From the NYT
November 12, 2008
Baghdad Bridge Reopens, Restitching a Divided Area
By STEPHEN FARRELL
BAGHDAD — Shiites walking east and Sunnis walking west met at the midpoint of a newly reopened bridge on Tuesday, seeking to reclaim a landmark that had long symbolized the divide between Baghdad communities similar in name but polar opposites in sectarian makeup.
For three years Shiites from one, Kadhimiya, and Sunnis from the other, Adhamiya, had been unable to use the crossing, the Aimma Bridge of the Imams in northern Baghdad. It was closed after one of the worst disasters of the post-invasion era: in August 2005, rumors of a suicide bomber provoked a frenzied stampede in a procession of Shiite pilgrims. Nearly 1,000 people died; most were crushed, but many others drowned when they fell or jumped into the Tigris.
Tuesday’s reopening, attended by senior Iraqi military commanders and American officers, was a carefully managed set piece on tarmac covered in drips of fresh red, black, white and green paint — matching the colors on the Iraqi flag. The ceremony was conducted under heavy guard, with American Humvees on the perimeter and helicopters circling overhead.
Just 24 hours earlier a synchronized triple-bombing in Adhamiya killed 28 people, according to an Interior Ministry official. The American military put the figure much lower, at five.
But on Tuesday, the only blood in sight was of sheep slaughtered in celebration as hundreds of people marched with politicians and clerics from both sides to meet in the middle.
The revival of the bridge was more than symbolic. Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s government was eager to put cars and trucks back onto this major traffic artery, as part of its drive to open up Baghdad’s blocked roads, which create huge congestion for the estimated 1.3 million vehicles on the city’s roads.
Iraqi armored vehicles lined the approach roads to the bridge, which run past two of the country’s most famous mosques: the golden Kadhimiya shrine, burial place of the eighth-century saint Imam Musa al-Kadhim, and the ornate Abu Hanifa Mosque, burial place of the Islamic religious scholar known as Imam Adham.
Tensions between the communities run deep. Sunni Adhamiya, now walled off from other neighborhoods of overwhelmingly Shiite east Baghdad, was a stronghold of support for Saddam Hussein, whereas Kadhimiya’s shrine is the holiest in Baghdad for Shiites.
However, speakers on Tuesday highlighted past efforts at cross-community cooperation. Some cited Othman Ali Obaidi, an 18-year-old Sunni high school student who drowned when he dived into the Tigris in 2005 to rescue Shiite pilgrims.
Ahmed Abdel Ghafour al-Sammaraie, the head of the Sunni Endowment, which oversees Sunni mosques, said that Iraqis were “united as one body” and that if any part fell ill, all the other parts “will fall sick as well.” Saleh al-Haidari, his counterpart at the parallel Shiite Endowment, hailed a “glorious day.” He added, “It is the day of Iraqis who proved to the whole world that we are a united people.”
In Adhamiya, Muhanned Saleh, 46, said he believed that the opening meant “a new and good stage of nonsectarianism.”
But not all Iraqis in the two neighborhoods were convinced. Another man in Adhamiya, Nazar al-Azawi, 42, said he was not yet comfortable “because the security situation is not good, and maybe the opening of the bridge will be exploited to inflame troubles again.” He continued, “I wish that opening had been postponed for a year, until everything is settled.”
Opinions were divided even among families. In Kadhimiya, Bashra Umm Ameer, 41, said that she would not use the bridge and that she was opposed to the reopening. “It is the connection between two different areas, one very much belonging to the Shiites and the other very much belonging to the Sunnis,” she said. “If the security gets worse, the sectarian war will return.”
However her daughter Shahinaz, 16, rejoiced, saying, “I have many friends in Adhamiya, and I haven’t seen them for a long time.”
Of the Americans present, Col. Bill Salter, a military adviser working with Iraq’s Baghdad Operations Command, said the Iraqi leaders “have been working extremely hard to balance both security and freedom of movement for the civilians, and that is a challenge.” As an Iraqi band played in the background, he added, “This is a great day.”
Atheer Kakan contributed reporting from Baghdad, and an Iraqi employee of The New York Times from the Adhamiya neighborhood.
