In a darkened room the young American captain is discussing sewage improvements and militia infiltration with Iraqis on his Neighbourhood Advisory Council.
Suddenly an explosion rattles what is left of the windows, then another. A double car bombing at New Baghdad market five minutes away: 10 Iraqis dead, rising to 50.
“Another day in Baghdad,” mutters Staff Sergeant Bernell Parr. More than a week into the Baghdad security plan, viewed as maybe the last hope for the Iraqi capital — and the country — there are signs that the surge of US and Iraqi troops is having some effect.
Amid the poverty-stricken filth of Zafaraniya — a Shia suburb in southeast Baghdad — many Iraqis say that the visible increase in the US, Iraqi Army