“Yazidi women sold for 10 bucks” So, is it “mission accomplished?”

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While president Barack Obama declared U.S. Forces have accomplished their mission to rescue people trapped on Mount Sinjar, a group of Yazidi protested in front of the U.N. on Friday morning. About forty of them gathered in front of the HQ in New York, while a representative was inside meeting officials and asking for help. “IS [Islamic State] is still a great threat to our people,” they cried. They say the U.S. air strikes were not enough and there are at least 3,000 people trapped on top of the mountain. The situation, they claimed, is far from being resolved. United Nations officials agree with them and declared: “The situation is not over.” Many fear for women and children. The first, they claimed, are sold for 10 dollars and the second are being converted to Islam and forced to join the jihad.

“We need military and humanitarian support,” said to me Dakheel Zanadinan while holding a sign with pictures of slaughtered children. He lives in Lincoln, Nebraska, where he works for an NGO. He used to be an interpreter for US Special Forces in Iraq, he worked with them for years. Dakheel drove an entire day just to be here and protest against the U.N. lack of action. “My niece has been captured while escaping from Mount Sinjar,” he continued. She  is 10 years old and he does not know what to wish for her. If still alive, she faces violence and slavery.

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“I want to go back to Iraq and finish the job”

I wrote this article in Italian for The Post Internazionale and you can find it here, an abstract in English below:

“I want to go back and finish the job.” Jake is a 24 years-old veteran and he wants to fight in Iraq. He had been in the army for five years, 13 months of which he had spent in Iraq protecting the Golden Mosque at Samarra. He also trained the Iraqi army. Now he is trying to go back “to protect the people of Iraq and honor the ones [U.S. soldiers] who paid the ultimate sacrifice.” About 4,400 U.S. soldiers lost their lives in the 8-year long war. On June 7 when Jake saw Mosul falling into ISIS hands he immediately tried to re-enlist in the army, but the recruiters did not take him back. “I felt abandoned,” he told me.

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Benedetta Argentieri

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