They Seek Him Here, They Seek Him There

February 27, 2009, 5:37 pm

By Stephen Farrell

BAGHDAD — Finding an American on the streets of Baghdad is not as easy as it used to be.

More than 140,000 American troops in Iraq, and we only needed a
handful to talk to about President Obama’s withdrawal plan, but it
took more than half an hour of hard driving to find one, outside the
Green Zone. And that with the pedal to the metal, around semi-deserted
streets on Friday – the Muslim world’s weekend.

The invisibilization - so to speak - of the American presence has
happened gradually, so that you hardly noticed if you were here
throughout. But the starting point and endgame are worlds apart.

When I arrived in Baghdad in early April 2003 - a few days before the
toppling of the famous statue of Saddam Hussein - there was an
American M1 Abrams tank parked in the middle of the Jumhouriya bridge
across the River Tigris.

Behind its massive bulk American soldiers were carrying heaps of Iraqi
bodies in bulldozer shovels, burying them in temporary mass graves
while their colonel talked about “owning” the bridges and his side of
the river bank.

For the first couple of years the Americans were everywhere: tanks,
Humvees, convoys, razor wire, checkpoints. Then they took a step back,
and began to be the second line, behind Iraqis. Iraqis grumbled about
being “human sandbags”, but the Americans were still visible, just
slightly back.

Then came the first era of “as they stand up, we stand down”
rhetoric, accompanied by mounting carnage. Then in 2007 came the
American surge and the Baghdad security plan, which sidelined ideology
in favor of hard, get the job done, pragmatism. Which in turn meant
lots of American soldiers back on the streets. Visible, and
dramatically so.

Then, again, the slow invisibilization as the surge drew down, and
Iraqi forces became overwhelmingly the frontline presence.

Now, since the Jan. 1 2009 implementation of the American- Iraqi
security agreement, the Americans are even less obvious on the ground.

Of course they are there. Vast American bases ring Baghdad.
Helicopters buzz overhead multiple times an hour, huge white
surveillance blimps float above all corners of Baghdad like
overstuffed torpedoes. The Green Zone may be technically Iraqi, but
American Humvees sit just inside the checkpoints, and the Americans
remain the ultimate guarantors of security. In and outside Baghdad –
especially in still-troubled northern Iraq – the fight against
insurgents and militias is far from over, and the raids and operations
continues

But on the streets security has an Iraqi face. At bomb sites now the
vast majority of security forces present are Iraqis – in a bewildering
array of uniforms and badges. The Americans will probably roll up,
stay for a few minutes or a couple of hours, depending on the
circumstances, and move on.

You still see supply convoys on the main highways, of course. Raids
and operations continue. But on the streets, on a day by day, hour by
hour basis, there are far fewer Americans visible, and designedly so.

Sometimes it doesn’t look like it, because the Iraqi Army is slowly
morphing into Americans. Tan, armored Humvees on street corners. From
a distance it is hard to tell the American and Iraqi Humvees apart –
only when you get closer do you see the different aerials, the lack of
some equipment and the cruder Iraqi camouflage markings that resemble
boomerangs mating with amoebas.

So reduced is the American presence that when we wanted to find
American soldiers to talk to about President Obama’s proposals, there
was no obvious fixed point to go to outside of the Green Zone or a big
military base, which involves red tape, hassle and time-wasting
bureaucracy.

So we rolled out onto the streets, in search of Americans. At 11.15
a.m. we left Mutanabi Street in central Baghdad, having bought a few
maps and trinkets. No Americans in sight there, on the way there, or
on the way out.

Across Shuhada Bridge we went, onto the western side of the river.
Nothing. Past the Green Zone entrance hoping for an stray MRAP.
Nothing. We sight a Humvee. “Americans?” someone shouts in hope. “Laa
(No),” the driver answers. How does he know? It is adorned with
plastic flowers, a giveaway.

Back across Jumhouriya Bridge - no M1 Abrams but plenty of Iraqis
directing traffic – and onto the eastern side of the river again into
Tahrir Square. Nothing there. Look up the road towards Tayaraan Square
and left toward Ghazil animal market. Wala Ishi (Nothing). Down Abu
Nuwas Street, past the kids playing on the riverside swings and
roundabouts, Again, nothing.

“Where’s the occupation when you need it?” we quip, in Arabic. It’s a
bit of an edgy joke, but the Iraqis laugh. Or pretend to. Along the
river past the vast new American Embassy on the other side of the
Tigris River, no Americans.

Into Karrada, beginning to give up hope. And then after more than 30
minutes and many miles of fast driving and craned necks, there are
four Humvees in front of us. And a rare sighting of the shy,
soon-to-be westward-migrating lesser-spotted American soldier, in full
Kevlar body plumage.

Dismounted, even. Still wearing full body armor but out of their
vehicles buying oranges, bananas and melons with Iraqi currency in
standard Iraqi hopelessly non-bio-degradable plastic bags from a
roadside fruit stall.

One soldier is leafing through a sheaf of brown (1000 dinar) and green
(10,000 dinar) notes. President Obama is planning to announce an
August 2010 withdrawal for combat troops, we tell him.

“Yeah, I heard.”