Prometheus 6

“Through a ‘Hezbollah-like’ scheme, the Shiite Sadrist movement has established itself as the main service provider in the country,” notes a recent report by Refugees International, an advocacy group. “As a result of the importance of nonstate actors in the delivery of assistance and security, civilians are joining militias.”...

“He who is able to fix the public utilities holds the keys to the kingdom in terms of winning the support of the Iraqi people and ultimately ending this conflict,” said Sgt. Alex J. Plitsas of the 312th Psychological Operations Company, who met with Sadr City representatives.

In Baghdad, Struggle Ties Security to Basic Services
By MICHAEL R. GORDON

BAGHDAD — Even as American and Iraqi troops are fighting to establish control of the Sadr City section of this capital, the Iraqi government’s program to restore basic services like electricity, sewage and trash collection is lagging, jeopardizing the effort to win over the area’s wary residents.

For weeks, there have been reports that Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki is preparing to move ahead with a multimillion-dollar program to rebuild the southern swath of Sadr City, which is currently occupied by Iraqi and American troops.

But almost a month after American and Iraqi forces pushed into the area, there are no signs of reconstruction. Instead, the streets are filled with mounds of trash and bubbling pools of sewage. Many neighborhoods are still without electricity, and many residents are too afraid to brave the cross-fire to seek medical care. Iraqi public works officials, apparently fearful of the fighting, rarely seem to show up at work, and the Iraqi government insists the area is not safe enough for repairs to begin.

On Saturday, three Sadr City residents gingerly approached an American Army position to deliver a warning: Unless the Iraqi government or its American partner did something to restore essential services and remove the piles of garbage, the militias would gain more support.

The Iraqi government has long had difficulties improving services for its citizens, but the delay in mounting reconstruction efforts in Sadr City is complicating the American strategy to thwart the area’s militias and halt the mortars and missiles that had been fired from its streets toward the fortified Green Zone.

Hoping to stabilize the southern portion of Sadr City, American forces are building a wall to partition the neighborhood, and have moved with the Iraqi Army into the Thawra and Jamilla areas, south of where the barrier is being built.

But a standard — and, according to many here, crucial — counterinsurgency tactic is to appeal to a skeptical population after fighting through an area, by restoring and improving basic services.

“He who is able to fix the public utilities holds the keys to the kingdom in terms of winning the support of the Iraqi people and ultimately ending this conflict,” said Sgt. Alex J. Plitsas of the 312th Psychological Operations Company, who met with Sadr City representatives.

“People tell me time and time again that they see their basic needs as being more than food, clothing and shelter,” said the sergeant, whose team is attached to Company B, First Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment. “They include electricity, water and sewage. And until the Iraqi government provides them with such basic services, they won’t trust them.”

Indeed, the Mahdi Army, the militia founded by Moktada al-Sadr, the anti-American cleric who holds sway here, has long used the delivery of aid and basic services as a means of building political influence.