Word: shiing
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...became daily conversations and then blossomed into love. Since neither has a landline, their romance was conducted entirely by cell phone, with Ali spending a third of his $250 monthly salary on phone cards. Meeting was not an option. Though they are both Sunnis, he comes from a predominantly Shi'ite tribe, which might make him guilty by association in the eyes of the fanatics who control the streets of Dora. (The names of several people in this story have been changed at their request to protect their identities.) When Ali proposed last fall, they had still not seen each...
...Muslim society in which arranged marriages are common. But before the war, in big cities like Baghdad and Basra, and especially on their university campuses, young Iraqis could have romantic liaisons and aspire to marry for love, even if that meant crossing the sectarian divide. Among the educated classes, Shi'ite-Sunni unions were not frowned upon. It was even possible to date: in Baghdad, courting couples, often accompanied by a chaperone, would meet at fruit-juice kiosks or ice-cream parlors or in one of the restaurants along the banks of the Tigris. Premarital sex was rare...
...Those still seeking love have fewer places to find it. Many once liberal university campuses are now policed by fanatical Shi'ite student groups associated with the hard-line cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. They impose strict segregation of the sexes and beat up those who dare to fraternize. Parents concerned about the violence in the streets force their children, especially daughters, to remain indoors. Only the bravest go out for dinner, since restaurants are popular targets for suicide bombers. The lovers' lane near the Jadhariya bridge is marked by the burned and twisted remains of two car bombs; a police...
...Sunni family has been very supportive, apparently unconcerned that Terpstra is not a Muslim. "They don't care about her religion," he says. "They are just happy that I have a chance to escape from here." But in Iraq, tolerance has become a rare commodity. Hatred between Iraq's Shi'ites and Sunnis runs so deep that few dare cross the divide and seek partners outside their sect. Jumana Majid, 24, and Abdel-Salaam al-Hilli, 27, both graduate students at Baghdad University, had been involved for three years before he formally asked to marry her. Majid's parents...
...make sure [al-Qaeda] doesn't come back." One could only wonder about the fate of Sunni insurgents who had turned against the jihadis. Soon they would be facing a new foe, an Iraqi army and local police that have been notoriously awful in Diyala province - riddled with Shi'ite death squads, incompetence and corruption. Petraeus' "all in" bet relies on the police recruits squatting sullenly in Yusufia, indulging his cheerleading - "Are you ready to fight for your country?" Certainly, they were ready to fight for their families, their tribes, their mosques ... but for a Shi'ite Iraq? Probably...