Sectarian cleansing and the segregation is complete

November 14, 2007
Sectarian cleansing and the segregation is complete

The number of the displaced, however, has tripled since January, according to the Red Crescent
humanitarian organization, and about two-thirds of the victims are children. Most Iraqis who have
returned to their homes from abroad have done so because they were penniless, unable to work or
deported from their countries of refuge.

One U.S. military official credits the positive changes around the capital to a series of
factors: a six-month cease-fire by the Mahdi Army, a Shiite militia blamed for much of the
sectarian killing; blast walls that segregate neighborhoods and protect markets; the U.S. troop
surge; a Sunni volunteer movement; and less opportunity for sectarian cleansing with neighborhoods
divided or already cleansed.