A Baghdad Neighborhood, Once Hopeful, Now Reels as Turmoil Persists

[La_Serpiente]

A Baghdad Neighborhood, Once Hopeful, Now Reels as Turmoil Persists


BAGHDAD, Iraq — Ghazalia is a neighborhood on edge.

Random violence and roadside bombs aimed at American patrols make the streets unsafe after dark. On the local council, Shiites and Sunnis squabble. Jobs are scarce, and prices are soaring. The electricity fails daily, and cooking gas, a necessity here, has grown scarce.

In ways large and small, life in this neighborhood of 150,000 people has worsened in the eight months since the United States toppled Saddam Hussein. Now the residents of Ghazalia, a suburban neighborhood that is in many ways a microcosm of the city, are nearly out of patience.

For the people who live here — a mix of Sunni and Shiite Muslims, rich homeowners and poor renters — the daily turmoil is exhausting and enervating. For the United States, it is a serious strategic problem, as was evident during dozens of visits to Ghazalia this fall.

To right its troubled occupation, the United States has focused on reducing attacks on American troops and capturing loyalists to Mr. Hussein. But a quieter battle is playing out on these streets, as American forces try to prove to Iraqis that they can police the neighborhoods streets and deliver basic services in a country ravaged by decades of dictatorship.

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A Baghdad Neighborhood, Once Hopeful, Now Reels as Turmoil Persists

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