Haifa Street: A Sign Of Progress In Iraq

With barely six weeks to go before his report on how well, or not, things are going in Iraq, General David Petraeus went out to show off a success story, reports CBS News correspondent Allen Pizzey.

Haifa Street is an example of how the general's counter-insurgency plan is supposed to work.

Haifa Street used to be another way of saying utter chaos.

In January this year, it was the scene of the bitterest and bloodiest street fighting that Baghdad has experienced.

These days it's a good place not just for Iraqis but for the general to practice street politics and public relations.

There have been no significant security incidents here since the end of April, and credit for the change is put down, in part, to involving local leaders rather than lavishing money around.

The big money projects to rebuild Iraq have so far proved less than impressive.

It's the small ones that seem to do best — street by street, block by block. It's a long slow process.

But, the peaceful veneer of Haifa Street is misleading. The insurgents merely retreated across the Tigris River to infest another neighborhood that the U.S. military must clear and rebuild.

The hope is that the example of Haifa Street will accelerate the process.

"What's good about this area is you can see what happens once security is established," said Lt. Colonel Jeff Peterson. "Eventually we will be able to phase our way out of this, but for the time being it's pretty important that we stay here and provide this over all umbrella of security."

Residents moving back to apartments abandoned during the fighting agree.

"As Americans stay here, there is safety," said Bassam Hillal.

That's pretty much the line the general must sell to the politicians back home, which might be why he's warming up his campaigning skills here.