Unpaid for months, women responsible for scaring off Iraq’s female suicide bombers are trying to afford necessities of life for their families while keeping vigilant watch at their checkpoints.
“They keep promising they’ll pay us next month, then next month,” Hind Jasim, who joined the women-only force after her husband lost his job, told The New York Times on Monday, February 28.
“What keeps us here are their promises.”
The teams of women, known as the Daughters of Iraq, are charged of frisking women and girls at police checkpoints and lobbies of government offices in search of telltale lump of a gun or an explosive belt.Iraqi authorities say the searches have helped curb attacks by female bombers.
There was only one attack by female suicide in 2010, compared to four in 2009 and 38 in 2008.There has been no reported female suicide attack this year.But the financial crisis biting Iraq has left many of the female guards, many of whom are widows or their family’s only breadwinners, unpaid for nearly a year.
Some of the 300 women in the force quit after their $250 monthly pay dried up since the Iraqi government took over the program from the United States military, which helped establish and finance the program in 2008.
“We’ve fallen into debt, lots of debt,” said Zahara Abdullah, 34, who frisks women as they enter Diyala’s Ministry of Youth.Some have sold their jewelry and furniture, or left their homes to move in with family members.Abdullah’s husband is unemployed, leaving her the only breadwinner of her family.
But since the monthly checks stopped, they have given up doctor’s visits.As she worked, her 5-year-old son collected handfuls of grass and clover to feed the rabbits and chickens the family raises in the backyard.“We are just buying the necessities to keep us alive.”
Survival
Some the female guards are, however, reluctant to leave the force as it is the only source of income for their families.“Joining the Banat al-Iraq was the only way to survive,” Akbal Abed Rashid, 45, said, using the group’s Arabic name.
Rashid joined the Daughters out of necessity after her husband, an Iraqi soldier, and her 17-year-old son were killed separately by militants in 2006.Now, she alone had to care for her four daughters and two young sons.“Nobody sees how much we have sacrificed, how much trouble we have supporting our families.”
A spokesman for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki blamed “technical reasons” for the lapse in payments, saying that the government was committed to financing the Daughters and integrating them into a branch of the security services.“They are doing a job that cannot be done by their brothers in security,” said the spokesman, Ali al-Moussawi.
“Their work is respected and appreciated by all.”
For Abistam Aboud, 37, she joined the force to protect Iraqis after she watched militants storming her house to shoot down her husband.“I could protect other people, which I couldn’t do for my husband,” she said.“This is what I put in front of my eyes.”
Wijdan Adil, who helped found the Daughters, said Iraqi officials had encouraged the women to keep working as a matter of duty to Iraq and their slain husbands, even as some sank into debt and became disillusioned with the government.
“If you give up on the Daughters of Iraq, there will be a security vacuum in Diyala,” Adil said.“They’ll be an easy target for Al Qaeda,” she said, referring to the Daughters.
OnIslam & Newspapers
“They keep promising they’ll pay us next month, then next month,” Hind Jasim, who joined the women-only force after her husband lost his job, told The New York Times on Monday, February 28.
“What keeps us here are their promises.”
The teams of women, known as the Daughters of Iraq, are charged of frisking women and girls at police checkpoints and lobbies of government offices in search of telltale lump of a gun or an explosive belt.Iraqi authorities say the searches have helped curb attacks by female bombers.
There was only one attack by female suicide in 2010, compared to four in 2009 and 38 in 2008.There has been no reported female suicide attack this year.But the financial crisis biting Iraq has left many of the female guards, many of whom are widows or their family’s only breadwinners, unpaid for nearly a year.
Some of the 300 women in the force quit after their $250 monthly pay dried up since the Iraqi government took over the program from the United States military, which helped establish and finance the program in 2008.
“We’ve fallen into debt, lots of debt,” said Zahara Abdullah, 34, who frisks women as they enter Diyala’s Ministry of Youth.Some have sold their jewelry and furniture, or left their homes to move in with family members.Abdullah’s husband is unemployed, leaving her the only breadwinner of her family.
But since the monthly checks stopped, they have given up doctor’s visits.As she worked, her 5-year-old son collected handfuls of grass and clover to feed the rabbits and chickens the family raises in the backyard.“We are just buying the necessities to keep us alive.”
Survival
Some the female guards are, however, reluctant to leave the force as it is the only source of income for their families.“Joining the Banat al-Iraq was the only way to survive,” Akbal Abed Rashid, 45, said, using the group’s Arabic name.
Rashid joined the Daughters out of necessity after her husband, an Iraqi soldier, and her 17-year-old son were killed separately by militants in 2006.Now, she alone had to care for her four daughters and two young sons.“Nobody sees how much we have sacrificed, how much trouble we have supporting our families.”
A spokesman for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki blamed “technical reasons” for the lapse in payments, saying that the government was committed to financing the Daughters and integrating them into a branch of the security services.“They are doing a job that cannot be done by their brothers in security,” said the spokesman, Ali al-Moussawi.
“Their work is respected and appreciated by all.”
For Abistam Aboud, 37, she joined the force to protect Iraqis after she watched militants storming her house to shoot down her husband.“I could protect other people, which I couldn’t do for my husband,” she said.“This is what I put in front of my eyes.”
Wijdan Adil, who helped found the Daughters, said Iraqi officials had encouraged the women to keep working as a matter of duty to Iraq and their slain husbands, even as some sank into debt and became disillusioned with the government.
“If you give up on the Daughters of Iraq, there will be a security vacuum in Diyala,” Adil said.“They’ll be an easy target for Al Qaeda,” she said, referring to the Daughters.
OnIslam & Newspapers
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