Trying to balance the factions

The Economist ^ | Jul 22nd 2004 | Reuters

[SunkenCiv]

A series of truces agreed on last month, encompassing Mr Sadr's stronghold in al-Thoura, Baghdad's eastern slum, as well as the Shia holy cities and other towns further south, are still holding. His own home turf in the capital has been more peaceful than it has been for months. Former fighters are now being paid to collect rubbish, plant trees, direct traffic and help the Iraqi police. The new government has promised to pay for a new sewage system so that the slum detritus will no longer flow past Baghdad's grimmest tenements. Outside the city, the clergy behind Mr Sadr have calmed down. They cautiously welcomed the formal handover of power from Americans to Iraqis, and offered to put their militia, the Mahdi Army, at the services of the police against the insurgents. A pro-Sadr splinter group even declared its readiness to hunt down America's biggest bugbear, Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian jihadi who has been blamed for the latest spate of suicide-bombs... In his struggle to gain control, Mr Allawi is seeking to accommodate rather than squash the various sectarian factions. It is a risky game. And it is too soon to say whether it is making Iraq a safer place.

[SunkenCiv]

A recent previous issue had Allawi on the cover. He's a tough SOB, walks with a limp because of some of Saddam's thugs in Gay Paree. If it doesn't work out, at least few will be surprised. But autonomy is a step in the right direction, which would culminate in the dismantling of Iraq.