Word: iraq
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Iraqi Shi'ite militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr has long been one of the galvanizing figures for opposition to the U.S. presence in the country. Friday's massive street protests against Washington's plans for a long-term strategic agreement with Iraq, along with his followers' call for a public referendum on the issue, were further evidence of this. But opposition, or at least skepticism, towards the U.S. appears to be spreading through the ranks of Baghdad's political establishment, even among partisans the United States hopes to win over...
...This agreement is so meager and poor, it achieves only the American security benefits and nothing for Iraq or the Iraqi people," said parliamentarian Umar Abdul Satar, a member of the main Sunni political bloc. "I don't know how the government will persuade itself or the parliament or the people...
...success of the Sons of Iraq checkpoints have had an unfortunate consequence, however. Ever innovative, insurgent groups have started using women to smuggle weapons and explosives past checkpoints because women are rarely, if ever, searched due to cultural norms that forbid public touching between men and women. That hole in the safety net was made abundantly clear on May 14, when a female suicide bomber successfully eluded several checkpoints and assassinated an Iraqi Army captain just a few miles from the Yusufiyah Community Center...
...program. After years of war and sectarian violence, many of the women around here are widows and have no way of supporting themselves." Working with community groups in town, Starz's unit began recruiting both Shi'ite and Sunni women, paying them $8 per day. Unlike the Sons of Iraq, which is organized along tribal lines, the Daughters of Iraq is designed as a bipartisan group. Says Starz, "Everybody has gotten along perferctly harmoniously on all shifts...
...week at the community center, where they are trained in searching procedures and weapons detection. Since beginning work a month ago, they have been working at meetings or major events once or twice a week. "The security situation is better than it was," says Kadija Abadi, a Daughters of Iraq member on duty today, "but it is not good yet. If I can help make it better, then of course, I will try to do that...