Sadr City
From Free net encyclopedia
Sadr City (Arabic: مدينة الصدر; transliterated: Madīnat as-Sadr) is a vast low-income neighbourhood in northeastern Baghdad, home to some two million mainly Shi'a Muslims. It is the seat of power of Muqtada al-Sadr, its de facto ruler and son of its namesake, Ayatollah Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr.
The suburb was built in 1959 by Iraqi Prime Minister Abdul Karim Qassim in response to grave housing shortages in Baghdad. It provided badly-needed housing for Baghdad's urban poor, many of them immigrants from the countryside, who had until then lived in appalling conditions. It quickly became a stronghold of the Iraqi Communist Party, and resistance to the Baathist-led coup of 1963 was strong there.
After suffering a variety of ill effects under the Baathist government of Saddam Hussein, under whose rule the district was renamed Saddam City, Shi'as in the district claimed a degree of autonomy from the rest of Iraq after the fall of Baghdad in April 2003, with their own police force, clinics, and food distribution. At the same time, the district was unofficially renamed Sadr City.
The landmark of Sadr City is undoubtedly the large municipal building, which was reportedly ordered constructed for Saddam Hussein, who gave a single speech from its balcony and never returned to either the building or the city again. The building was nearly destroyed by looters in 2003, but the US military restored the structure at a cost of $30,000 and granted it to the city’s 30-member district advisory council to convene meetings.
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2003 Invasion of Iraq
A temporary US base, Camp Marlboro, was set up at the Iraqi cigarette factory in Sadr City, headquartering the 2d Armored Cavalry Regiment's 800 members plus an additional 120 military police of the 549th Military Police Company; all in an attempt to quell the violence of Sadr City.
2004
In late March, soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment commanded then by LTC Gary J. Volesky, of the 1st Cavalry Division arrive at Camp War Eagle, replacing soldiers of the 1st Armored Division, and assume responsibility for the governance and security of Sadr City.
On April 4, the Mahdi Army ambushed a U.S. Army patrol in Sadr City, killing eight American soldiers. This sparked urban fighting between the Mahdi Army and the 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division that lasted until June. Casey Sheehan, the anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan's son, was killed in Sadr City during the fighting on April 4.
On June 25, the Mahdi Army enacted a cease-fire with U.S. troops, and offered to help repair and rebuild the city's main infrastructure which was leaving millions without electricity, water or sewage.
On October 10, the base was hit by three mortars launched from within the city, which saw the U.S. beef up security and attach an additional 28 tanks and 14 Bradley Fighting Vehicles to the camp.
The following day, on October 11, the Weapons Handover Program began in the city, which was designed to purchase weapons off militants.
2005
On May 15, the bodies of 13 Iraqis were discovered in a shallow grave, each blindfolded, tied and shot multiple times in the back of the head. They had been hastily buried in a vacant lot.
On May 18, gunmen shot and killed Ali Mutib Sakr, a Transport Ministry driver.
On May 23, a car bomb exploded outside a crowded restaurant, killing eight Iraqis and wounding an additional 89. [1]
2006
On March 12 three car bombs exploded, killing thirty five people.