Stay the Course

Roadblocks, Curfew Imposed in Baghdad

By Jonathan Finer
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, June 23, 2006; 8:52 AM

BAGHDAD, June 23 -- Adding a new layer of confusion to the security crackdown gripping Baghdad, the Iraqi government today imposed a last-minute ban on pedestrian as well as vehicular traffic throughout the city.

The 2 p.m. curfew was announced late in the morning, after many people were already traveling to work or to mosques for weekly Friday prayers. Originally, it was supposed to last all night. But hours later, a bulletin on Iraqi television announced the curfew would end at 5 p.m. (9 a.m. in Washington).

Under a security crackdown launched last week, vehicle traffic already was banned in the capital from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Fridays, the Muslim Sabbath, when midday mosque attendance -- and the potential for violence -- is especially high.

The government gave no explanation for the additional restrictive measures, but they followed violent clashes reported in several Baghdad neighborhoods this morning. Three insurgents were killed and six wounded in fighting near the Haifa Street neighborhood, according to Ahmed Al-Nuaimi, an interior ministry official.

Residents in the commercial neighborhood of Karrada criticized the lack of advance warning about the curfew, even as they said they understood the purpose of the curfew was to improve security.

"Aren't they supposed to give us a day's notice? How are people who went to work or to pray supposed to get home?" said Muahmmed Saleh, 28, a taxi driver. "This is a decision by someone who is not wise, not reasonable." Nearby, a barber who lives in the southern neighborhood of Dora shuttered his shop quickly and set off walking home.

Iraqis who work in the fortified Green Zone streamed out just after noon, in an attempt to make it home before the lockdown took effect.

"We heard about this but plenty of people didn't," said Haider Haleeji, 28, a security guard for a translation company. "There are people who will have to sleep in the office because they won't be able to get home."

If this is what "staying the course" looks like to the Iraqis, that "hearts and minds" thing is pretty much over.