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Is Sadr City Becoming The Next Gaza? |
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Written by Rannie Amiri
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Saturday, 03 May 2008 |
“They have now completely surrounded Sadr City. The media is talking about
Gaza, while we now have a second ‘Rafah Crossing’ in Sadr City. The hospitals
are jammed with dead bodies...the occupation forces completely ban and open fire
at any convoy trying to deliver humanitarian aid. People here suffer from
shortage of food supplies. The occupation forces have burnt the city’s market.”
- Sadrist MP Dr. Maha al-Dori
“Do you want a third uprising?”
- Muqtada al-Sadr
The ripples of the March 25th Basra offensive-turned-fiasco initiated by Iraqi
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki have been transformed into waves of bloodletting,
crashing rhythmically northward onto Sadr City. According to one governmental
official, more than 900 people were killed and 2600 wounded in the teeming slum
of three million in April.
For the past month, Sadr City has been effectively sealed off from the rest of
Baghdad as United States and Iraqi forces attempt to crush Muqtada al-Sadr’s
Mahdi Army. In an ostensible effort to quell the launch of rockets from the
neighborhood into the Green Zone, recent days have seen an intensification in
fighting and causalities.
The largely symbolic Green Zone attacks are the only latest excuse to go after
al-Sadr and his militia. His popular appeal among downtrodden Iraqi Shi’ites
threatens to unseat the joint dominance of Maliki’s Dawa party and Abdul Aziz
al-Hakim’s Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (both of which favor the continued
presence of American troops) in upcoming October parliamentary elections. Al-Sadr
has always been outspoken in his demand the occupation come to an end. It was no
therefore coincidence that Vice President Cheney’s March visit to Iraq shortly
preceded the attack on his loyalists in Basra.
It was likewise unsurprising to learn that mortar rounds were being fired from
Sadr City into the Green Zone by Mahdi Army members. Despite al-Sadr’s March
30th declaration reaffirming his ceasefire order – now in its eighth month –
they continue to be targeted. Of far greater importance though are the
ramifications of disproportionate violence and collective punishment being
levied on the residents of Sadr City.
In an area only half the size of Manhattan, bombs have been dropped from U.S.
warplanes, Predator Hellfire missiles fired and Apache attack helicopters
dispatched. Yet the heart of Sadr City remains unpenetrated and only its
southern outskirts precariously held. The difficulties of street warfare and a
recent sandstorm – considered divine intervention by some – have hampered
efforts to make further gains. The U.S. is now in the process of erecting a
two-mile concrete wall which will separate the southern quarter’s Thawra and
Jamila districts from the rest of the city. Apparently, what cannot be defeated
will be imprisoned.
As is custom in conflicts where civilians frequently pay the ultimate price, the
U.S. has resorted to the classic Israeli defense of blaming the victims. A
Associated Press photo showing two-year-old Ali Hussein being pulled from the
rubble of his home after it was destroyed by U.S. missiles (he later died in the
hospital) caused military spokesman Lt. Col. Steve Stover to comment, “The sole
burden of responsibility lies on the shoulders of the militants who care nothing
for the Iraqi people."
Lost in the coverage of this conflict has been the humanitarian crisis unfolding
in Sadr City. On April 23rd, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
reported that the fighting has isolated civilians from food and water supplies
and caused hospitals to run out of basic necessities such as dressings and
anesthesia. They continue to transport 10,000 liters of drinking water daily to
the area.
According to the ICRC, as a consequence of the destruction of al-Jamila market –
one of the largest and instrumental in providing for the entire community’s
needs – “People are now short of food, especially as prices of fresh vegetables
have increased considerably.”
Gaza too is under siege. The Israeli strangulation of this tiny strip of land
has brought both humanitarian and military catastrophe to its people. It
currently suffers from a severe fuel shortage which is hampering the ability of
the United Nations Relief and Works Agency to provide food and other essential
aid to the majority of Gaza’s population. On April 28th in the town of Beit
Hanoun, a mother and her four children ages one to six were massacred while they
ate breakfast as a result of Israeli shelling. Prime Minister Olmert blamed
Hamas for their deaths. It is only one story among hundreds.
Sadr City and Gaza are starting to look more and more alike and their
inhabitants have much in common with one another. Both live in
densely-populated, poverty-stricken areas where food, clean water, fuel and
medical supplies get harder to come by as life under siege takes its inevitable
toll; both are reeling from Israeli and American military strikes killing scores
of civilians in their midst. Al-Sadr’s eight-month ceasefire is in jeopardy of
being rescinded while Hamas’ offer for one was quickly rejected.
Of all the unmitigated disasters the occupation of Iraq has wrought and of all
the comparisons made to other foreign misadventures, the U.S. siege of Sadr City
and its unfortunate similarity to the Israeli siege of Gaza is certainly one of
the most damning.
Rannie Amiri is an independent commentator on the Arab and Islamic
worlds. He may be reached at rbamiri at yahoo.com.
Comments posted are the sole opinion of the author and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of AIM. |
