He is an Iraqi, a Shia Muslim.  He was a leader in Jaish Al Mahdi--the Shia insurgent group.  Even more, Firas as JAM Special Groups.

In the photo he is sitting on the back patio of Combat Outpost Attack in Baghdad's West Rashid District.

He is not under arrest or being detained, but he was recently questioned at length by TIME Magazine writer Brian Bennett and LTC Steve Russell (USA--Ret.)

He was being questioned because Firas, the former JAM Boss and Special Groups member is now leading a 300+ contingent of the Sons of Iraq in Hayy Aamel--a Baghdad neighborhood that was notorious for violence,kidnappings and assassinations in 2006 and early 2007.

The last time I personally encountered a JAM Member of Firas' former rank was the Summer of 2007.  At that time JAM leaders were hunted down 24x7 and were either flex cuffed and shipped to the detention facility at Cropper or became martyrs.

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Firas came to his current position through the reconciliation process--the renunciation of his past transgressions (which he acknowledges are many).

The coalition forces operating in Hayy Aamel are very, very aware of Firas' past.  He was a wanted man until a few months ago.  And make no mistake, he is under a micro-scope even as I write this.

But Firas' past is not nearly as important as the present and the future.

In Arab culture there is a tradition older than Islam called the blood debt.  Each transgression must be repaid and the interest of the debt compounds with the passage of time.

Breaking that cycle of revenge is what reduced the sectarian violence in late 2007 and early 2008.  The blood debt cycle has been reduced so much that LTC Matt Elledge of the 1-22 Inf. had to think about the last time there was a sectarian assassination in West Rashid.  He said there was one 3 or 4 months ago, but that he would have to check his log books to be sure.

I too have to move beyond the past.  Soldiers I have spent time with have been killed and maimed by the EFPs JAM and Special Groups specialized in.

My first instinct was to recoil that an acknowledged JAM Boss could be put in such a position.

But one cannot have hope for the future if he lives in the past.

The West Rashid I lived in during the Spring/Summer of 2007 no longer exists.

A shadow of evil had fell upon Baghdad in late 2005 and slowly the light of hope--the belief in an anticipated good outcome -- is taking hold.

I was explaining to a young Soldier how the city has a hum to it now, a vibration that did not exist in 2007.  I don't know how to capture it exactly, but I can feel it. (In an upcoming video essay, maybe a glimpse of it can be seen.)

A year ago...or even less--Firas, the Sons of Iraq leader wouldn't be sitting for a posed photo on the back patio of COP Attack.

He would be flex cuffed and Brian and I, following the rules of embeds, would not photograph detainee Firas.



That is how much the West Rashid District of Baghdad has changed since the last time I was here.  Real hope and real change have arrived in West Rashid.

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