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They crowd into a disused classroom and tell me how the Islamic State blazed down from the north in mid-June. The villages north of here are Sunni, where many feel oppressed by the Shiite-led government. Some allied with the Sunni militants. Others fought, and fell.
Until those militants reached Dhuluiya.
"Since that time, the fighting started, and everyone from third-grade students to sheikhs took part in it," says Barzan Ahmad, a Jubbouri and a university professor. "Everyone raised their weapons."
He says that after the fighting had been going on for two days, the militants proposed negotiations. So a delegation from the Jubbour tribe went to meet an Islamic State leader.
He ordered the Jubbouri to join them and to kill 30 members of their tribe — army officers and doctors — as punishment for working with the Shiite-dominated government of former Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, which many Sunnis despised.
"They said, 'We came to liberate you from this injustice and oppression caused by Maliki's rule,' " says Ahmed.
The Jubbouris were outraged. Sheikh Mawloud Awad Hassoun says the tribe believes in peaceful co-existence. A lot of them are educated — engineers and lawyers.
"We don't see ourselves as slaughterers," he says. So the tribe declined the offer to join the extremists and began fighting against them again.
In the chaotic hallway of this makeshift hospital, I meet Ahmed Issa, who joined the fight against the extremists — and lost his leg.
"They're criminals," he says. "They're killers. If they enter your house, they are going to kill you."
The war here is often deeply sectarian. The Shiite-led government recruits Shiite militias. Sunni tribes join with the Islamic State. But here, Shiite fighters from Balad, a town across the river, came to help out.
"We've become more than brothers," says Issa. "What hurts them, hurts us, and what hurts us, hurts them."
Fighting together, they pushed the militants back. It helped when Iraqi army helicopters hit some Islamic State positions. But they say they need more help from the government.
We Are Not Slaughterers An Iraqi Village Rejects Islamic Militants NPR
One bright spot, but they need help. Like everyone else fighting ISIS, there isn't enough help.
They crowd into a disused classroom and tell me how the Islamic State blazed down from the north in mid-June. The villages north of here are Sunni, where many feel oppressed by the Shiite-led government. Some allied with the Sunni militants. Others fought, and fell.
Until those militants reached Dhuluiya.
"Since that time, the fighting started, and everyone from third-grade students to sheikhs took part in it," says Barzan Ahmad, a Jubbouri and a university professor. "Everyone raised their weapons."
He says that after the fighting had been going on for two days, the militants proposed negotiations. So a delegation from the Jubbour tribe went to meet an Islamic State leader.
He ordered the Jubbouri to join them and to kill 30 members of their tribe — army officers and doctors — as punishment for working with the Shiite-dominated government of former Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, which many Sunnis despised.
"They said, 'We came to liberate you from this injustice and oppression caused by Maliki's rule,' " says Ahmed.
The Jubbouris were outraged. Sheikh Mawloud Awad Hassoun says the tribe believes in peaceful co-existence. A lot of them are educated — engineers and lawyers.
"We don't see ourselves as slaughterers," he says. So the tribe declined the offer to join the extremists and began fighting against them again.
In the chaotic hallway of this makeshift hospital, I meet Ahmed Issa, who joined the fight against the extremists — and lost his leg.
"They're criminals," he says. "They're killers. If they enter your house, they are going to kill you."
The war here is often deeply sectarian. The Shiite-led government recruits Shiite militias. Sunni tribes join with the Islamic State. But here, Shiite fighters from Balad, a town across the river, came to help out.
"We've become more than brothers," says Issa. "What hurts them, hurts us, and what hurts us, hurts them."
Fighting together, they pushed the militants back. It helped when Iraqi army helicopters hit some Islamic State positions. But they say they need more help from the government.
We Are Not Slaughterers An Iraqi Village Rejects Islamic Militants NPR
One bright spot, but they need help. Like everyone else fighting ISIS, there isn't enough help.
They crowd into a disused classroom and tell me how the Islamic State blazed down from the north in mid-June. The villages north of here are Sunni, where many feel oppressed by the Shiite-led government. Some allied with the Sunni militants. Others fought, and fell.
Until those militants reached Dhuluiya.
"Since that time, the fighting started, and everyone from third-grade students to sheikhs took part in it," says Barzan Ahmad, a Jubbouri and a university professor. "Everyone raised their weapons."
He says that after the fighting had been going on for two days, the militants proposed negotiations. So a delegation from the Jubbour tribe went to meet an Islamic State leader.
He ordered the Jubbouri to join them and to kill 30 members of their tribe — army officers and doctors — as punishment for working with the Shiite-dominated government of former Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, which many Sunnis despised.
"They said, 'We came to liberate you from this injustice and oppression caused by Maliki's rule,' " says Ahmed.
The Jubbouris were outraged. Sheikh Mawloud Awad Hassoun says the tribe believes in peaceful co-existence. A lot of them are educated — engineers and lawyers.
"We don't see ourselves as slaughterers," he says. So the tribe declined the offer to join the extremists and began fighting against them again.
In the chaotic hallway of this makeshift hospital, I meet Ahmed Issa, who joined the fight against the extremists — and lost his leg.
"They're criminals," he says. "They're killers. If they enter your house, they are going to kill you."
The war here is often deeply sectarian. The Shiite-led government recruits Shiite militias. Sunni tribes join with the Islamic State. But here, Shiite fighters from Balad, a town across the river, came to help out.
"We've become more than brothers," says Issa. "What hurts them, hurts us, and what hurts us, hurts them."
Fighting together, they pushed the militants back. It helped when Iraqi army helicopters hit some Islamic State positions. But they say they need more help from the government.
Go help them!
How many IS fighters in Syria and Iraq?anyone who helps any side is the evil KAFFIR enemy of the other side----
any suggestion that ISIS does not have tens of millions of supporters---
is a suggestion from an idiot.
