Pat-Down on the Way to Prayer

[jamiroguy1]

Pat-Down on the Way to Prayer

In Iraq, physical contact is governed by strict cultural mores. Yet body searches are now a daily fact amid the postwar insecurity.

By Alissa J. Rubin

Times Staff Writer

November 25, 2003

BAGHDAD — The faithful wending their way to the Musa Al Kadhim mosque were stopped nearly a mile from the holy site by a team of searchers who patted their stomachs, probed their backs and ran prying hands down their limbs.

After the search, the throngs of believers advanced about 50 feet toward the mosaic-covered mosque, only to be confronted by a new team of searchers, who repeated the pat-down.

This is one of Baghdad's holiest shrines, so the searchers weren't taking chances. The believers had been through half a dozen body searches and still had one final search to go before they could enter.

"We check everything that comes in here," said Jaffir Sahib, 50, the mosque's volunteer chief of security. "Even the coffins."

In a country where physical contact between adults — particularly between men and women — is governed by strict social mores, body searches have become a constant of daily life.

Ordinary residents now may have their bodies patted down, pockets turned inside-out, and the contents of purses, briefcases and grocery bags scrutinized several times a day. A trip to the hospital, attendance at a university class, entrance to a government office or a stop to pray at a major mosque involve highly physical encounters with total strangers.

Although women are searched by women and men by men — the concept of the body search is alien to this deeply conservative country. That the usually private Iraqis tolerate such intrusions and even complain that the searches are not thorough enough is testament to the fear that has engulfed this capital.

During Saddam Hussein's authoritarian rule, few Iraqis dared do anything that would raise the slightest suspicion. Today, carrying guns, grenades and small explosives is alarmingly common.

Full Article

[mr mahs]

Originally posted by jamiroguy1

Pat-Down on the Way to Prayer

In Iraq, physical contact is governed by strict cultural mores. Yet body searches are now a daily fact amid the postwar insecurity.

By Alissa J. Rubin

Times Staff Writer

November 25, 2003

BAGHDAD — The faithful wending their way to the Musa Al Kadhim mosque were stopped nearly a mile from the holy site by a team of searchers who patted their stomachs, probed their backs and ran prying hands down their limbs.

After the search, the throngs of believers advanced about 50 feet toward the mosaic-covered mosque, only to be confronted by a new team of searchers, who repeated the pat-down.

This is one of Baghdad's holiest shrines, so the searchers weren't taking chances. The believers had been through half a dozen body searches and still had one final search to go before they could enter.

"We check everything that comes in here," said Jaffir Sahib, 50, the mosque's volunteer chief of security. "Even the coffins."

In a country where physical contact between adults — particularly between men and women — is governed by strict social mores, body searches have become a constant of daily life.

Ordinary residents now may have their bodies patted down, pockets turned inside-out, and the contents of purses, briefcases and grocery bags scrutinized several times a day. A trip to the hospital, attendance at a university class, entrance to a government office or a stop to pray at a major mosque involve highly physical encounters with total strangers.

Although women are searched by women and men by men — the concept of the body search is alien to this deeply conservative country. That the usually private Iraqis tolerate such intrusions and even complain that the searches are not thorough enough is testament to the fear that has engulfed this capital.

During Saddam Hussein's authoritarian rule, few Iraqis dared do anything that would raise the slightest suspicion. Today, carrying guns, grenades and small explosives is alarmingly common.

Full Article

So do you think that this shouldn't be done UNTIL stability is returned to the country?

Doesn't this practice prevent a suicidal bomber from detonating a a bomb in a mosque which is not neutral ground?