Life in Baghdad's Slums: Fighting to Survive in Sadr City

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"By helping Iraq, you help yourself," reads a sign posted at the entrance to Sadr City. And that's exactly what Ali Kamel is trying to do. He long ago gave up the belief that any politician was going to do anything to help him. Ten days ago, he dragged himself on his diabetes-ravaged feet from Sadr City to Baghdad's Tahrir Square to protest. In a small, damp, one-room apartment, in which he lives with his wife and their four children, he shows the bedsheet painted with words that he held up with the help of his 10-year-old son. "The hungry is strong," it reads, in both Arabic and clumsy English. "My problem start at 1990 and I'm never found the solve until now."

It was in 1990 that Kamel, who was still healthy at the time, lost his job in Saddam Hussein's army. His uncle had been executed because he had been a member of the banned Islamic Dawa Party, and his two nephews were also punished. Kamel lost his job in the military. When the Americans marched into Iraq in 2003, Kamel celebrated: Finally the hated dictator had been toppled. When Nouri al-Maliki, the head of the Dawa Party, got elected as Iraq's prime minister in 2006, Kamel hoped he would be rehabilitated, or that he might receive compensation. "But nobody gave me anything -- no job, no help," the 50-year-old says.

Kamel's wife Um Zayad has breast cancer, his feet are dotted with festering wounds. They suspect that the tap water made them sick: It smells like fecal matter and chemicals. But the Kamels can't afford bottled water.

Threat of a New Civil War?

The fact that the two seriously ill parents are even able to provide their children with at least one meal a day is attributable to their tribe. Every other social safety net has failed, but it is precisely the tribes who have served as a support network to several million distantly related people. But the tribal structures also facilitate cronyism, which makes any attempt at democratization bound to fail.

The tribes are one of the reasons why, five months after the election, the country still doesn't have a government, says one European diplomat based in Baghdad. "The men at the top try to consolidate as much power as possible," he said. After all, power means money -- money that the politicians, their supporters and their tribal brothers can redistribute. "In an atmosphere like that, no politician can form a coalition. One's own tribe will see any compromise as a lost of revenue, and they wouldn't forgive the leader."

No small number of Iraqis believe that the ossified structures could be eliminated in a new civil war. Despite his suffering, however, Kamel is an optimist, and he believes in a different path. "We need a Mahatma Gandhi," the father says. "One who can see the suffering of his people and decides to end it peacefully."

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• Part 1: Fighting to Survive in Sadr City
• Part 2: 'We Need a Mahatma Gandhi'