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Show . I 4 t if I. e . n m Hi m 'jf'iVJL-.- : ww w rtvvrrrr Sunday. August 19, 2007 DAILY HERALD All Shiite militia: Protector and patron China tries to cut smog by EDITOR'S NOTE: The deadly rivalries between Iraq's Shi- ites and Sunnis have left Baghdad fractured and reas-- " sembled in a tragic new Image: a patchwork of sectarian enclaves In the oncenixed capital. The Associated Press examined life in one neighborhood where Shiite militiamen now hold sway. Peter Spiegel Owning a car is a status symbol in China. It is not difficult UK ANGELES TIMES BEIJING . -- Liu Ming, a sales executive, usually leaves his west Beijing home in his little red Toyota to convince people if at 6:30 a.m. to avoid the worst traffic. at Beijings rush-hou- r they are just doing this cross-- . Even so, his for a short time, but town commute usually takes for a long time many about an hour. On Friday, however, Liu problems will appear. was able to sleep in a little. The government had ordered LuoZhu hu car off the Kreet because Road Engineering Research it has a license plate ending . Center researcher i with an even number, part of test aimed at bringa four-daing down air pollution and road every day, a rate that has traffic congestion. The test, which runs through raised concerns from Otynyic Monday, is aimed at convincing officials that traffic and polhi-tioif not curbed, could farce international Olympic officials outdoor endurance sports, like that the Chinese capital can e make its skies dean enough to cycle races, to be rescheduled or host the Summer Games this postponed Hence the temporary car time next year.- For Liu, it meant his trip baa which requires cars bear, to his job at a Web site for ing even-an-d Chinese job seekers took a bk license plates off the road on alternating days. Friday was longer, nearly an hour and . a half on the subway. But he the first day for even-nubered vehicles; Saturday will was able to leave home at a more leisurely 9JO a.m. Many be the first for odds. . Chinese authorities an- - .' businesses changed their hours to accommodate ern-- : ; nounced the test, which they :. boasted would take 13 million ployees and customers. vehicles off the road, a day afThat was not Luis main reason for his supporting the ter Jacques Rogge, president car ban, however. It allowed v Of the International Olympic Committee, suggested last . himtodohisparttoalleviqte week that Olympic events . smog.hesaid. Its also good for my might have to be moved to .. health.' he laughed sheepishly.. cope with poor air quality. : International Olympic pf- Ive gained a few pounds by test said ficials the originally driving everywhere. , According to government , program was to have lasted two weeks, which would have statistics, Beijing now has mirrored the twoweek schedslightly more than 3mUlion ule of the games themselves, registered vehicles, which out an estimated 1.3 to be held next August. But of pollutants every . when city officials finally year. Local environmental of- - unveiled the ban, it had been ficials cite that as the primary pared down to four days, only . two of which are weekdays. .. reason behind the citys air quality and the Owning a car is a status . ! symbol in China, said Luo persistent haze that hovers over the skyline.. Zhu, a researcher at the Road ' In a country that was Engineering Research Center, known just a decade ago as which is affiliated with the the Kingdom of Bikes, the Transport Ministry. It is not difficult to convince people if .. number of cars hitting the road continues to skyrocket. they are just doing this for a short time, but for a long time The China Automotive In. many problems will appear dustry Association reported Commuters said rush hour Iasi week that nationwide, traffic Friday was smoother domestic auto sales through than ft had been in recent July have already tapped 3J5 million tfcs year, a 24 percent memory, and subways and increase over the same period bines were a bit more crowd- last year. ed, even though more trains AnerfimrtMl 1,000 new .. and buses were added to handle the increase in passengers. cars are added to Beijing's 2&-- y ear-ol- d 22-mi- le Sally Buzbee THE ASSOCIATED TRESS WRITER . The street BAGHDAD , market bustles in the early... mornings and late afternoons is shoppers come out to buy fruit, bread, clothes and toys. Late into the hot summer nights, whole families gather to rat grilled kebabs at tiny stalls, their small children shrieking as they play tag. The Hurriyah neighborhood of northwest Baghdad, gripped by a spasm of deadly ethnic violence a year ago, has grown markedly calmer over the past eight months. It is now the kind of area that both U.S. and Iraqi officials point to when they cite progress at stabilizing : . . y ... . . , n, ... MAYA MIERUZZOAeeociatsd PlMR Aa Iraqi woman passes a bakary in the Hurriyah neighborhood in Baghdad, Iraq in March 2007. Gripped a year ago by ethnic violence, Baghdad' Hurriyah neighborhood l now the kind of place that US and Iraqi officials cite as progress. But only Shiites are welcome and a radical long-distanc- militia, the Mahdi Army, lain control, not US or Iraqi government forces. 