Relative Calm In Iraq
Lull In Violence As Saddam Trial Transfixes Iraq; Baghdad Ends Lockdown
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Play CBS Video Video Pilgrims Shot Dead In Baghdad Snipers killed at least 20 Shia Muslims as they made their way to a shrine in northern Baghdad. Mark Strassmann has more details.
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Video The 'Balance Of Terror' In an exclusive interview with CBS News' Mark Strassmann, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad describes a "balance of terror" that exists among the sects and the state of the Iraqi government.
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Video U.S. Ambassador To Iraq Speaks Only On The Web: U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad discusses the growing sectarian violence and the state of the Iraqi government.
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Iraqi Kurd survivors and relatives of victims of the Anfal campaign shout anti-Saddam Hussein slogans, and carry photographs of their killed relatives, during a demonstration, in the northern Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah, 160 miles northeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday Aug. 21, 2006. (AP)
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People watch the trial of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein on state-run television, in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday Aug. 21, 2006. (AP)
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An Iraqi policeman takes cover as his colleagues engage with a sniper on Aug. 20, 2006. The sniper fired into crowds of Shiite pilgrims heading from Baghdad's Tahrir square toward Shiite Imam Musa al-Kadhim's shrine. (AFP/Getty Images)
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An injured Shiite pilgrim, who was on his way to the Imam Mousa al-Kadim shrine for the annual commemoration of the saint's death, is moved to a hospital in Baghdad, Aug. 20, 2006. (AP Photo)
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Iraqi policemen question men riding donkeys, just before the prayer day vehicle ban, in Baghdad, Aug. 18, 2006. (AP Photo/Khlaid Mohammed)
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Interactive Attacks Map Details on the insurgency and terrorism that has continued to take lives since the fall of Saddam.
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Interactive Religion In Iraq An interactive guide to Iraq's religious, ethnic and ideological mix.
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Who's Who Iraq Insurgency More on the militant groups behind the insurgency in Iraq and their motivations.
"I'm happy to see justice taking its course today," said Haider Kadhim, 28, the owner of an electronics shop in Baghdad, a city that suffers from chronic power shortage.
Kadhim said he bought 20 liters of gasoline for his generator to ensure electricity to watch the trial, which was broadcast on all local channels with a 20-minute delay. This was to ensure that sensitive portions with security implications could be censored.
"It's shame on Saddam to say that he is the president and commander in chief of the armed forces," said Kadhim, referring to Saddam's self introduction when he was asked by the judge to identify himself for the record.
It was not clear if the trial – which had Iraqis glued to their television sets at homes, offices and coffee shops – was responsible for the unusually low level of violence in the country Monday: three soldiers and a civilian were gunned down in separate incidents in Baghdad. Two U.S. Marines and a sailor were killed on Sunday in Anbar province west of Baghdad.
No deaths or violent incidents were reported Monday from any other part of the country, a relief after the daily bloodshed from the Sunni Arab insurgency and the sectarian violence between Shiites and Sunnis.
In other developments:
Residents returned to Baghdad's streets Monday after a two-day lockdown during a Shiite religious commemoration that was disrupted by sniper attacks on pilgrims in another episode of sectarian bloodletting.
The Iraqi government said 20 people were killed by the snipers who hid in buildings and sprayed bullets into Shiite religious processions Sunday. The U.S. military, however, said only five people were killed. The discrepancy in the toll could not be immediately reconciled.
On Monday, major intersections were clogged with vehicles that had been ordered off the streets since Friday night to prevent car bomb attacks on pilgrims. A virtual curfew had gripped the capital on Saturday and Sunday, and few people were seen except pilgrims.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, thanked the armed forces for preventing major attacks. "We condemn strongly the terrorists' attacks committed by the terrorists against innocent civilians," he said in a statement.
"The success of the army and the security forces in preventing the terrorists from killing (a larger number of) innocent people — although some fell as martyrs — reflects the rising power of the armed forces," he said.
In an exclusive interview with CBS News, the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, the Iraqi government doesn't have much more time to get the situation under control.
"I think he (al-Maliki) has another three or four months to reverse this most important issue, the sectarian violence," Khalilzad told CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann.
But, Khalilzad said he sees a perverse sort of progress in Iraq.
"I see indications that both sides believe that a balance of terror has been established," Khalilzad said. "They have demonstrated to each other that they can inflict pain on each other, and neither can get rid of the other."
Many Iraqis are worried about sectarian violence, which is claiming about 100 lives a day across Iraq and stoking fears that the country could slide into civil war.
About 12,000 extra U.S. and Iraqi soldiers have been deployed to Baghdad in recent weeks as part of a security crackdown on a surge of insurgent attacks and sectarian bloodshed in the capital.
Despite the sense of relative normality, Baghdad remained on guard Monday against possible attacks on the mile-long lines of cars at gasoline stations, a favorite target of insurgents. Street cleaners and municipal workers carefully sifted through garbage, in which improvised booby-trapped bombs have been placed in the past.
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