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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Iraqi women training for paramilitary force |
| 2004-05-23 |
| The first time the women at the paramilitary training camp here went for shooting practice most were nervous, some started crying and others did not want to pick up the guns. Nearly four weeks later, Shemaa Jasem, 22, held up her paper target showing three small holes near the bullseye, and was disgusted. âBad shooting today,â she said. These are some of the women that the United States hopes will help to take over the security of Iraq once the US troops finally depart, with some expected to join the Iraqi Civil Defence Corps (ICDC), the countryâs US-trained paramilitary force. The 17 women shooting are all employees at the camp, jobs that come with some risk since sections of Iraqi society view them as American collaborators who make a softer target than the heavily armed US troops. Having been told to undergo basic weaponry and first aid training following a series of mortar attacks on the base at Amiriyah, west of Baghdad, some of the women now plan to join the ICDC. They will be employed at checkpoints and search women suspects during raids on homes. Where the mood was once fraught, it has become jovial. While two were shooting on Saturday on the range at this base west of Baghdad, the others sat on the ground chatting cheerfully, throwing pebbles at the pair wearing the hard hats waiting next in line to shoot. To pass the shooting section of training, the women had to get two out of seven shots on the piece of paper printed with a bullseye. Many came back from the wooden boards at the end of the range waving their target papers in triumph as they returned to join their colleagues. âIf they get it in the middle, it means they are expert. If they hit the paper thatâs okay, it still means they can kill somebody,â said Staff Sergeant Walter Challapa, of the US 1st Cavalry Division, their trainer on the range. Some of the womenâs husbands did not know they were wearing an ICDC uniform during the day, which was stashed inside the base before they left for home, but Challapa said the mood was changing. Jasem, a former factory worker from Baghdad whose sister Sondas, 33, was also going through training, said she was proud of what she was doing. âThis is a good thing for my country, going against the terrorists and the bad guys,â she said. âMy mother and father are very happy. I want to join the American army one day. Wherever I go I tell people that I work for the ICDC and the coalition forces.â Aeman Ali, 28 â not her real name because of fears of reprisals said the training had empowered women repressed in Iraqi society. âI wanted to do the best for my country, thatâs all. Before I just used to do the cleaning,â said Ali, a married mother of four daughters. âWe feel that this gives us (women) a kind of courage that we didnât have before. I have chosen to stay here. My husbandâs fine, but I have to work at home every morning at 5am.â Challapa said it was the first group of women he had trained in Iraq and that he had seen their confidence grow. âBefore the men were in charge of everything,â he said. âThis is a new generation and they canât go back.â |
| Posted by:TS(vice girl) |
| #3 I love it. You want empowerment? Teach a woman how and when to use a firearm. Plus it has the added benefit of pissing off the hardliners and islamists. I hope that lady is able to join our Army; she'll be an asset. Note to all who think non-Israeli Middle Eastern women can't do this: remember who Qadaffi uses as his personal bodyguards. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-05-23 8:42:25 PM |
| #2 Then, export the training to the young female population of Pakistan and Afghanistan. And the maids in Saudi Arabia. |
| Posted by: Eric Jablow 2004-05-23 8:42:05 PM |
| #1 Nice. Let's show 'em how tough the opposite sex really can be. This should get the mullahs uptight . . . |
| Posted by: The Doctor 2004-05-23 8:29:26 PM |