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June 4, 2006

Iraq: Muslim Mayonnaise And Talibanization

Two articles from the British press today highlight the growing intolerance of the Muslim "alternative" leaders in Iraq. We rarely cover issues in Iraq as political and military issues are adequately covered by the MSM, and send readers to US Central Command for their accounts of Iraq and Afghanistan.

But today, the Times describes how women are being terrorized by Taliban-style militia in Baghdad, while the Telegraph describes how even Baghdad falafel vendors are threatened with death by the Talibanised Islamists.

The word Taliban is here appropriate. These militia may have no direct links to the "Taliban" of Afghanistan and Pakistan, but their ideology is the same. Many of the leading Taliban of Afghanistan had been educated at the Haqqania madrassa in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province, where a strict form of Sunni ideology, of the Deobandi school is taught.

Deobandi ideology is opposed to women's rights and opposed to symbols of Western modernity. When Afghanistan's Taliban (the name means "students") came to power, they aimed to bring Afghanistan back to the 7th century and the time of the so-called prophet Mohammed. They came to power on September 27 1996 by castrating Afghanistan's president, Mohammad Najibullah, and hanging up his corpse in Kabul as symbol of their victory.

In Baghdad, people sell falafels, which are small snacks, made of chick-peas cooked in breadcrumbs. Yet these vendors are being threatened by militant Islamists whose ideology is identical to that of the Taliban. Two weeks ago, these "Taliban" told sellers of these falafels that they had to pack up by today.

32-year old Abu Zeinab, one vendor in the Sunni neighbourhood of al Dora in Baghdad said: "They came telling us, 'You have 14 days to end this job' and I asked them what was the problem. I said I was just feeding the people, but they said there were no falafels in Mohammed the prophet's time, so we shouldn't have them either. I felt like telling them there were no Kalashnikovs in Mohammed's time either, but I wanted to keep my life."

Zeinab was packing up and said he was not returning. At first few people took the threat seriously, until two falafel vendors were shot dead.

Insurgents are making many demands. There is no real logic for banning falafels, other than that they are also popular in Israel. Even mayonnaise has been banned by recent edicts, as it is said to be made in Israel. Goatee beards have been deemed "Israeli" and are consequently forbidden, and at least one Sunni district has banned cigarettes.

The edicts appeared in leaflets distributed 10 days ago, shortly after three men in a car were shot dead for wearing shorts. The men were the coach of Iraq's tennis team and two tennis players.

The edicts distributed around the Sunni-controlled west of Baghdad also banned women from driving. They stated that women should not travel on public transport at the same time as men, and now bus drivers are enforcing this rule.

Ice is sold traditionally in the region, yet now that too has been placed on the proscription list, as commercial sale of ice did not happen in the life of the paedophile prophet. Barbers have recently received a flood of young men sporting goatee beards coming in to their premises to have these symbols of "the enemy" shaved off.

And for women, these strictures are making life even more unbearable than it already is in a Muslim society.

And the head of Al Qaeda in Iraq has authorized printing of leaflets containing edicts, which have been distributed in Amariya district in Baghdad. He regards this area as one of his Sunni "emirates". His "emir" is Abu Houzeifa. On Friday (2 May) Houzeifa gave a four-hour sermon, in which he listed the terms of the new "rules" including: "Women cannot drive; women cannot go out after midday; women and men are not allowed to go out and walk together, they must walk separately."

Women dare not venture outside without wearing the hijab or Muslim headscarf. Last month, when two teenage girls in Amariya district were not wearing hijabs, they were abducted from the al-Amal al-Shahbi street. Several hours later the reappeared, with their heads shaved. Following that incident, the militants ordered that any woman caught on a street without head covering would be killed.

Even under Saddam Hussein, women in Iraq were free to dress well in Western style, and many women were educated and had professions. Now the tide has turned, and the Times describes how she attempted to return to her job as a computer network administrator.

She said: "My former manager said females weren't welcome and told me, in not so many words, to 'go home'. There was a hostility I couldn't believe."

She has to ask two male relatives to accompany her when she ventures out. She says of today's climate of oppression: "It feels like we've gone back 50 years."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at June 4, 2006 9:13 AM

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Posted by: WatchfulEye at June 4, 2006 11:09 AM

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