U.S. troops tell Iraqis they can stabilize Baghdad

By LAUREN FRAYER

The Associated Press

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- U.S. soldiers strolled through neighborhoods in troubled north Baghdad on Thursday, poking their heads into storefronts and delivering the same message all day: Donald H. Rumsfeld's departure does not mean American forces will abandon efforts to stabilize the capital.

Yet, as they walked the dangerous streets, the soldiers carried with them their own and varied opinions of the war and the man who ran it from the Pentagon.

Spc. Wayne Thimas, a 32-year-old Bostonian with the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry, 172 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, said Rumsfeld's departure meant nothing to him.

"It's kind of weird, but this is just another day for us. Nothing changes here. You hear explosions and gunshots, you feel the explosions, and you don't even flinch -- it's just another day in Baghdad," Thimas said.

Sgt. David Alberg, a 22-year-old from Modesto, Calif., said the hard-driving Rumsfeld wouldn't be missed:

"I don't think you'll find many people around here who have anything good to say about him. Last summer people were really upset when two days before we were supposed to leave for Kuwait [en route home], he extended us another 120 days."

Ammar Kajjo, a 34-year-old Kurd under contract as an Army interpreter, found a middle ground.

"I think history will remember him as the engineer of the Iraq war, and a lot of people don't like him because of it. For some reason, for the American people, the positive sides of the war don't sell," said Kajjo, who lives in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The 172nd Stryker Brigade's chief, Col. Al Kelly, sought out Iraqi opinions on Rumsfeld as he gave wintergreen Lifesaver candies to children near a Shiite mosque where troops recently uncovered a large hidden weapons cache.

"How are you feeling today? Did you hear the news about Rumsfeld? What do you think about it?" Kelly asked residents.

"I'm curious about what they're thinking today. It's a leading question that gets to deeper security issues, and the reassurance they get from us being out here today is a byproduct," he said.

Soldiers waded through a busy outdoor vegetable market in Hurriyah, a formerly Sunni neighborhood now dominated by Shiites. It's part of a crescent of Shiite dominance stretching from Sadr City in Baghdad's northeast across the Tigris River to neighborhoods like Hurriyah in the west, where U.S. forces have seen increasingly sophisticated attacks.

A man selling live carp from the Tigris held one up for the soldiers, its mouth gaping. The owner of a fruit stand flagged down the soldiers to tell them he had heard the news but didn't think a new defense secretary would make much difference here.

"His resignation won't affect the situation in Iraq or the United States, and it won't affect Washington's support for the government of (Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri) al-Maliki," said 55-year-old Abdul Zahra Kabi, wearing a red-checked Arab headdress and sitting on a wood crate.

"I don't think it will either," Kelly said.

In these neighborhoods where anti-American sentiment runs high and sectarian vendettas run even deeper, any shift in U.S. policy -- perceived or real -- could set off a surge in killings. Rumsfeld's resignation had the potential to set off a violent response, but U.S. troops said they were determined to prevent it.

"It would be a problem if the new guy wants to leave Iraq soon," said Kamel Tahar, 48, the town council chief in Salam, just north of Baghdad. He was referring to President Bush's nominee to succeed Rumsfeld, former CIA director Robert Gates.

"We look at you as the freeing forces of Iraq, and your presence is still needed," he told American soldiers overseeing the unloading of food aid at a community center in Salam. "I don't think it's (Rumsfeld's resignation) the right step, but it's probably related to the Democrats' victory."

Members of the 172nd Strykers, part of the Army's 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry unit, chatted with Tahar over tea at the community center, where they were flooded with requests from Iraqis.

One woman needed a rare medicine for her son, a man complained a relative was unfairly detained, and others said the community center needed a conference room. Many residents rattled off unfinished business for America in their neighborhoods.

While many soldiers said the U.S. elections didn't mean much to their daily lives, many Iraqis -- whose infrastructure has been pummeled and access to electricity severely diminished -- knew of the Democratic takeover.

"It doesn't matter who's in power, because Americans enjoy democracy. It's not a matter of who's in power, the country will stay the same," said Said Haki Ismail, 60, who shared tea with the U.S. forces.

Asked whether he thinks Iraq can one day emulate American democracy, Ismail said: "Human nature is democracy, but ours was cut from us for so long. We're born with rights, and if you can't enjoy democracy, you'll feel like a slave."

But as he stuck his head into barber shops and bakeries across north Baghdad, Kelly knew he faced danger as well as Arab hospitality.

"There's not an (Iraqi) official that I deal with on a daily basis, like any of these neighborhood council guys, that would not just as soon see me dead. But they know I can bring money into their communities, projects and stuff -- that's why they tolerate me and need me here," he said.

In a city where sectarian differences have spiraled into bloodlust, being tolerated was sufficient for Thursday.