented populace, which relies on a religious tourist trade that evaporated with the fighting.
"We all live with hardships, but the people of Najaf are pleased with the tranquillity and stability they are enjoying now," said Sayed Baqir Qubbanchi, a high-ranking cleric here. "This is much better than the time of war."
Large-scale U.S. reconstruction projects were launched immediately after combat ended in the city of 500,000 about 100 miles south of Baghdad.
Throughout Najaf, schools, clinics and other facilities are being refurbished as part of the $200-million, U.S.-funded rehabilitation plan, which includes extensive repairs to roads, sewers and water infrastructure.
"We have to be able to get the contractors to work and not get shot at," said Erich Langer of the Iraq Project and Contracting Office, the Pentagon agency charged with distributing the multibillion-dollar aid package nationwide.
The U.S. estimates that the fighting caused at least $500 million in damage, well beyond its $50-million compensation fund.
The Marines offer no apologies for the extent of the destruction and blame part of it on errant insurgent mortar rounds.
"We went to extensive measures to minimize damage to the city," said Col. Anthony M. Haslam of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit. "That's why the people of Najaf are so happy. Even though buildings were destroyed, they know that buildings can be rebuilt."
As many as 1,000 people were killed in Najaf and neighboring Kufa during the three weeks of fighting that ended Aug. 27 with a truce brokered by Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the nation's preeminent Shiite cleric. According to the Health Ministry, 157 civilians lost their lives and more than 900 were injured. Forty policemen were among the dead. Also killed were seven U.S. Marines and two Army soldiers, the military said.
In the 90% of Najaf outside the Old City, life has returned to a semblance of normality. Street sweepers in orange jumpsuits clear the roads. Donkey carts, cars and trucks vie for space on the clogged avenues. The souks once again bristle with commerce.
Residents wave at passing Marines — a remarkable sight amid the hardly veiled hostility that has become the norm in much of this turbulent nation. The tension so palpable among U.S. troops as they leave the secure confines of their bases elsewhere is no longer evident here.
The Mahdi militiamen "will never come back to Najaf," U.S.-backed Gov. Adnan Zurfi told reporters recently at his heavily guarded compound.
Security is now extremely tight. Heavily armed contingents of Iraqi police and national guardsmen, backed by Marines, have replaced Sadr's fervent guerrillas. Checkpoints outside town restrict entry to block the return of Mahdi forces from Baghdad or anywhere else.
Many worshipers have returned to the Imam Ali shrine on Fridays. Residents tend to praise the resumption of law and order but bemoan the damage to the Old City and the continued lack of business.
"The situation is much improved from a security standpoint, but economic life is stagnant," said Muqdad Sami Abdul-Sahib, a grocery-store owner.
The military is trying not to repeat earlier missteps, including the battles last spring that ended in stalemate, leaving the Mahdi militia in place to fight another day. This time, U.S. forces are putting maximum effort into ensuring that there are ample Iraqi forces to maintain order —and who will not jump to the other side.
Police recruits are turning up by the hundreds in Najaf. The reinvigorated force is vowing to confront any remnants of the same Mahdi militia that routed them from their stations in the spring, during the first Mahdi rebellion.
"We will crush them when we find them," promised police Col. Amir Hamza Aldami.
As he spoke, U.S. trainers in the courtyard of his police station were instructing recruits in the use of a newly issued, expandable steel baton. Many lawmen still lack sufficient body armor, vehicles, weapons and communications equipment, police said, and training is far from complete. That reflects shortcomings throughout Iraq.
Sadr's representatives have accused U.S. forces and their Iraqi allies of breaking the cease-fire pact by harassing sympathizers. Sadr has consistently demanded the withdrawal of U.S. and other foreign troops from Iraq and prompt elections.
"Conditions of the truce are just ink on paper" to U.S. and Iraqi forces, a Sadr aide, Sheik Ahmed Shibani, complained to journalists recently in Sadr's offices near the shrine. "We are saying that we want free elections and demand that the foreign forces get out of Iraq. That's all. Of course, this does not please them."
Two days after his comments, Shibani was arrested when arms caches were found in the Sadr headquarters, Iraqi authorities said. Ayatollah Sistani condemned the raid as heavy-handed.
But the move underscored the determination of U.S. and Iraqi officials to block Sadr's apparent plans to create a Hezbollah-style political-military organization that would vie for power in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq.
Sadr's movement remains a potent force in Shiite areas of Baghdad as well as Basra, Amarah and other largely Shiite cities in the south. Sadr's representatives have indicated a desire to participate in January's elections, but U.S. and Iraqi officials have said the Mahdi militia must first disarm.
Much of Sadr's militia is believed to have retreated to his home base in the sprawling east Baghdad district of Sadr City, named after the young cleric's late father, who was assassinated by the Hussein regime, according to most accounts here. After an uneasy peace this summer, Sadr City has again become a battleground where militiamen plant homemade bombs and U.S. forces strike from the ground and air.
Ideally, the U.S. would like to see Sadr City become like Najaf today — a largely militia-free place where authorities could begin to dole out the millions earmarked for redevelopment.
"We are not able to do very much right now [in Sadr City] as most of the parts that really need the work are the most dangerous," a U.S. commander in Baghdad said recently. "That's why we have to get rid of the militia once and for all."
However, the civilian support for U.S. forces evident in Najaf is not duplicated in Sadr City, where Sadr's fighters have substantial backing. And all the while, hostility for the U.S. remains rampant in Sunni Muslim towns such as Fallouja, where residents reject the U.S.-sponsored political process that will probably strip Sunnis of the favored position they have enjoyed for decades.
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Times staff writer Suhail Ahmed and special correspondent Saad Sadiq in Najaf contributed to this report.