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In 2006, Shiites and Sunnis largely relied on insurgent groups and militias to protect their neighborhoods because Iraqi security forces and U.S. troops were largely unable to do so. Eventually neighborhoods were simply walled off with large concrete blast walls that crisscrossed the city and kept warring factions apart. Most of the walls were later dismantled when major violence abated. Laith Ahmed Salim, a student in western Baghdad, said there is no militia activity in his Ghazaliyah neighborhood but that people are watching for signs of danger and will be quick to guard their area if needed. Many Iraqis are loathe to say anything positive about the U.S. troop presence, but some worry about what will happen when American forces leave. The number of U.S. troops in the country is supposed to drop to about 50,000 by the end of August and all forces will leave by the end of 2011. Iraqis on both sides of the sectarian divide have little trust in Iraqi security forces' ability to protect the country. Many people are jaded by what they view as a system that values patronage over protection and frustrated at the ability of insurgents to carry out attacks despite Iraqi checkpoints at almost every turn. Following bombings in April that killed 72 people, furious residents in Sadr City pelted the security forces with stones when they arrived on the scene. Al-Sadr offered Iraqi authorities the help of his forces
-- an offer viewed by many as a thinly veiled threat to rearm.
On Friday, men wearing the distinctive black shirts of Mahdi Army members or other al-Sadr followers could be seen working alongside Iraqi security forces to search people entering the area where weekly prayers are held near the Sadrist offices. "We don't trust the government. We don't trust the security. We will protect ourselves," said one woman who came to pray, Nahedi Abdul Wahid. But the normally crowded streets around the offices where worshippers usually lay out prayer mats were quieter Friday, because many people appeared to stay away. "My mother ordered me not to go because of the violence," said Haidar al-Waili, a Sadr City resident. An official with the Ministry of Interior said Iraqi security forces have taken steps to prevent a return to sectarian violence; the official spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the subject. To be sure, the situation today is much different than it was in 2006 or 2007 when death squads would raid neighborhoods, dump bodies on the street or leave a bullet on someone's doorstep as a warning that they should move to a different neighborhood. From January through May 13, a total of 1,164 Iraqis were killed, according to a count by The Associated Press. That compares with 3,608 Iraqis killed during the same period in 2006. "I do not think that that the sectarian war will break out again because Iraqis are now aware of the risks and the cost of such strife," said Hussein Rashid, of Hillah.
[Associated
Press;
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