In a beautifully written piece, James Glanz argues that Sadr's ragtag force could fight the American and Iraqi armies to a standstill because though we controlled the air and had the tanks, they held the alleys. Ganz also retells a recurrent dream he has, a vision of a Middle Eastern nation occupying his native Chicago. "Here is what happens in the dream," he writes. "Because I know a little Arabic, I somehow find myself a translator for the invaders, even as some of my Chicago buddies are in the alleys plotting against my employers. And each night when I walk home along my beloved Dearborn Street under the rusty elevated tracks and past the White Hen grocery store, I wonder what the guys poring over maps in their armored vehicles plan to accomplish against a few million South Siders fighting in their own alleys. That’s usually when I wake up." In Iraq, it's the same situation. The only difference is it's Basra, not Chicago. And nobody is dreaming.
