After the 'Surge'

摘要

To see what peace looks like in Baghdad, go to the Karrada district. At dusk, Iraqi families picnic in a thin stretch of park recently built on the banks of the Tigris River. A couple of blocks away, along lively Sadoun Street, sidewalk restaurants flame-roast chickens on long spits and a crowd of teenagers spills out of a bright new juice shop. The al-Shamari family returned to Karrada from Damascus a year ago, and they say there haven't been any sectarian killings for a couple of months. But they don't want their real name used, for safety's sake. Their street is cordoned offby barbed wire and one of the low concrete barriers that are scattered across Baghdad like a child's spilled Lego blocks. In one corner of their manicured backyard they've dug a well to get water. They have a computer and a TV, but only two hours of city-provided electricity a day. And Karrada is probably the best-off neighborhood in Baghdad.