Iranians Everywhere

YUSUFIYA–I looked out of my car and there were Iranians everywhere.

You could hear them speaking Persian and see their distinctive clothing: dozens of women were wearing the special kind of abaya which we call the chador and is worn by no one except Iranian women.

I was startled to see Iranians - Persian Shiites - walking around the Sunni Triangle of Death, the area south of Baghdad which was once under the control of Sunni killers, kidnappers and bandits.


I looked around for their bodyguards, but there was no one. These were pilgrims heading to Karbala for the Arbaeen, the religious commemoration of the death and beheading of Imam Hussein – the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad – at the hands of the Damascus-based Caliph Yazid in A.D. 680. It was one of the first milestones in what was to become the schism between Sunnis and Shiites – those who followed Hussein and his father Ali.

Yusufiya is a town near the main highway which you must pass through if you are heading south from Baghdad to Karbala, where Hussein is buried. Most of the people who live in Yusufiya are Sunnis.

But the only thing that seemed to worry the Iranians was the huge traffic jam, in which cars could not move more than 10 meters every 5 minutes. Everyone was complaining, angry and hating themselves for getting stuck in such traffic. Everything was terrible including the weather that was hot, dusty and stormy.

Around me were dozens of buses filled with pilgrims, sitting on the ground in small groups. I felt worried about them. I asked myself what would happen if any one noticed them. I did not need much time to realize that all the Iraqi drivers, people and Iraqi soldiers who were securing the area were ignoring them, and no one tried to bother them.

I did not know if that was a nightmare or a good thing. Iranians can come to Iraq any time, which means we could face many troubles in future. But it also means the security forces have succeeded in controlling this area.

I have found this myself. Only a year ago no Shiites could dream of driving through back streets from these southern districts of Baghdad into the city center. There are many back ways through southern Baghdad but they all go through heavily Sunni areas. It would have been suicide for them during the worst of the violence.

Now they drive on these roads without problems.

The question is can they do it because the Iraqi people have changed, and Shiites and Sunnis now have nothing to fear from their neighbors. Or is it only because the security forces have tight control. I think it is because the people have changed, they are tired of violence and bleeding.

I think this, because I am tired.
Baghdad Bureau