Residents of Basra have begun telling stories of militia massacres
Mom says one son was killed for drinking alcohol, two others slain for their car
Authorities: Man admits to killed 15 girls, including one 9 year old
Dad in park says, "It's the first time that we have dared to come here in two years"
By Arwa Damon
CNN
BASRA, Iraq (CNN) -- The man, blindfolded and handcuffed, crouches in the corner of the detention center while an Iraqi soldier grills him about rampant crimes being carried out by gangs in the southern city of Basra.
"How many girls did you kill and rape?" the soldier asks.
"I raped one, sir," the man responds.
"What was her name?"
"Ahlam," he says.
Ahlam was a university student in the predominantly Shiite city of Basra. The detainee said the gang he was in kidnapped her as she was leaving the university, heading home.
"They forced me, and I killed her with a machine gun, sir," he says.
The suspect, who is unshaven and appears to be in his 20s or 30s, was arrested by Iraq security forces after they retook most of Basra in April.
CNN was shown what authorities say was his first confession. On it are the names of 15 girls whom he admitted kidnapping, raping and killing. The youngest girl on the list was just 9 years old.
Basra turned into a battleground between warring Shiite factions vying for control of the country's oil-rich south after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Basra's streets teemed with Shiite militias armed with weapons, mostly from Iran, according to the Iraqi forces and the U.S. military. Watch a mom describe her three sons killed »
For four years after the invasion, Basra was under the control of British forces, but they were unable to contain the violence and withdrew in September last year.
Women bore the brunt of the militias' extremist ideologies. The militants spray-painted threats on walls across Basra, warning women to wear headscarves and not to wear make-up. Women were sometimes executed for the vague charge of doing something "un-Islamic."
In the wasteland on the outskirts of Basra, dotted with rundown homes, the stench of death mixes with the sewage. Local residents told the Iraqi Army that executions often take place in the area, particularly for women, sometimes killed for something as seemingly inocuous as wearing jeans.
Militias implemented their own laws with abandon, threatening stores for displaying mannequins with bare shoulders or for selling Western music. Many store owners are still too frightened to speak publicly.
But the horrors of militia rule are now surfacing as some residents begin to feel more comfortable speaking out.
Inside her rundown home, Sabriya's watery eyes peer out from under her robe. She points to the first photo of one of her sons on the wall.
"This one was killed because he was drinking," she says.
She draws her finger across her neck and gestures at the next photo.
"This one was slaughtered for his car."
"This one the same," she adds, looking at the third.
Her three sons, her daughter and her sister were all killed by the hard-line militia. Her sister was slaughtered because she was a single woman living alone, Sabriya says.
"They came in at night and put a pillow on her face and shot her in the head," she says.
Sabriya lives on what was once dubbed "murder street" for the daily killings that happened there last year.
On the day CNN visited, dozens of young men sat where there used to be piles of bodies. Sheik Maktouf al-Maraiyani shudders at the memory.
"Every day, we would find 10 or 15 of our men killed," he says, adding sorrowfully "one of them was my son." His son was 25 years old.
Now, "murder street" is part of a citywide effort to get Basra back on its feet. In a project funded by U.S. forces, Sheikh Maktouf and others are being paid $20 a day and upwards to clean up trash. Watch the transformation of 'murder street' »
Basra may be part of the country's oil rich south, but it wallows in its own sewage and trash. The stench of filth is impossible to escape. The effort also helps with the massive unemployment plaguing the city.
British forces officially handed over responsibility of Basra to Iraqi forces in December.
"The situation was so bad because the security forces were controlled by the militias," says Brig. Gen. Aziz al-Swady, who commands the 14th Iraq Army Divison.
To help curb the violence, British troops have returned to the city, adopting the U.S. approach of embedding with Iraqi units as advisers. The Iraqi prime minister also has flooded the city with additional troops, bringing in soldiers from western Iraq along with their American advisers.
"Now the citizens have started to trust the Iraqi security forces," said al-Swady.
