Posted on 08/03/2008 9:15:23 PM PDT by Dawnsblood
For years, when she approached Iraqi Army checkpoints and produced an identification card for soldiers to study for clues about her sect, Nadia Hashim used a simple formula to signal the mostly Shiite Muslim force that she, too, is a Shiite.
"I am one of you," she'd say.
The soldiers would harass Sunnis, but they'd simply wave Hashim through.
Now her pat line gets her an official reproach.
When a relative used it recently, a soldier admonished the driver and the passengers. "'We are Iraqis, and you shouldn't say such a thing,' " recalled Hashim.
The 35-year-old mother of three said that for her and countless other Iraqis, the fact that soldiers are now using nationalist rather than sectarian language is a significant change. Being a Shiite is no longer key to her survival.
With violence subsiding throughout Baghdad, residents said that sectarianism is becoming less pervasive. They're starting to think of themselves as Iraqis, not as hostages to hyphenated, sectarian identities.
Residents said they visit relatives in neighborhoods of opposite sects. Taxi drivers said they can travel around blast walls to neighborhoods outside their own sect. Sunnis can get medical care at Shiite-run hospitals.
Shiites can share a minibus with Sunnis without fearing that they'll be signaled out at an illegal checkpoint. Teachers no longer feel pressure to give students of one sect higher grades than they give their classmates in another sect.
(Excerpt) Read more at mcclatchydc.com ...
Hary Reid, Jack Murtha, Barakck Hussein — all deeply saddened.
They will find a way.
The newspaper byline will read, “McCain congratulates Obama for his Iraq victory.”
I would not doubt that.
we need more of that attitude here.
They never asked before the violence started.
I never asked the nice guy or gal I met at Epcot Center if he was a Yankee or Red Sox fan. We were just a couple of Americans having a beer at the fauz English pub.
If Sox fans were shooting Yankee fans, I would have asked.
But also so much that is wonderful in this article.
Thanks!
Perhaps they think this "nationalism thingy" in Iraq is a passing phase.
When you do meet a Yankees fan, shoot first and ask questions later..... /s :^)
In WWII the current DNC and Establishment Press would have been rooting for Hitler.
Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters
Did you know that Sunnah and Shi’a are two sects of Islam very much like Catholicism and Protestantism? According to Abu Khaleel, “A Shiite country person from Deywaneyyah in the south would find a lot more in common in terms of values, customs and even costumes with a Sunni tribesman from Ramadi than with an urbane fellow Shiite from Baghdad. A Sunni Arab Nationalist would identify more with a Shiite pan-Arabist from Basrah than a fellow Sunni communist, and so on and so forth. All these bonds and loyalties extend beyond the two-color façade of the over-simplistic Sunni Shiite divide.” Visit Abu’s blog, “A Glimpse of Iraq” and bone up on the politics. http://glimpseofiraq.blogspot.com/2005/02/sunni-shiite-iraq.html
I hate it when everyone has a hyphen that splits up their allegiances. Lets see, where have I seen that before?
Interesting- thank you for posting.
Good post. Iraq’s finest BUMP!
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