Battle of Haifa Street - Aftermath

Aftermath

Approximately 500 Iraqi and 400 U.S. soldiers took part in the battle along a two-mile stretch of Haifa Street. The images of the fighting were shown across the world on various news media, including YouTube, which coincided with President George W. Bush's speech about committing more than 21,000 extra U.S. troops to Iraq. President Bush argued that the additional soldiers will help to secure Baghdad, but on the ground there were signs that problems were yet to come.

Within 24 hours of the start of the fight in Haifa Street, Gen. Razzak Hamza, a Sunni Iraqi Army commander of the Fifth Brigade, 6th Iraqi Division, was relieved of duty by the Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, and replaced by a Shiite commander. It was reported that the prime minister blamed Hamza for the violence on Haifa Street, and said he was not doing enough to stop it. It was believed that the meddling from the prime minister's office was driven by sectarian motives, in part because Razzak had been putting pressure on the Shiite militias. The interference by the Maliki administration raised questions about whether government leaders are truly willing to put Iraq’s sectarian differences aside.

This was one of the few battles where the insurgents and the coalition troops have fought each other 'face-to-face'.