A soldier with the U.S. Army's 2nd Battalion keeps watch at an observation post on the roof of the Joint Security Station in Yarmouk, western Baghdad, recently. The soldier has pasted a photograph of the vista just below his weapon, so he can check to see whether any changes have been made to security barriers and other buildings in the neighborhood.

BAGHDAD — The roof is like many others in western Baghdad, except for the American soldier hiding behind sandbags, training his rifle on the street below.

Outside the house, Iraqi children weave their tricycles between rolls of barbed wire. Inside, U.S. and Iraqi troops plot raids and collect information on their new neighbors.

The U.S. hopes that placing troops on small, discreet outposts like this one in the heart of one of Baghdad's toughest neighborhoods will pay off in goodwill from the public and tips on militant activity.

But there are risks: Two suicide bombers killed nine Americans at one such base north of Baghdad in April.

"We could build a fortress around ourselves that no one can penetrate, but then we will have lost," said Lt. Col. Greg Gadson, who commands the 2nd Battalion, 32nd Field Artillery. His unit belongs to one of the five U.S. brigades sent here as part of President Bush's plan to stabilize Baghdad.

It's only a matter of time before insurgents attack, he fears. "We get threats all the time," said Gadson, 41, of Chesapeake, Va.

Gadson's troops set up what the military calls a Joint Security Station two weeks ago in Baghdad's Yarmouk area, within yards of residents and suspected insurgents. About 50 Americans and 10 Iraqis live at the base. From here, they fan out on foot patrols, handing out flyers with the number of a telephone hot line to report militant activity anonymously.

Installations like the Yarmouk station are part of America's new strategy here. Nearly three months on, U.S. ground commanders cite slow, but tangible, progress.

Before the arrival of Gadson's soldiers, the U.S. military had a sparse presence in Yarmouk, an upscale Sunni Muslim area that was once home to members of high-ranking officials from Saddam Hussein's regime.

Many homes were abandoned, looked after now by distant relatives or hired caretakers while the owners wait out the war in Jordan or Syria. The Yarmouk outpost is in one such house.

When Gadson's troops first walked these streets two months ago, it was a garbage-strewn ghost town, they said.

But with a U.S. outpost in the area, residents believe militants will find someplace else to operate, said Capt. Jose Henderson, 31, of Milwaukee.