Disputes over vacant homes in Iraq often turn violent
Tens of thousands of Iraqis displaced by the war have difficulty finding a safe place to live. U.S. forces aren't allowed to intervene.
BAGHDAD — When Muhannid Halki's father was killed in sectarian fighting, the twentysomething car mechanic fled with his pregnant wife and young child to a vacant home in what he viewed as a safer neighborhood of the capital.
But now, less than two years later, Halki is dead, a victim of the sometimes violent disputes that occur when squatters move into homes vacated in the turmoil since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Such real estate free-for-alls pit dweller against would-be dweller, with the most well-connected and best-armed often prevailing.
Halki, a Sunni Arab, had moved in 2006 from the capital's Shiite-dominated district of Hurriya to a vacant home a few miles south in the mostly Sunni neighborhood of Adil. But with improved security in the capital, tens of thousands of displaced Iraqis are returning to their homes, and in some cases, new rounds of squatters are moving in, backed by the muscle of the Shiite-dominated security forces.
Under official policies, neither American military nor Iraqi security forces in Baghdad are allowed to intervene in the subsequent disputes.
But some Iraqi soldiers have disregarded the orders, helping Shiite families claim homes by falsely detaining Sunnis or escorting moving trucks into hostile neighborhoods.
American officers say they are deeply worried about the development but are limited in what they can do.
"We can't become the landlords of Baghdad," said Col. Edward Chesney, who commands an American battalion in west Baghdad.
'Iraq's Beverly Hills'
Residents of Adil once proudly introduced the district to Americans as "Iraq's Beverly Hills" because of its large white-washed mansions. But the wealth also allowed residents to vacate in droves, and their flight to foreign countries made Adil a haven for displaced Sunnis.
About 70% of occupied homes in Adil now have squatters, renters or guards as residents, but the lack of reliable documentation makes it almost impossible to draw lines among those groups, said U.S. Army Capt. Mark Battjes.
"Any or all of them could intend to stay in the homes for the foreseeable future without any payment to the owner, and the law is on their side," said Battjes, who commands soldiers just south of Adil, citing a Baghdad local government policy not to remove displaced Iraqis until they have another home, to reclaim or resettle.
