Army women defy insurgents, taboo

BAGHDAD â?? When Sondos' sister was murdered by insurgents for working with the Iraqi army, the 30-year-old exacted her revenge: She signed up for the military.

Iraqi women soldiers salute during their graduation ceremony in Baghdad. The army is actively recruiting women, despite cultural opposition.
AFP/Getty Images

"We can't walk the streets anymore. When you sleep, you know you're not safe," she says. "I have four kids. That's not the life I want for them."

Sondos is part of a class of 29 female recruits who recently completed the Iraqi army basic training course at Camp Justice in Baghdad, home to the Iraqi army's 1st Brigade, 6th Division.

The women â?? mothers, widows, divorcees and housewives â?? have joined the army despite death threats by insurgents and cultural taboos discouraging Muslim women from joining the military.

Sondos asked to be identified only by her first name to avoid reprisals by family, neighbors and insurgents.

Although female soldiers have previously completed the two-week course and joined the army, Saturday's graduating group was the first all-female class of recruits trained by female trainers on an Iraqi-run base.

Smaller groups of women have trained in Jordan and held military police jobs.

The new training reflects a growing role for women in Iraq's armed forces.

"The Iraqi army is actively recruiting women," said Lt. Col. Fred Wellman, spokesman for Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in charge of equipping and training Iraqi security forces. "They need them. There are certain jobs absolutely necessary to women." (Related story: U.S. women in Iraq)

The Khawla Bint al-Azwar Class â?? named after a female warrior in the time of the prophet Mohammed who disguised herself as a man to fight in Muslim wars â?? will join 120 other female soldiers attached to different units at the 1st Brigade.

They represent a small step toward the future look of the Iraqi army, says Brig. Gen. Jaleel Khalaf, commander of the 1st Brigade and top commander of Iraqi troops in Baghdad.

The women will take on a number of roles, including administrative, medical and public affairs duties, he says.

They'll also go on combat missions, particularly cordon-and-searches, where they'll search females in suspected insurgents' homes. And they'll interrogate and look after female suspects in the brigade detainee facility.

Like U.S. forces, the Iraqi army generally bans women from combat units such as infantry and artillery.

But in Iraq, there are no front lines, and female troops are often in harm's way.

They earn the same starting salaries as male soldiers, about $330 a month.

"This is the reality: We need female soldiers," Khalaf says. "If I have a female prisoner, what do I do? If I have to search a female and can't do it with a male, it'll be a catastrophe."

Under a broiling morning sun recently, the women lined up and saluted as Khalaf read their names and handed out certificates. Nearly all the women's faces were shielded by handkerchiefs to avoid their images being broadcast by the local media.

The U.S. Army's 256th Brigade Combat Team, which advises the Iraqis, sent a contingent of female soldiers to the ceremony in a show of support.

After the ceremony, the U.S. soldiers congratulated their counterparts and snapped pictures together.

"This is a huge step," said 1st Lt. Taysha Deaton, a public affairs officer with the 256th Brigade Combat Team. "How many years did it take us to reach this level?"

Under Saddam Hussein's regime, women had a smaller role in the military, mostly relegated to the medical corps or administrative positions in the Defense Ministry.

Female soldiers joined the Iraqi army as early as 2003, shortly after the collapse of the regime. In July 2003, under the guidance of the Coalition Provisional Authority, the Iraqi military hired the first squad of 20 female soldiers, says Lt. Col. Waleed Majeed, an early Iraqi recruiter.

"Some of them died, some of them quit, some of them transferred out because the Iraqi officials didn't treat them very well," he says.

Khalaf says Iraq's Shiite-dominated government has been reluctant to recruit large numbers of female soldiers. The Defense Ministry tried to ban females from joining the army, Khalaf says.

Female recruits were turned away at recruiting stations, which are run by the ministry, he says. And the ministry imposed a 9 a.m.-3 p.m. curfew on females on bases, he says.

"They're really trying to stop these women from joining my brigade," he says. "If I had the power of hiring, I'd have a female battalion."

A Defense Ministry spokesman denies allegations that officials are discouraging female participation in the army.

The curfew was mandated "for the bad security situation and because we do not have places to keep women at night and because there is no need for their staying for a long time," spokesman Maj. Salih Sarhan says.

U.S. Central Command declined to comment on Defense Ministry policies.

Sondos, the recent graduate, says her neighbors and some relatives have stopped speaking to her since she joined the army. She plans to stick with the military regardless of any resistance â?? from relatives, colleagues or insurgents.

She's been assigned to administrative duties but hopes to be involved in cordon-and-search missions soon, she says.

"I want to fight alongside the men," she says. "I want to fight against the terrorists who are taking over my country."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/i...aq-women_x.htm

Womens rights is already moving along in the new Iraq! :D I'll bet even the Sunni women voted yes on the constitution....of course they didn't let the ol' man know that though!!!