• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • AMERICAN DEMOCRACY
  • WORLD DEMOCRACY
  • POLITICAL ART
  • more
    • election technology
    • money politics
    • political dissidents
    • THIRD PARTY
      • third party central
      • green party
      • justice party
      • libertarian party
    • voting methods
  • DC INFO
    • author central
    • about
    • advertise with DC
    • contact
    • privacy policy

Democracy Chronicles

Kids’ Rescuer Seeks to End Cycle of Hatred in Iraq’s Mosul

by DC Editors - December 28, 2018

FacebookTweetLinkedInPin

Kids' Rescuer Seeks to End Cycle of IS Hatred in Iraq

From Voice of America

Sukaina Mohammed Ali put her own life at risk during the military campaign to liberate Mosul, Iraq, in 2017, rescuing children left wandering the streets after they were separated from their families by the fierce fighting between U.S.-backed Iraqi forces and Islamic State (IS) militants.

Since then, Ali has made it her mission to save these abandoned children to help them overcome the trauma and horror of war.

Thousands of children have been traumatized by war, but Ali believes she is making a difference by providing some of these children with the opportunity to rebuild their lives.

Some of the children she rescues, however, have IS parents, she said.

“I have a message to deliver to IS and to their supporters: You took our children to use them as soldiers, as slaves; you turned them into extremists, slaughtered our sons and daughters. Today, I take your children to care for them, to teach them how to be children again, because Islam is not what extremist groups like IS and AQ [al-Qaida] represent,” Ali told VOA.

Through her work, she has risked her life and reputation, Ali said. She said she also had faced backlash by helping IS children. But she said she was passionate about wanting to erase the traces of hatred and despair that IS has left behind in her country.

“People ask me: ‘Why are you doing this? Let their children suffer as they made our children suffer.’ But these children didn’t choose to be born to an IS parent, and we should not do what IS did to us. Otherwise, how we will be different?” Ali said.

Ali, who also is the director of the Department of Women and Children in Iraq’s northern Nineveh province, fled Mosul in 2014, when IS took over the city and announced the establishment of its so-called caliphate.

IS militants took over Ali’s house and turned it into one of its headquarters.

In November 2016, U.S.-backed Iraqi forces began the operation to liberate Mosul from IS militants, and the ensuing military campaign was fierce and deadly, as IS fortified its positions. Hundreds of thousands of civilians were caught in the crossfire, andIS used civilians as human shields.

“This is the most significant urban combat to take place since World War II,” Stephen Townsend, the top coalition commander, said in March 2017 during the Mosul operation.

How it began

When she returned in 2017, Ali initially used her own house and nearby houses, whose owners believed in Ali’s cause, to accommodate the abandoned children.

Later, with the help of private donations, she opened an orphanage, which continues to operate on private donations.

She currently cares for about 55 children, but the number varies.

Ali’s orphanage has welcomed many children, including Yazidi children who were held captive by IS; abandoned children in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in Iraq; and infants abandoned by their parents.

“We care for children whose parents are unknown. We found newborns on the streets, at a mosque’s door, in a building’s entrance and in a dumpster,” Ali said.

Social media

Ali has used social media to try to find family members of the abandoned children, but some have criticized her for helping the children of suspected IS militants. She said she was advised to leave the children on the street.

“The children of Mosul, whether from IS parents or not, are innocent. Some of these orphans have disabilities,” Ali replied.

Watch the video, “Children of Terror Left Behind in Iraq”, here:

There is widespread hatred for IS and those associated with the terror group because of the atrocities the group has committed against people in both Iraq and Syria.

Since the terror group’s defeat in Mosul in 2017, hundreds of families who have connections to IS have returned to the city in hopes of rebuilding their lives. But the stigma of being related to IS fighters continues to haunt them, and society has rejected them.

Backlash

One widow of a former IS fighter in Mosul, who requested anonymity, told VOA she and her two children had struggled because they were linked to IS.

“My husband was an IS member, but what does this have to do with me? If my husband joined the al-Qaida group, what does this have to do with my children? The family and parents have nothing to do with someone’s affiliation with a terror group,” she said.

She said her entire family was being punished, and that her father had been in prison for two years after being accused of having relations with IS.

WATCH the video, “Families of Local IS Members Face Rejection by Iraqi Society, here:

But some, like Ali, believe Iraqis should treat people better than IS did. She said she believed that if Iraqis did not help children who had IS parents, the children could grow up ostracized and the vicious cycle of hatred would never end.

“These children do not go to school; they will end up wandering in the streets, begging for money, and they will be subjected to child exploitation and labor,” Ali said. “If we do not integrate them back into society and design special programs for them, then we will risk the rise of another extremist group.”

Ali has been trying to persuade locals to adopt some of these children. She sets conditions, though: The parents must be from Mosul and show evidence they can provide decent living conditions for the adopted children. About 150 families have applied for adoptions, and more than 50 children have already been adopted.

