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| | In the Red Zone |
 | | Again and again, I've heard similar sentiments from Basra's intellectual class: the "turbans" who are imposing their Islamic beliefs on the city--often at the barrel of an AK--are not Basrawi, they are an aberration, a glitch in the city's history, a "transitional" phase from 35 years of Saddam's tyranny to a truly democratic future. |
 | | It is dangerous--possibly fatal--to express these thoughts too forcibly in public, but they exist on the minds, lips, tongues and soon the voting fingertips of thousands of Basrans come the next round of elections this December. |
 | | These are the unwritten, unlegislated and unchallengeable "social" and "religious" norms that have an iron grip on the city. |
| www.redzoneblog.com (6534 words) |
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