Baghdad has $1.5M in aid for Sadr City

BAGHDAD, April 21 (UPI) -- The civilian spokesman for Iraqi military operations aimed at securing Baghdad said the government set aside $1.5 million for basic services in Sadr City.

Tahseen Sheikhly, the Iraqi civilian spokesman for Operation Fardh al-Qanoon, said the regional aim of the Iraqi government in Sadr City and other Baghdad areas was to improve basic services to the degree that redevelopment can resume.

Speaking at a news conference with Rear Adm. Patrick Driscoll, spokesman for Multi-National Force-Iraq, Sheikhly said the Iraqi government allocated $1.5 million to Sadr City alone, noting the population in the city represented one-third of the total population of Baghdad.

The Iraqi ministers of commerce and health were able to distribute food rations and medication to areas in Sadr City, though larger aid and reconstruction projects would have to wait until the security situation improved, Sheikhly said.

On the security front, Driscoll stressed the underlying objective of operations in Baghdad and surrounding areas was to get the various political parties to move from "shooting at each other to shouting at each other."

Sheikhly said the "job of the government" was to raise living standards for all of the people in Iraq.

"There are 3 million people in Sadr City," Sheikhly said. "We can't punish the entire community in Sadr City because there are some" who are destabilizing the region.