IRAQ: Tents get no takers from Sadr City

by Babylon & Beyond (reposted)

Fri, May 9, 2008 2:54PM

A lone horned sheep stood still behind the chain-link fence surrounding Shaab Stadium, staring at the vehicles and people going in and out, perhaps fearing he would lose his grazing grounds.

The people setting up the displaced camp in the stadium today didn't seem in any rush, despite the fact that some media outlets had announced that the government was advising Sadr City residents to evacuate their homes in anticipation of a security crackdown against the Mahdi Army militia there.

Twenty-five tents had been set up so far in the middle of the grass field. More tents were strewn on the ground, ready to be erected.

Iraqi Army Col. Abdul-Ameer Rasan Saqr, the man in charge of the operation, said the plan was to be ready for an influx of about 10,000 people in the coming days.

"We are coordinating this effort between various government institutions, including the Ministries of Health, Human Rights and Trade," said the colonel from behind his desk, a poster of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr's father on the wall behind him.

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