The biggest difference is that residents are starting to leave their homes -- something unthinkable just a few months ago. At one of the parks in the city this past weekend, a father named Al'aa was out with his three young children and his wife.
"It's the first time that we have dared to come here in two years," he said.
The park was once often used for executions.
Everyone, residents and soldiers alike, knows the battle for Basra is not over. Militias still lurk in the shadows, and the security gains may not last without economic gains.
"The most important thing, our government must focus on finding jobs, different jobs for these people," says Maj. Gen. Tariq al-Azawi.
CNN sucks, half the stuff they say are full of lies and are racist. No one believes them....even americans here!
CNN, Channel 5, BBC , all lies. they all suck at life and have nothing better to do than this.
Who can actually read there news?
Aljazeera is the ghetto truth man!
Basra had enormous garbage dumps dotted in and around it. The kids had to pick over it for scraps. Saddam had slaughtered them in 1993 as punishment for rebelling against him. He simply left them to die. You couldnt get treated in hospital unless you had a party card.
Ten years of this left the city in a sorry state. We rolled up with a food convoy and the men were dragging the women away by their hair to get to the front of the que. A ten year old had a box of rations and he was stabbed as he ran off with it.
Iraq is so sad, I hope the corner really has turned now and their nightmare can begin to end. As long as Iran and the rest of her "Brothers" keep feeding explosives and death into the country theres little hope.
Recent reports following the Mahdi Armys defeat in Basra by the IAF were that it feels safer now, but for how long?
Occupation: The term of control of a territory by foreign military forces: Iraq 2003-2005 Liberation:when something or someone is freed: Operation Telic 2003
CNN sucks, half the stuff they say are full of lies and are racist. No one believes them....even americans here!
CNN, Channel 5, BBC , all lies. they all suck at life and have nothing better to do than this.
Who can actually read there news?
Aljazeera is the ghetto truth man!
It would be wonderful if this was propaganda.
Dismissing any media that shows real people telling their real stories wont bring back the dead.
Occupation: The term of control of a territory by foreign military forces: Iraq 2003-2005 Liberation:when something or someone is freed: Operation Telic 2003
This is ever disturbing and disgusting to say the least. Fellow Muslims killing other Muslims so discriminatorily. It can’t get any uglier than that.
Nobody gave these militias the right to kill others, and they certainly aren’t in a position to kill others for their sins.
Is this the religious ignorance that the prophet (PBUH) warned us about.
“All nations shall come together and be allied against the Muslims. Nothing of Islam will remain except its name, and nothing of the Koran will be there except its letters. Religious knowledge will decrease because of the death of religious learned men, and religious ignorance will prevail.”
70:28 Lo! the doom of their Lord is that before which none can feel secure
^^Sounds like it sis. I would think something like this falls into that category. Allahu Alam
It just harms Muslims. Such behavior is broadcasted in western nations and around the globe continuously by Western media to illustrate the dehumanization of Muslims and to degrade Islam. They take advantage of it, and it is Muslims who are giving them this opportunity.
Muslims need to just stop for a second, educate ourselves, and then think, and then educate ourselves, and then think again, and then educate ourselves again, and then maybe make a final decisions.
We seriously need to start correcting ourselves first, then maybe others.
Allah Knows Best.
70:28 Lo! the doom of their Lord is that before which none can feel secure
^^ I totally agree with you sister =[ We are "in" right now. So whenever a Muslim takes some ignorant step, our Islam has to be labeled and bashed. It stanks!
*Without Allah, without Islam, life would be meaningless. If I've ever learned patience, it's because of this. Alhamdulillah...*
^^ I totally agree with you sister =[ We are "in" right now. So whenever a Muslim takes some ignorant step, our Islam has to be labeled and bashed. It stanks!
Definitely, and we have to repeat ourselves over and over again. Such actions and behaviors aren’t Islamic.
How do we correct our fellow brothers and sisters around the globe and at the same time refute the lies that are being propagated against Islam by the West intentionally? It is a hard task. Prayer is all I can do to be honest.
