Looking for the New Baghdad

As I leave Baghdad, I reflect that for all the success of the surge, it has not exorcized Iraq's sectarian demons. Behind the painted walls, the murderous rage I saw in 2006 and '07 continues to fester. The Mahdi Army may have ceased fire, and Sunni insurgents may pose as friends of America, but both are just waiting. Unless Americans have a major change of heart about maintaining a substantial and aggressive military presence in Iraq, all the gains of the past year will amount to nothing.

Hammadi and his family have already lost faith. Terrified that he will be kidnapped and killed by a Shi'ite death squad, he is thinking of selling his bus and staying close to home. But with neither he nor Shada making any money, the Hammadis can't hope to stay in Saydiyah very long. There's a good chance they will take the kids and return to Damascus. Shada isn't looking forward to living on charity. Still, "better to be refugees and alive," she says softly, "than to be dead."