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Reporter’s Notebook: City life burgeons amid the chaos

BAGHDAD, Iraq – I really didn’t know what to expect when photographer James J. Lee and I finally made our way to Baghdad about a week ago. All that most people hear about Baghdad involves massive car bombs, sectarian violence and a city spiraling out of control.

I’m not naïve enough to believe that those things don’t happen here. In fact, I walked through the sprawling marketplace in New Baghdad, also known as Al Jadidah, twice this week, and each time I was there I saw the blackened storefronts that were blown apart Feb. 18 when two car bombs exploded 10 seconds apart, killing an estimated 60 civilians and wounding 180. And each time I was at the marketplace, I was with soldiers who had responded to the scene of the bombings minutes after the explosions. I cannot imagine the horrible scene that greeted them.

So, the risk is real, especially in a busy, crowded and vulnerable place such as a market.

But there also were things that surprised me about Baghdad.

The first day we rolled out of Forward Operating Base Loyalty, in east Baghdad just south of Sadr City, we were greeted by bumper-to-bumper traffic. Cars, trucks and vans were packed onto the road, and no one was really moving It reminded me of Washington, D.C., except that here the stop lights don’t work and in D.C the roads don’t blow up under you.

The soldiers I was with told me that traffic jams can be a good thing It means the people feel safe enough – or are willing to risk – going about their daily lives.

As our convoy pushed through the sea of vehicles I saw checkpoints manned by Iraqi soldiers. There were garbage trucks hauling trash from the neighborhoods. And most interesting of all, I saw young men wearing reflective vests sweeping the streets.

I was not expecting that. My first thought was that I was glad I didn’t have that job. Those guys didn’t wear any protective equipment, and they were on foot, sweeping the streets for trash.

A few days later, while on patrol with the soldiers near the marketplace, I saw two men by the repairing a piece of road median that had broken off. I was not expecting that, either.

So, I guess I chalk all of this up to the resilience of the Iraqi people. While I don’t yet feel safe enough to leave FOB Loyalty on my own or without my body armor and helmet, I hope that someday I will.

I hope that the kids we met on patrol this week will no longer have to worry about going to school or playing soccer in the evenings. I hope that the farmers and vendors who sell their wares at the marketplace will no longer have to worry about losing their lives or their livelihoods to car bombs. And I hope that the soldiers I met this week will no longer have to respond to the carnage left behind by devastating explosions that take the lives of innocent men, women and children.