BAGHDAD – Muntadhar al-Sharify stood shivering yesterday in Baghdad's searing heat, a smile on his young face.
The Iraqi boy had just completed a rite of passage known to children around the world: his first swim. But his fun also marked something broader: another small step in Baghdad's halting progress from violence to more normal life.
Across the city this summer, a handful of parks and pools are opening to the public. Places such as Zawra Park, where three swimming pools opened yesterday after repairs financed by the U.S. military, are drawing crowds of Iraqi families.
“In the last eight or nine months, life has been normal in Zawra,” said Salah al-Mandalawy, the assistant general manager of the park in western Baghdad.
For years, the sectarian violence after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 kept Iraqis cooped up inside their houses for fear that a trip out the door could be their last.
The U.S. military hopes the recent ebb in violence will allow Iraqis to begin restoring their lives to normal. It's encouraging the process with projects like the refurbishment of the pools at Zawra, one of the city's main parks.
Iraqi families today often spend the day in the park, al-Mandalawy said. With temperatures regularly over 100 degrees, the parks provide a much-needed respite. Yesterday, birds chirped in the overhanging trees. Patches of green grass, a little parched, lay underneath.
The tranquillity contrasts sharply with the period after the U.S.-led invasion when the park was hit by mortar fire, al-Mandalawy said. Some of the animals in the park's zoo were stolen.
Zawra's neighborhood was never among Baghdad's most violent, but it suffered its share of attacks.
Violence in Iraq has dropped to its lowest level in more than four years for reasons including the 2007 buildup of U.S. forces, a Sunni revolt against al-Qaeda in Iraq, and government crackdowns against Sunni extremists and Shiite militias.
Muntadhar al-Tammimi, 10, may not know the reasons for the drop in violence, but there was no hiding his smile yesterday as he stripped off his shirt and jumped into one of Zawra's pools, still wearing his jeans.
“I feel good!” Muntadhar said as he and 10 other children splashed around.
Most of the children at the pool, like Muntadhar, were sons or daughters of local officials who attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the pools' opening.
But officials say the pools are open to the general public.
The pools, built by Saddam Hussein in the 1970s, have been closed since the U.S.-led invasion, al-Mandalawy said. The U.S. military worked with local officials and park managers over the past year to repair them, providing the needed $500,000.
At least one other public pool has opened recently in Baghdad, and another is being built along Abu Nawas street – the riverside promenade along the Tigris River's east bank, long closed to the public.
Abu Nawas street reopened late last year after a $5 million joint American and private project to build parks and playgrounds along its length. In the late-afternoon sun yesterday, it was filled with shouting children and their strolling parents.
Adults said the signs of normal life are a relief to them, too.
At Zawra, some men attending the opening ceremony stripped off their pants and shirts and jumped into the largest of the three pools in boxer shorts after the ceremony ended.
“It's a big happiness for us because we have been missing this for a long time,” said Midhak al-Rubaie, 30, who lives near Zawra.
Not everything is normal.
During the ceremony, military helicopters roared overhead as they traveled to other parts of the city, a frequent occurrence in Baghdad. Heavily armed U.S. soldiers attended the event. Attacks take place in nearby neighborhoods.
That may be a concern for Muntadhar's mom, Fatma, but the novelty of heading to the pool gave her the chance to fret about something else.
“I wish there were no men here so I could jump in the water,” she said.
