U.S. Soldiers Provide Security For Positive Demonstration
Baghdad
A peace rally and March that brought together both Sunni and Shia members was held recently in the Karkh District, Baghdad. The march was held in Rawaniyah along a sectarian fault line, and involved about one thousand Iraqi citizens and locals.
The local pilgrims called the rally their “Peace March,†and it was held December 19th.
It was an effort by local Iraqi citizens and leaders to try and defuse and eliminate tensions between the different sects and groups. Iraqi District Advisory Council members and Iraqi Neighborhood Council representatives set up the rally and March.
The peace march was set up by, participated in, and driven solely by Iraqi leaders and citizens.
Captain Marcus Melton, with 101st Airborne, U.S. Army has seen and witnessed these positive events firsthand. “The attempted dominance by one group or religious sect over the over has just been a mindset, filed away in the heads of some people,†said Melton
The whole area is calm now, but last January there was widespread violence and it was coursing through the same streets that are quiet today.
“Some people have the Shias should belong on one side, and that the Sunnis belong on the other, and that is the state of mind that led to the violence in the first place,†said Captain Melton.
The area continues to stabilize and is growing; there is hope again in the neighborhood. “As long as neighbors continue to work and get to know neighbors, things will continue to improve,†said Melton.
