Sura
From Night of a Thousand Stars and Other Portraits of Iraq (Nazraeli Press: 2006)
She is one of a group of about 150 armed militiawomen who’ve surrounded me on a parade ground in Tikrit, Iraq⎯circling, jabbing the air with their Kalishnikov’s, chanting, “Down with Bush! Down with U.S.A.!”
We’re all enduring the annual Al Quds Militia parade, held here every February 8 to celebrate the birthday of Sadaam Hussein, whose rags-to-rags story began in a hamlet on the outskirts of this desolate desert town.
I doubt that many of the women understand the script that’s been handed to them. It’s a drama that’s obviously been choreographed by some Ba’ath Party propagandist in an effort to teach recruits how to appear menacing for three seconds on CNN and the… Read More »
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