BAGHDAD — Police cars have been repainted to say “Islamic police.” Women are forbidden from wearing bright colors and prints. The homes of Shiites and others have signs stating they are property of the Islamic State. And everyone walks in fear amid a new reign of terror.
That’s what life is like in Mosul, Tikrit and other cities in northern and western Iraq under the control of Islamic extremists after their lightning-fast military campaign that overwhelmed the Iraqi army in June.
The new normal for these residents means daily decrees about attire and raids to root out religious minorities in a campaign to impose strict Islamic rule in cities that tolerated multiple religions for centuries.
Residents chafe at the radical changes, and some are starting to rebel against the militants as they try to “cleanse” the region of anything — and anyone — deemed non-Islamic. As many Christians in Mosul have discovered, their only choice is fleeing.
2 Comments. Leave new
Was this nation better off not going to war with Iraq a second time when the Bush administration was telling us abut weapons of mass destruction, and what did Washington, DC find???
Was the church of Christ in Iraq better off when there was no second invasion on the premise of WOMD?? Is Iraq better of now with no USA presence protecting the church of Christ???
Like the old saying goes, if you break it, you own it, and wow we own this one!