Baghdad - In a city where hundreds of people died last month
in a series of bomb blasts, traffic might seem the least of Baghdad
residents' worries.
Yet as the mercury climbs into past 45 degrees Celsius, Baghdadis
caught in the city's interminable traffic jams find themselves
cursing the security checkpoints that cause them, and the violence
that makes those checkpoints necessary.
At the entrances to those Baghdad neighbourhoods still most prone
to violence, US and Iraqi soldiers carefully check all cars coming in
for explosives. Particularly at rush hours, the security checkpoints
can stop traffic for blocks. Drivers cut their engines and bake in
the sun as temperatures, and tempers, rise.
'There are entire neighbourhoods of the city I won't even think
about going to because of the checkpoints,' taxi driver Razaq Obaid,
47, told the German Press Agency dpa. 'I don't take people into the
backstreets of those neighbourhoods or the outskirts of Baghdad.
'You see soldiers inspecting cars, even seizing them for an hour
and a half (for inspection), while letting others go without
inspection. It interferes with our work and wastes time,' he said.
Baghdad's 5 million residents live in a city of 850 square
kilometres. To get anywhere, they must drive. Some 1.3 million cars
clog the streets of Baghdad on any given day. Even in a city at
peace, it would be enough to create rush-hour traffic nightmares.
But years of war and sanctions have left Baghdad's roads
neglected, and the real threat of deadly violence has blocked streets
entirely. In February 2007, the government installed some 415
checkpoints to limit the movement of armed groups through the city.
As violence has decreased, that number has fallen by a half. But
those numbers do not include the checkpoints manned by auxiliary
militias paid by the government to maintain order in some
neighbourhoods.
'As citizens enjoy more stability, we will reduce the number of
checkpoints to ease traffic, which of course is due not only to the
checkpoints, but also to the greater number of cars on the road,'
Iraqi military spokesman General Qassim Atta told dpa.
Qassim recently told Baghdad's al-Sabbah newspaper that the
government had reopened three-quarters of the streets, bridges and
tunnels previously closed for security reasons. Security forces were
preparing to reopen the streets along central Baghdad's Green Zone,
which houses Iraqi government buildings and foreign embassies, he
said.
'We want to make security the foundation of a everyday life,' he
told dpa. 'Unfortunately, more sophisticated car bombs can be harder
to detect. Weapons can be hidden. We have to watch for members of
armed groups. All this means we need to slow traffic for the moment.'
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