WASHINGTON POST: IRAQI WOMEN TAKE ON ROLES OF DEAD OR MISSING HUSBANDS

Iraqi Women Take On Roles Of Dead or Missing Husbands
For One Mother, Bedside AK-47 Signified Change

By Ernesto LondoñoWashington Post Foreign ServiceWednesday, April 23, 2008; A01

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/22/AR2008042203239.html

BAGHDAD, April 22 -- Sabriyah Hilal Abadi began sleeping with a loaded AK-47 by her bed shortly after the war began.

It was a comforting possession for a woman who had lost her home, her husband and, last weekend, a room in a dilapidated building she shared with 27 squatter families, most headed by women.

The mother of four fought mightily to stay in the sparse, two-story building in the Zayouna neighborhood of Baghdad that once belonged to Hussein's Baath Party, but soldiers forced her out.

Iraq's government is intent on proving it can enforce the law. But in its determination to rid the party building of its squatters, the women say, the government has plunged them deeper into homelessness and may have pushed others toward violence.

Thousands of Iraqi women have in recent years embraced new roles as violence has claimed their men. For Abadi, 43, the turning point came when she accepted the powerful assault rifle from friends concerned about her welfare.

Click on link to continue reading.