Young Iraqis volunteer to fight surging militants
Source: AP-EXCITE
By HAMZA HENDAWI and SAMEER N. YACOUB
BAGHDAD (AP) Hundreds of young Iraqi men gripped by religious and nationalistic fervor streamed into volunteer centers Saturday across Baghdad, answering a call by the country's top Shiite cleric to join the fight against Sunni militants advancing in the north.
Dozens climbed into the back of army trucks, chanting Shiite slogans and hoisting assault rifles, pledging to battle the Sunni group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which has launched a lightning advance across the country.
"By God's will, we will be victorious." said one volunteer, Ali Saleh Aziz. "We will not be stopped by the ISIL or any other terrorists."
The massive response to the call by the Iranian-born Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, issued via his representative Friday, comes as sectarian tensions are threatening to push the country back toward civil war in the worst crisis since U.S. forces withdrew at the end of 2011.
FULL story at link.
Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20140614/ml--iraq-44fb65746d.html
Iraqi men flash victory signs as they leave the main recruiting center to join the Iraqi army in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, June. 14, 2014, after authorities urged Iraqis to help battle insurgents. Hundreds of young Iraqi men gripped by religious and nationalistic fervor streamed into volunteer centers across Baghdad Saturday, answering a call by the country's top Shiite cleric to join the fight against Sunni militants advancing in the north. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
Shemp Howard
(889 posts)No doubt that the Sunni ISIL are the bad guys here. But this will break along religious lines, not national lines.
Yey another tragic unintended consequence of Bush II's foolishness.
hollowdweller
(4,229 posts)Pretty much what it comes down to don't you think?
penndragon69
(788 posts)Is it any big surprise that now that the "INVADERS" are gone
they are now back at each others throats.
The only way this area ever sees any kind of peace is when they are fighting
an Invading/occupying army or they are being crushed under the heals of a mad tyrant
like Saddam Hussein.
This shit will NEVER end in Iraq, we should leave it alone.