U.S. Troops' Presence in Baghdad Fades With Transfer of Guard Duties to Anxious Local Forces

BAGHDAD -- Razor wire and piles of sandbags remain on streets throughout Baghdad, but the U.S. forces who erected the barriers have become a less visible presence in the Iraqi capital.

Baghdad retains the militaristic look of a postwar city in transition, with heightened security in response to recent car bombings and other brazen attacks. More Iraqis, however, dressed in new uniforms and carrying U.S.-issued AK-47 assault rifles, are now guarding former U.S. military positions, and private Iraqi firms are protecting hotels and municipal buildings across the city.

The interim government has said that controlling security is an important step toward self-rule and has pushed to have more Iraqis performing those jobs. But lacking equipment and experience, many Iraqis appear anxious in their new roles.

At the Health Ministry's Central Public Health Lab, pieces of rock placed in a straight line serve as a barrier to prevent cars from parking near the entrance. The Iraqi guards jump to attention when cars pull up to the building's front gates.

"We fear car bombs," said Sgt. Qays Ghali, a guard with the facility protection service, a security force created by the Interior Ministry to guard government sites.

U.S. soldiers left the detail, which includes a hospital next door and one across the street, about two weeks ago, Ghali said. He is in constant touch with the Americans, who have promised to give him radios and barbed wire. "We have these rifles," he said. "Just the Kalashnikovs and men with Kalashnikovs."

The retrenchment of U.S. forces in some parts of the city has given U.S. soldiers fewer opportunities to mingle with Iraqis. Honer Ali, 14, who speaks with his hands on his hips, used to work as a runner for the U.S. soldiers, getting them cold sodas, changing money and charming them with English phrases such as "trust me."

Ali said he missed the Americans. "I had a soldier friend who left for the U.S., and he gave me a watch and said, 'Whenever you look at this watch, you have to remember me,' " said Ali, beaming brightly. "Not only when I look at the watch, I remember him always."

Iraqis who have assumed responsibility for important sites are eager to leave their imprint on security. Ali Abdul Kareem, security manager at the Central Bank of Iraq, an eight-building complex along the busy marketplace of Rashid Street, said he wanted to replace the nearly three-foot-tall wire fence and maze of sand barriers put up by the Americans with other deterrents.

"When you go to the Central Bank of America you'll see a beautiful looking building," said Kareem, a retired army general. "So we want to make that here, a good-looking building with good protection."

Kareem said he planned to install cameras on the walls when the security situation settled. "That will be very soon," he said. "I'm sure of that."

With U.S. soldiers no longer at the sprawling complex, only well-chiseled Iraqi men in uniforms and blue berets patrolled the courtyard this week. Workers outside put the finishing touches on a new guard post.

U.S. Army Sgt. Felipe Leal, 28, of Kennedy, Tex., who used to be part of the security detail at the bank complex, remembered when two Bradley Fighting Vehicles were parked at each entrance of the courtyard and no one was allowed inside. U.S. soldiers lingered on the roof and nervously patrolled the complex in search of assailants.

"Now, we feel a little more at ease," said Leal, a member of 3rd Squadron of the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment. He watched five Iraqi boys who had gathered at the feet of two U.S. soldiers sitting on the hood of a Humvee. "When the children used to come up to us at first, we said stay back. Some of the Iraqi security guards come and talk to us. They look at our equipment and we look at theirs."

Sgt. Bryan Morrow, 23, of Atlanta, stood guard at a site near the Agriculture Ministry, but he noted that the Iraqi protection force inside the building was the first line of defense. "If they get killed, then we start shooting," he said. "We're starting to turn everything over to the Iraqis."

Morrow said more sand barriers were planned for a section of the building that was protected now only with razor wire. A chain-link fence is planned for the top of the sand barrier to prevent assailants from throwing grenades. "As we get more materials, we upgrade force protections every chance we get," he said.

"In a sense it's to protect us, but once we withdraw, it's to protect the Iraqi people," said Morrow, a member of the 1st Battalion, 36th Infantry Regiment of the 1st Armored Division.

Many sites that were once hot spots and had a larger military presence have grown quieter, and fewer troops are on stationary duty. Along Haifa Street, a busy strip of apartments and government buildings, an explosion and subsequent gunfire from U.S. troops in July killed two Iraqis and injured 12, and angry residents set a U.S. military vehicle on fire. Three U.S. troops were also wounded in the blast.

This week there was only one tank on Haifa Street, parked next to a bank. At his candy booth near a government building, Ali Khaddar, 40, has a clear view of the tank.

"They better come here again," Khudair said of the U.S. troops. "Sometimes bad groups come from the other side of the street to steal. It's better with the Americans."

Down the street in front of an Education Ministry building, snipers used to patrol the rooftop, and a tank parked in front trained its gunner on anyone who approached. Now, two metal desks block the front gate, and Iraqis in uniform with AK-47s sit in front of the building.

Twenty-nine guards protect the building and a nearby water pumping station, said Shehab Ahmed, 30, a security adviser. More are needed, he said, complaining about the departure of the U.S. tank. A mortar shell was recently fired near the building.

"We don't have any weapons, only rifles, and they attacked us with mortars and RPGs," Ahmed said, using the shorthand for rocket-propelled grenades. "So what can we do?"

On a narrow sidewalk in the Karrada shopping district, a Bradley Fighting Vehicle has been a steady fixture outside of a branch of the Rafidian Bank since June. Inside, Pfc. George Lopez, 22, of Salt Lake City, listened for radio traffic, but there was only silence.

Meanwhile, several Iraqi guards milled around outside the building, directing customers and conducting searches. "They're starting to do more of their job," said Lopez, a solider with the 1st Armored Division, "so our job has become less and less."

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