War Update: View from Baghdad

By John Burnett

Published April 14, 2003 at 12:00 AM EDT

In a sprawling Baghdad neighborhood known as Saddam City, Muslim clerics have formed vigilante groups to stop looting and restore law and order. U.S. Marines in the mostly Shiite neighborhood have gratefully allowed the clerics to take on this responsibility to reduce the likelihood of clashes between American forces and the local population. So far, the arrangement seems to be working. NPR's John Burnett talks about what he's seen there.

John Burnett

As NPR's Southwest correspondent based in Austin, Texas, John Burnett covers immigration, border affairs, Texas news and other national assignments. In 2018, 2019 and again in 2020, he won national Edward R. Murrow Awards from the Radio-Television News Directors Association for continuing coverage of the immigration beat. In 2020, Burnett along with other NPR journalists, were finalists for a duPont-Columbia Award for their coverage of the Trump Administration's Remain in Mexico program. In December 2018, Burnett was invited to participate in a workshop on Refugees, Immigration and Border Security in Western Europe, sponsored by the RIAS Berlin Commission.

See stories by John Burnett