Technology has helped us globalize things faster and cheaper. Today there is so much negativity attached to Islam because of the images which are vastly being broadcasted everyday around the world.
Islam is not being damaged, but the Muslim terrorist image is used to demonize Islam.
Allah Knows Best
70:28 Lo! the doom of their Lord is that before which none can feel secure
CNN sucks, half the stuff they say are full of lies and are racist. No one believes them....even americans here!
CNN, Channel 5, BBC , all lies. they all suck at life and have nothing better to do than this.
Who can actually read there news?
Aljazeera is the ghetto truth man!
Having family in Iraq I can say this type of thing is pretty normal. Being Sunni my family wouldn't be in Basra but things like this have happened all over Iraq. I've already spoken about what happened with my cousins and would not like to rehash it.
This is really saddening to hear. My only comfort is my hope that God will punish these horrible people when the time comes... Rape, murder... I really habe lost faith in us humans. How can we go around killing each other like this? A 9 year old girl! For Pete's sake! What is wrong with people? What is wrong with us?
Definitely, and we have to repeat ourselves over and over again. Such actions and behaviors aren’t Islamic.
How do we correct our fellow brothers and sisters around the globe and at the same time refute the lies that are being propagated against Islam by the West intentionally? It is a hard task. Prayer is all I can do to be honest.
Technology has helped us globalize things faster and cheaper. Today there is so much negativity attached to Islam because of the images which are vastly being broadcasted everyday around the world.
Islam is not being damaged, but the Muslim terrorist image is used to demonize Islam.
Allah Knows Best
Not really.
I mean it's not just the cause of the present media, it goes back to Pope Urban II and the Crusaids:unhappy:
That said, Muslims have to work harder at letting the West know you don't condone this.
I don't think that's fair, I mean I come from Irish and Catholic family and I never had to denoune the IRA, but fair or not it's what needs to be done.
CNN sucks, half the stuff they say are full of lies and are racist. No one believes them....even americans here!
CNN, Channel 5, BBC , all lies. they all suck at life and have nothing better to do than this.
Who can actually read there news?
Aljazeera is the ghetto truth man!
the people who don't beleive CNN are largely conservatives because they feel they are to liberal, the atrocities of Iraqi militants are well documented, not just by cooporate media, but NGO's as well.
Having family in Iraq I can say this type of thing is pretty normal. Being Sunni my family wouldn't be in Basra but things like this have happened all over Iraq. I've already spoken about what happened with my cousins and would not like to rehash it.
r u a muslim?
i kno this thing is happening in iraq, we just shouldnt learn about it thru cnn...or bbc...or channel 5 freakin racists there!
I don't think that's fair, I mean I come from Irish and Catholic family and I never had to denoune the IRA,
That sir, is simply because you never saw the faces of their dead victims or the fear of the people on the street.
Occupation: The term of control of a territory by foreign military forces: Iraq 2003-2005 Liberation:when something or someone is freed: Operation Telic 2003
Definitely, and we have to repeat ourselves over and over again. Such actions and behaviors aren’t Islamic.
How do we correct our fellow brothers and sisters around the globe and at the same time refute the lies that are being propagated against Islam by the West intentionally? It is a hard task. Prayer is all I can do to be honest.
Technology has helped us globalize things faster and cheaper. Today there is so much negativity attached to Islam because of the images which are vastly being broadcasted everyday around the world.
Islam is not being damaged, but the Muslim terrorist image is used to demonize Islam.
Allah Knows Best
You said: "Islam is not being damaged, but the Muslim terrorist image is used to demonize Islam".
Rather the Muslim terrorist image is used to demonize MUSLIMS not Islam. You can't demonize a religion - its not a tangible thing. Further, Allah says in an ayat in the Quran (just quoting the section I know - not including any end/start bits - but the meaning is clear and simple): "...this day I have perfected for you your religion...".
Islam is PERFECT as perfected by Allah. Therefore you can't get an x, y, z type of Islam - just the one Islam. You can't have a 'terrorised Islam'. But of course state terrorism does exactly that to many Muslims worldwide.
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freakin racists there!
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