BAGHDAD SECURITY PLAN: MORE VIEWS FROM THE STREET

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BAGHDAD 000781

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/03/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINS PTER PREF PHUM IZ
SUBJECT: BAGHDAD SECURITY PLAN: MORE VIEWS FROM THE STREET

REF: BAGHDAD 546

Classified By: DEPUTY POLCOUNS ROBERT GILCHRIST FOR REASONS 1.4 (b) AND
(d)


1. (C) Summary. Baghdad local leaders and average citizens
continue to tell post that security on the streets remains
better than before implementation of the new Baghdad
Security Plan (BSP). However, some report that confidence
was shaken by a series of car bombs and the resurgence of
some street violence. As with our previous informal polling
(ref),Shi'a respondents are slightly more positive than
Sunni contacts, with all noting a decrease in violent
militia activity. Interestingly, contacts in Sunni areas
are increasingly critical of Al Qaida presence, as Shi'a
militia appear to have disappeared from their
neighborhoods. Several contacts -- especially in South
Baghdad -- wanted to see more U.S. troops, believing that
their areas have been neglected by the BSP. Some of our
interlocutors also reported that a small but noticeable
number of their neighbors displaced by the violence are
returning to their homes. End Summary.

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Still Cautiously Optimistic...
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2. (SBU) Following on to our previous informal polling on
the BSP (ref),Post and PRT Baghdad asked a number of our
local leader and "man on the street" type contacts how the
new security plan appeared to working several weeks on.
Nearly all of our contacts agreed that security is notably
better than before the implementation of the BSP, although
we received a greater number of complaints than two weeks
before.


3. (C) Many of the positive responses provided modest
examples of how everyday life seemed to be improving for
Baghdad residents. A Sunni Arab neighborhood councilmember
from the Saydia district told post February 28 that his
council met for the first time in months, due to the
improved security brought by the BSP -- "Before we were
shut down due to insurgency and militia threats." A Shi'a
government employee separately related that he was now able
to safely visit his sister across town, whereas before he
could not go for fear of harassment (or worse) when he
transited two Sunni neighborhoods on the route. A Shi'a
traffic police officer said has less fear in approaching
checkpoints than he used to. Like many Iraqis, he
confessed, he carried two identity cards indicating
alternatively Shi'a and Sunni ethnicity for use in safely
passing through illegal checkpoints set up by insurgents
and militias.


4. (C) Baghdad Provincial Council Member and Shi'a
Endowment spokesman Dr. Salah AbdulRazzaq told Emboffs
February 26 that conditions in Khadamiya district where he
resides and other areas were "much better after the BSP."
He stated matter-of-factly, "Our neighborhood is now very
safe." Some contacts also noted that the presence of Joint
Security Stations in each neighborhood comprised of ISF and
US forces have allowed residents the ability to voice
complaints in a manner that they were not able to
previously.


5. (C) Rasheed District Council Security committee chairman
Majed Juma'a, however, offered a more jaundiced view -- the
BSP "was indeed working," but the JAM leaders and the Jaysh
al Omar Brigade leaders that he interacted with had fled
the country. "They're waiting three to six months for the
BSP to be complete," he said, "and then they will return."

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... But Bombings Shake Confidence
--------------


6. (C) Several contacts opined that recent high-profile
acts of violence, including a series of car bombings, had
contributed to renewed concern and anxiety in many
neighborhoods. A Shi'a emergency room doctor from Sadr
City asserted February 28 that "car bombs continued to
demoralize people -- we'd hoped they would end with the
decrease in militia violence, but we're not there yet."
The same doctor, who sees many victims during the course of
his work, reported that JAM members he knew in his
neighborhood were now denying their militia affiliation.
Previously, he said, "they would have been proud."


7. (C) At the same time, some Shi'a Baghdad residents saw
indications of renewed militia activities. According to a
Shi'a local council member from Rasheed district in South

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Baghdad, "in general, things are still better, but some
clashes are starting up again in the night. There are many
more checkpoints, but what is the use of checkpoints if
bombs still get through?"

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Some Want More U.S. Troops
--------------


8. (C) Several contacts asked for more U.S. troops,
expressing continued skepticism about the capabilities and
neutrality of ISF. One Sunni government worker stated "We
thought we would see more Americans, but they only come
when there is an incident." A farmer from the heavily Sunni
suburb of Abu Ghrieb seconded these comments in a separate
conversation, calling the security situation "better than
before, but still mediocre." He expressed disappointment
that that the visible US presence had not increased more.


9. (C) Most residents told us in general the ISF,
particularly the Iraqi Army (IA),have "behaved
themselves". Nonetheless, we have received sporadic
complaints from neighborhoods such as Sunni-dominant
Adamiya and Khadra that the members of the IA steal items
during their raids. One local hire living in upscale Karada
neighborhood was told by her neighbor that she should hide
her valuables in a safe spot for when the Iraqi Army came
to check on her house. Some allegations against MoI's
national police have also surfaced, particularly in al Amel
neighborhood, where high profile alleged rape victim
Sabreen al Janabi was detained . A Sunni economics
professor living in al Amel claimed that MoI's National
Police forces were conducting abusive raids against Sunni
residents, although he provided no further details.

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Sunnis Start to Point at Al Qaeda
--------------


10. (C) Whereas in previous conversations with Sunni
Baghdad residents we heard heavy criticism of JAM and other
militias, we now increasingly hear them complain of the Al
Qaeda presence in their neighborhoods. This may be a
result of a lessening in militia violence coinciding with
implementation of the new BSP. A Sunni resident from Abu
Ghreib explained it best when he said "Before, we didn,t
complain too much about al Qaeda because they were fighting
the militias that would have killed us. But now, we are
fed up with their infiltration and violence, and are more
willing to do what we can to stop them".


11. (C) Indeed, many Sunni representatives have been eager
lately to share their thoughts on how to deal with the
insurgency. For example, a well-established Sunni contact
from the Mansour District Council requested that T-walls be
placed to separate out the heavily Al Qaida/insurgent
controlled neighborhoods "such as Andalus and Washash" from
the rest of the Sunni dominant West Baghdad areas "so as
not to poison the rest of our neighborhoods". Likewise, a
Sunni resident of the Jihad section of West Baghdad told us
that residents are tired of the violence that insurgents
and al Qaida bring to their neighborhoods and wanted more
checkpoints to stop the infiltration from "Al Hamadaniya"
village.

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SOME DISPLACED RESIDENTS RETURN HOME
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12. (C) Reports of returns or shifts of Internally
Displaced People (both Shia and Sunni) primarily to Shia-
dominant areas are increasing. A prominent Shia Sheikh from
the outlying mixed Baghdad suburb of Madain told PolOffs
that both Shia and Sunni residents had begun to return to
that area -- which was previously beset by militia and
insurgent activity. A Shi'a neighborhood council member in
East Baghdad's 9 Nissan district said that some Sunni Arab
families had begun to return to the predominantly Shia
area. Similar anecdotes such as these have surfaced in
other areas, sometimes in Sunni areas such as Jihad, though
primarily in Shia areas.

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COMMENT
--------------


13. (C) The responses from our local contacts show that,
from the perspective of the street, the new BSP is still
having an impact, though in the view of many
perhaps not as much as the initial days of implementation.
One of our local staff recently assessed to poloff that

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while in general many Baghdad residents are afraid to get
their hopes too high, most are appreciative of the relative
calm and normalcy that has come to their lives over the
past month and a half -- "two months ago, we stayed locked
inside our houses as long as we could, feeling tense every
time we left our homes. Now, we are not so stressed,
though there are is a still a level of violence that has
not disappeared."
KHALILZAD