's east set up an office in main outdoor market, Army, said Abu Hussein, a taxi driver, who .. promising Shiites protection. ; Baghdad. Last fall, fbers went up, But only Shiites are welcome also refused to give his full or safe in Hurriyah these name. Most people fed that warning that 10 Sunnis would, die for every Shiite killed As dSys. And neither Iraq's gov- -. way..Very few are wave of Sunni car bomb a ernmenl nor US. or Iraqi secu- Army." Yet even Abu Hussein Can " attacks on Shiites killed hunrity forces are truly in control ; find the militia oppressive. The dreds across Baghdad, reprisal Instead, the Mahdi Army attack on Sunnis steadily militia runs this area as it does rent payments they collect ; manfrom fellow Shiites displaced escalated. others across Baghdad ' from other parts of the city, Throughout the faQ, dozens ning checkpoints, collecting.. who now live in apartments in of bodies turned up each day . . rental fees for apartments, liin Hurriyah and other neigh-- . censing bus drivers, mediating Hurriyah that once belonged family fights and even handing to Sunnis, are little more than ". borhoods. By late November, ' out gas for cooking. Sunni mosques in Hurriyah protection money he comwere being attacked, never yet TheU.S. Army still runs plained. . to reopen. U.S. troops came regular patrols, sometimes on . At a store last week to buy ice, Abu Hussein said he came under frequent sniper fire. foot, sometimes by Humvee. And Iraqi police, on the streets, across the storekeeper and : Schools dosed. are nominally in charge. v: a customer arguing over a By early December, almost all Sunnis had fled Hurriyah, v But underneath the calm, payment. When the customer an armed group hostile to the m threatened to take his com- except for a handful of elderly United Stales holds a firm grip plaint to the Mahdi Army, the Sunnis, and the Mahdi Army , ' on power. Some fear the Mahdi storekeeper began stammering waa running several check' Army is amply biding its time in fear. His face got red, Abu points. By March, Shiites who said. had been displaced elsewhere Hussein . .eager to grab outward ' control and run were moving into Hurriyah, things its way .'. The Mahdi Army's control whenever U.S. forces pull back. here has its roots in the fero- - ., taking the shops and apartments of Sunnis who had fled. They control peoples lives," cious wave of ethnic hatred said one resident of Hurriyah., that rippled across an arc of By May, the murder rate in a Shiite government employee' formerly mixed Baghdad neigh- Hurriyah feu from more than who would give his name only borhoods last summer and faJL 200 a week in December to Until late 2005, Hurriyah about 10 a week, according to as Abu Mahdi, 36, because he was a relatively safe, working-US. military forces then. feared Mahdi militia reprisals.' community of Sunnis ; When the surge of AmeriScornfully calling them un-- .. class can troop gathered steam in and Shiites. The first signs of educated, bullying teenagers, he said: They are worse than trouble began that year, when late spring, the Mahdi' Army ' ' the Baathists" the party that gunnten from a Sunni extremgenerally stood down from ist group began abducting and confrontation, on the orders of held total authority under the its leader, the firebrand Shiite rule pf Saddam Hussein. killing Shiites. In early 2006, cleric Muqtada Others are more supportive Mahdi Army militiamen from their base in nearby Sadr City. - .Yet behind the scenes, the ; of the militia. Our area is safe because about seven miles to the V group stepped even more of the presence of the Mahdi Hur-riyah- . . . anti-Mah- . . .. . . . . . . . . . : . ',l . dr . . strongly into the government's authority vacuum,' said Abu Mustafa, 37, a govern- ment employee and father of three. People began to rely on the Mahdi Army and Sadrs office in everything even in famiN affairs.".; ' A few weeks ago, a dispute among brothers living in a house in his alley caused one brother to go to a Mahdi Army of flee and bring back armed men, Abu Mustafa said. Pan-icked neighbors prodded the brothers to make up before the militiamen could intervene. Residents say only a handful of elderly Sunnis now remain. One Shiite woman. - divorced fled refrom a Sunni man son cently with her after Shiite militias broke into her parents house and threat-ene- d to kil the boy because he was Surau. The neighborhoods three . main streets are blocked by checkpoint run by teenagers, none wearing uniforms, but with pistols sometimes tucked in their belts and walkie talkies in hand. They stop and ques-tio- n each driver., and even US. forces locals are hard pressed to know who is a militiamen and who just a resident. But U.S. officers on the ground say they believe the neighborhood is ' firmly under the militias Con- trol, infiltrating and influence' ing the Iraqi police who patrol the area. . . . . . ; . . . . . ; ' '' . ; . . . . . Cp : - ESTEE LAUDER rpuntii v. CHOOSE lr 'lli ; L. YOUR SHADES 4 T Yourfree gif- t- LlJ-- ' (( Choose your shades Free with any Estte Lauder purchase of 26.50 or more.. This exciting collection worth $65, Includes your choice of lipstick, lipgioss and blush shades plus Resftlence Uft Extreme Ultra Firming Creme SPF 15 supply) and more, all in a paisley print train case. (7-d- cpi Off good wtuto fcjpptM list. Quantities tmftad. One gift to a curiarar plMM. NVejsjr Exclusively at Dillards ' (fi FOUNDATION STATION Come In and take home a 1 supply of your ideal foundation shade and formula. Free. No purchase necessary. . ,!t .nin'i'jtotiii . . of women are wearing the wrong foundation. 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