- BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Umm Muhammad's
green eyes flashed one day recently as she listened to the imam at a rundown
Baghdad mosque preach about how women should be silent and unseen, traveling
only "from the home to the grave."
-
- She knew the edict didn't apply to her; the same imam
had blessed her before battle when she became one of the first female commanders
in rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia.
-
- "Even my husband didn't know I was fighting, or
he pretended not to know," said Umm Muhammad, 34. "He tells me,
'One day you're going to go and never come back.' I tell him I dream of
martyrdom."
-
- The presence of women in the ranks of al-Sadr's militia
is another sign that al-Sadr, who might form a political party, is building
his military capability. His militia has shown itself to be adaptable "
surprising U.S. military commanders with a broad insurrection in April
and continuing to flourish in many areas of Baghdad despite a determined
U.S. effort to crush it.
-
- Now, with a cease-fire and a government ban on militias
in place, al-Sadr's Mahdi Army is relying more on women like Umm Muhammad
" smart, covert and willing to die " to transport guns and gather
intelligence. In traditional flowing garments that are ideal for concealing
firearms and for allowing them to weave through crowds without raising
suspicion, the women are much less likely than blackclad militiamen to
draw the attention of American and Iraqi officials.
-
- At least 150 women in the Mahdi Army are being trained
as suicide bombers, weapons experts and intelligence agents, according
to a dozen female recruits and their male commanders in Baghdad and southern
Shiite holy cities. Hundreds of others are sympathizers, marching through
the streets of Baghdad like an army of black-cloaked wraiths in a stunning
debut in April.
-
- Women fought alongside men during al-Sadr's uprising
against U.S. forces in April, and at least two female guerrillas died in
combat. Their funeral banners proclaimed them "shaheeda," the
feminine form of the Arabic word for martyr.
-
- Sabriya Beqal, a 50-year-old mother of eight, was killed
by U.S. fire last month in June as she was bringing water to the Mahdi
Army fighters camped out in her courtyard, her family said. Her sons and
other militiamen carried her coffin to the cemetery and noted the shock
of passersby who overheard that the fallen fighter was a woman.
-
- "No less than 10 Americans will be killed to avenge
my mother," said Beqal's 25-year-old son, Ahmed. "She was such
an honor for us. All my friends wish their mothers could be martyrs, too.
When we're all dead, we know the women will still be there, fighting."
-
- Shiite clerics and militiamen who once were reluctant
to embrace female fighters now hail their sacrifices. A popular recruiting
video for the Mahdi Army features two veiled women " one wearing a
necklace of hand grenades, the other holding an assault rifle with an ammunition
belt slung across her black robe.
-
- "We will carry out our martyrdom operations against
the pagan American government," one of the women said. "We'll
make this a second Vietnam. We will fight anyone who dares to harm Muqtada
al-Sadr."
-
- Recently a newspaper aligned with al-Sadr ran a front-page
story under the headline, "The Mothers of Mahdi Army." The accompanying
photo showed an elderly woman hitching up her robes as she fired a mortar
round.
-
- "We have a women's suicide brigade," said Sheik
Hassan Athari, the director of an al-Sadr office in Baghdad. "But
for now, our female fighters are just on notice until we give orders. They've
already declared their loyalty to Iraq with everything they possess, even
their lives. When the men see our courageous women holding weapons, they're
even more inspired to fight."
-
- Jihad, or holy war, isn't a religious obligation for
Muslim women, and many Shiite clerics still frown upon women bearing arms.
Women first were excluded from al-Sadr's forces, several women said, but
eventually they won acceptance.
-
- When al-Sadr launched his uprising against U.S. forces
in April, women from Sadr City traveled south to the cities of Najaf and
Kufa to help with supplies. They cooked for the men and bandaged wounds,
consoled widows and took in orphans.
-
- But many itched for action.
-
- "They were supposed to just deliver the weapons,
but they started shooting," recalled a militiaman who goes by the
name Abu Muhammad.
-
- Umm Muhammad, who's now seven months pregnant, received
her own brigade in the early months of her pregnancy and shared the weapons
expertise she calls "the only benefit" reaped from Saddam's regime.
Saddam made gun training mandatory for women during the Iran-Iraq war.
Umm Muhammad " who taught her soldiers how to aim a grenade launcher
through a veil " has since earned the nickname "Lightning Bolt"
from her impressed comrades for her sharp shooting.
-
- She and other women from the Bint al-Huda Brigade formed
a human shield when armored U.S. vehicles rolled into Sadr City to demolish
al-Sadr's office. After the abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib prison, her brigade
sent letters through intermediaries to the U.S. military demanding the
release of all female prisoners. They turned their homes into arsenals
and safe houses for rebels. Some even claimed they joined the fighting
by dressing as men.
-
- Because of the fragile cease-fire between the Mahdi Army
and U.S. military, Umm Muhammad's platoon stopped combat operations and
turned to intelligence work and checkpoint duty at the main mosque in Sadr
City.
-
- On a sweltering Friday last month, Umm Muhammad's soldiers
offered her kisses instead of salutes. They pushed her toward the only
chair in the teeming women's section of the mosque, in deference to her
pregnancy.
-
- The women soaked their veils in ice water to keep their
faces cool as they searched female worshipers at the mosque. They tied
green satin bands around their heads to signal their membership in the
Mahdi Army. They proudly displayed their plastic credentials stamped with
al-Sadr's menacing mug.
-
- Umm Muhammad watched in silence as her brigade confiscated
cell phones and riffled through purses for contraband. Young women rushed
to give her cups of water and ask about her pregnancy. Umm Muhammad smiled
and pulled her robe close to reveal the bulge in her stomach.
-
- "If it's a boy, I'll name him Muqtada," she
said. "But I'm hoping for a girl, so I can train her myself."
|
