Assessing the ‘Surge’: A Survey of Baghdad Neighborhoods

Assessing the ‘Surge’: A Survey of Baghdad Neighborhoods
New York Times
September 7, 2007

Interactive map of Baghdad neighborhoods, with links to video-reports.

To study the ground-level effects of the American troop buildup, reporters and video journalists for The New York Times visited Baghdad's neighborhoods, interviewing residents, Americans on patrol and Iraqi officials.

Yarmouk: Under Control of the Iraqi Army, Though Insurgents Remain
Stephen Farrell

An upmarket Sunni district of west Baghdad half way between the airport and the Green Zone. Regarded as one of the last real Sunni bastions in Baghdad. Until early 2007 under the sway of vicious Sunni insurgent groups like Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and their former allies, the 1920s Revolution Brigades, insurgents bombed and ambushed Iraqi government security forces, killed Shiites and set up sniper positions on the central Yarmouk area of 'Arbaa Shawaria' (Four Streets), firing on cars at random. Yarmouk is a mirror image of east Baghdad's Shiite- dominated Sadr City; Shiites could not go to Yarmouk hospital, fearing Sunni death squads. After the beginning of the surge, residents say, Yarmouk has improved considerably and is now under the control of the Iraqi Army, although the insurgents are still lurking, and many Shiites are too fearful to go back. Arbaa Shawaria, although better because of numerous checkpoints, is still dangerous. Residents close side streets with roadblocks.

Electricity Variable. Some residents say they depend on generators, others say that service has increased from nearly zero to seven hours on, two hours off.

Garbage Until the surge, garbage collectors refused to come because insurgents planted so many bombs in the trash. Bodies used to be left for days because insurgents booby-trapped them to kill police officers. Reassured by the Iraqi Army presence, the collectors have begun to come, though only rarely, leaving piles of rubbish in yards.

Displacement Many wealthy Sunnis fled, fearing the extremists. Shiites left the area, avoided the area completely or carried fake Sunni identity cards to pass through checkpoints.

Freedoms "The army raided my house, and they saw posters of Imam Abbas in the living room. They told me, 'You are Shia, what are you doing here?' They beat me up, burned my house and forced me out of the area."—Khatan Kareem, a Shiite displaced from Yarmouk.

Outlook Earlier this year, Yarmouk Hospital, the most important in west Baghdad, took delivery of three large imported refrigerators, to cope with increased demand. They were for the morgue.