A Tenuous Peace in Sadr City
An anti-American cleric called a truce that has held for two weeks in the Shiite area of Baghdad. The relative calm elicits disbelief among troops.
By Patrick J. McDonnell
Times Staff Writer

July 8, 2004

BAGHDAD — After 10 weeks of fierce combat, an odd sense of normality has returned to this capital's most battle-scarred neighborhood.

The break in running clashes between U.S. troops and Shiite Muslim militiamen loyal to outspoken cleric Muqtada Sadr has brought a tenuous peace to the sprawling district known as Sadr City. By most accounts, Sadr's declaration of a truce two weeks ago was a collateral benefit of Iraq's return to a semblance of self-rule.

The militantly anti-U.S. cleric has expressed a strong desire that his popular movement be represented in national elections scheduled for January. Sadr wants a place at the bargaining table as a political leader, not a warlord.

"We are not terrorists as some are describing us," said Sheik Abdul-Hadi Darraji, the manager of Sadr's compound in Sadr City. "We are serving our country."