U.S. Troops Driven by Duty in Sadr City

B A G H D A D, Iraq, July 1, 2004 -- Sadr City is a problem area. The streets of this Baghdad slum are strewn with trash, sewage bubbles up from dilapidated pipes, and the narrow alleys hide thousands of insurgents bent on forcing the coalition out of Iraq — something the U.S. Army's 1st Cavalry Division knows all too well.

On April 4, members of a 1st Cavalry platoon were in downtown Sadr City, cleaning sewage from the streets, when they were attacked. Platoon leader Lt. Shane Aguero only realized his gunner was dead when the body slid silently from the turret down into the Humvee. Seven other soldiers lost their lives that day.

Sadr City is a slum on the edge of Baghdad, originally called Saddam City and built to house about 300,000 people. It is now home to almost three 3 million Iraqis, as well as 1,800 soldiers of the 1st Cavalry.

The U.S. soldiers are based at Camp Eagle, a former juvenile detention center on the edge of town. They face two tasks: firstly to bring security and peace, and secondly to give the people what we take for granted in the West — sewage, electricity and running water.

Lt. Craig Allen spent Monday evening touring the north of Sadr City — the most anti-coalition neighborhood — asking people how things were moving along. Before long, a crowd of kids gathered, chanting the name of firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and throwing stones.

"It's kind of hard to rebuild the place with people shooting at us and kids throwing stones," Allen said. He was exasperated.

Why Take the Risk?

So why bother? In the time of Saddam Hussein, Sadr City had nothing. There was no garbage collection or functioning sewage system back then. This is a Shiite neighborhood and Saddam is a Sunni.

"Well, if we have the chance to give them something better, then let's do it," one soldier told me.

And now back to Lt. Aguero, who lost his gunner in the April 4 ambush. For him, trying to get the trash collected, or trying to get the sewage system working, is what keeps him going.