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From London to Iraq - the latest recruits to the Mahdi army
The two young men sitting cross-legged in a small room off the courtyard of the Imam Ali shrine looked like any of the fighters around them. Their beards were short and neat, their feet bare and their dress the simple dishdasha, the Arab robe. They were deferential to their militia commander and spoke idealistically of defeating the military might of America in Iraq's holy city of Najaf. But both were from London, the first Though the two men were born in Iraq - one in Najaf, the other in Baghdad - their families took them to England as children. They went to school and college in the capital, picked up strong London accents and British passports and finally returned to the country of their birth for the first time on Monday. Their sole aim: to fight a "jihad" with a ragtag Shia militia loyal to the young cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. The Mahdi army and its allies have staged violent uprisings across south ern Iraq and are now battling the US and British armies and the Baghdad government. Neither would give his name, but the elder, a confident 23-year-old, used the nomme de guerre Abu Haqid (father of fury). He said he had studied English and worked in a supermarket. The younger, quieter man - his 21-year-old nephew -called himself Abu Turab (father of dust, the connotation of death). He had been studying to be a computer teacher. The pair had travelled secretly into Iraq in the past few days, via a "not legit" route, according to Abu Haqid. They had talked to others in London about coming out to fight. "Some said they would wait and see what happens to us," he said. "We told them 'our brothers are fighting down there, they are not eating well, they are not sleeping well, we have to be in the same place as them, the same position as them'." They had the support of their families, Abu Haqid added: "It is our religion and our families can't stop this thing. We all have a belief, me and my family, when it comes to jihad. We asked our families and they said yes. It is good to protect your country and be there with your brothers." Posted by: tipper 2004-08-11 |
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