Page 10 - Aruba Today
P. 10
A10
WORLD NEWSMonday 15 February 2016
Love in the time of militias: Valentine’s Day in Iraq
SUSANNAH GEORGE Yasmin Talib makes a heart sign as she celebrates Valentine’s Day at al-Zawra Park in Baghdad, takes” in the past, but attri-
Associated Press Iraq, Sunday, Feb. 14, 2016. butes them to the growing
BAGHDAD (AP) — Bagh- pains of any new fighting
dad is plastered with Val- Associated Press force, saying “it happens
entine hearts and roses, everywhere,
and newly engaged Nour but have grown rarer since northern and western Iraq. Nour covers her hair in pub- with every military.” He
and Ahmed are out and then, particularly after the They have played a key lic with a headscarf, but said civilians will have less
about, enjoying a rare fierce sectarian fighting role in securing the capital also wears stylish Western- to worry about as the force
lull in violence in the Iraqi that convulsed the country and prying back land from style clothing and enjoys gains experience.
capital but wondering how in 2006 and 2007. the extremists, going out to movies and He and other Iraqi officials
long it will last. They say they haven’t en- but rights groups say they restaurants, are more worried about IS,
Despite recent setbacks, countered any problems have also carried out re- all things she fears she which is still able to smug-
the Islamic State group yet on account of their un- venge attacks on Sunnis. would have to give up as gle bombs into Baghdad
is still dug in some 60 kilo- likely romance, In Baghdad, the groups religious leaders and mili- and may again resort to
meters (37 miles) from the but they worry about the have been accused of kid- tias grow more powerful. stepped up attacks on ci-
Baghdad. And powerful increasing power of reli- napping for ransom and Muhanad al-Akabi, a vilians to compensate for
Shiite militias now con- gious figures in Iraqi life, in- carrying out religiously mo- spokesman for the Popular its battlefield losses.
trol security in many parts cluding the Shiite militias, tivated attacks on night- Mobilization Forces, an of- Earlier this month, security
of the city, providing in- many of which trace their clubs and liquor stores. ficially sanctioned umbrella officials said work had be-
creased protection but roots back to the days of Nour and Ahmed say they group that includes most of gun on a “wall” around
raising concerns as the sectarian unrest. worry most about the sheer the militias, said Iraqi civil- Baghdad that they hoped
well-armed fighters often The militias, many of which number of armed groups in ians have no reason to fear would reduce militant at-
operate outside the gov- are trained and armed by Iraq, and how little control them. tacks and allow them to
ernment’s control. Iran, were reconstituted the government appears take down checkpoints
It’s an improvement from in the summer of 2014 af- to have over many of them. “We are a formal institu- within the city that snarl
over a year ago, when the ter the army crumbled in “The future? It’s just black, tion, we belong to the gov- traffic. Brig. Gen. Saad
two met while working at the face of the IS group’s black, black,” Nour said. ernment,” he said. Maan, the spokesman
the same magazine. lightening advance across “There is no future in Iraq.” He acknowledges that his for the Interior Ministry,
After chatting on Face- fighters have “made mis- said the wall would be a
book, they started meeting combination of tightened
with friends in the evening checkpoints, trenches and
and on weekends. blast walls along a 280-kilo-
“Of course during the times meter (175-mile) perimeter
of bad security I would around the city.
never have invited her to Ahmed fears that while a
meet me at a restaurant,” wall might keep out some
Ahmed said. religious extremists, it will
“I would be too worried lock in others.
about her,” he added with “Already, compared to
a smile, taking her hand. our parents, we have so
The two asked that their full little freedom,” he said, re-
names not be published, ferring to the freewheeling
fearing for their security. 1970s in Iraq, before the
Neither is very religious, but decades of war and sanc-
Nour comes from a Shiite tions.
family and Ahmed from a “If these religious men stay
Sunni one. Such relation- in control, I think our free-
ships were common before dom will just be less and
the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, less.”q