According to Human Rights Watch, about 100,000 families have some kind of connection to IS and are living in Iraq. Most of these families live in IDP camps in the country.

FacebookTweetLinkedInPin

Filed Under: Democracy Culture Tagged With: Democracy Charity, Iraq, Kurdish People, Middle East, Syria

About DC Editors

We are your source for news on the all important effort to establish and strengthen democracy across the globe. Our international team with dozens of independent authors are your gateway into the raging struggle for free and fair elections on every continent with a focus on election reform in the United States. See our Facebook Page and also follow us on Twitter @demchron.

Some highlighted Democracy Chronicles topics

Africa American Corruption American Local Elections American State Elections Asia Capitalism and Big Business Celebrity Politics China Democracy Charity Democracy Protests Democrats Dictatorships Education Election History Election Methods Election Security Election Transparency Europe Internet and Democracy Journalism and Free Speech Middle East Minority Voting Rights Money Politics New York City and State Elections Political Artwork Political Dissidents Political Lobbying Redistricting Republicans Russia Socialism and Labor Social Media and Democracy South America Spying and Privacy Supreme Court Third Party Voter Access Voter ID Voter Registration Voter Suppression Voter Turnout Voting Technology Women Voting Rights Worldwide Worldwide Corruption

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Home | CULTURE | Kids’ Rescuer Seeks to End Cycle of Hatred in Iraq’s Mosul

Primary Sidebar

Advertise button

Courts off the deep end, again

By Andrew Straw February 1, 2023

Closing the courts, shutting down dissent, and violating the rights of whistleblowers. These are not the actions of an open, free society.

The Christian Evangelical Church

By Jack Jones January 22, 2023

I am not against Big Business having a voice, just not all the voices, and especially not an impersonator pretending to speak for God.

democracy chronicles newsletter

DC AUTHORS

No One In Monterey County Is Good Enough To Serve In Legislature

By Joe Mathews January 9, 2023

California’s “democratic reforms” have left a place as… [key] as Monterey County without any state representation from one of its own.

In America, the Joe-mocracy Rules

By Joe Mathews December 27, 2022

A republic? A democracy? No, our country is an avuncular autocracy run by old guys named joe.

Property Rights, Indiana-Style

By Andrew Straw December 24, 2022

Indiana’s justices have replaced constitutional property rights with ad hominem politics. Replacing them starts with better governors.

To The American Oligarchs: Lay Off Us

By Jack Jones December 21, 2022

No matter how many jobs are ruthlessly pulled out from under us, we are still going to do what it takes to put food on the table.

Indiana’s Irrational Ballot Access System

By Andrew Straw December 4, 2022

Opposing the potential 2024 retention of the Chief Justice Loretta Rush will be key to preventing disability discrimination bad blood in Indiana courts.

Federal Judge Strikes Down Biden’s Loan Forgiveness program

By Jack Jones November 24, 2022

What is unlawful is the Texas federal judge’s decision to strike down President Biden’s loan forgiveness program, not the program itself.

DeSantis Battles Trump in Florida Steel Cage Match

By Steve Schneider November 20, 2022

We take you now to the much-anticipated DeSantis-Trump steel cage match, in which “DeSanctimonious” has promised to “kick Trump’s ass.”

MORE FROM OUR AUTHORS

VISIT OUR POLITICAL ART SECTION:

dc political art

DEMOCRACY CULTURE

Russian Wagner Boss Acknowledges Comparison With Rasputin

Russian Wagner Boss Acknowledges Comparison With Rasputin

January 30, 2023

Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin responded to comparisons [with]…Rasputin who treated the son of the last tsar for haemophilia.

ChatGPT Is Changing Education, AI Experts Say

ChatGPT Is Changing Education, AI Experts Say

January 30, 2023

Newly-launched AI-powered chatbot ChatGPT is changing the internet landscape. It presents several opportunities, including in education.

Girl Scouts Earn Democracy Badge At Workshop In Salina

Girl Scouts Earn Democracy Badge At Workshop In Salina

January 26, 2023

The workshop assisted Girl Scouts in grades K–10 in earning their Democracy Badge through learning activities on democracy.

Study: Media Can Reduce Polarization By Telling Personal Stories

Study: Media Can Reduce Polarization By Telling Personal Stories

January 26, 2023

Sharing personal experiences and pairing them with facts reduces political dehumanization and increases political tolerance.

Study: 2020 Election Resulted In Increased Anxiety And Depression

Study: 2020 Election Resulted In Increased Anxiety And Depression

January 7, 2023

A review of 2020 Household Pulse Survey data reveals that as an election nears, people in [America] report more depression and anxiety.

MORE CULTURE

VISIT OUR US DEMOCRACY SECTION:

American Democracy