For Iraq's Sunnis, Conflict Closes In Mixed Neighborhoods Unravel as Shiite Militiamen Expand Violence

Sudarsan Raghavan, Washington Post Foreign Service

...Farouk's 10-year-old son, Omar, entered the living room. Thin with an angular face, he wore jeans and a yellow shirt. When asked his name, he replied in a voice not much louder than a whisper: "Amar." Amar is a common Shiite name. Farouk had instructed him to lie about his name to strangers. Why didn't he use his real name? "Because of those people, the Mahdi Army," Omar said. Why is his father still staying at home? Omar paused. "Perhaps the Mahdi Army will come and raid the Sunni homes and kill him." Seven video compact disc recordings of Sadr's sermons, his stern, bearded visage splashed on every cover, sat on the brown sofa. Farouk's 15-year-old son had bought them the day after the curfew. When he came home, he slipped one of the discs into the VCD player and turned up the volume so all the family's Shiite neighbors could hear. Omar pointed at them and said, "We have those VCDs for the Mahdi Army not to hurt us."...

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