I deployed to Iraq as an infantry soldier on July 4, 2010. On May 2, 2011, at Forward Operating Base (FOB) McHenry, near Hawijah, Iraq, we watched President Obama announce on television, that Osama Bin Laden was dead. The September 11th attacks were finally avenged. Soon we handed over the base to the Iraqi Army as we made our way back home.
Needless to say many of us were dismayed when we later read the news that ISIS had taken over the entire Hawijah area in 2014. Our infantry unit had some extraordinary experiences combating terrorism in the region and also interacting with the locals in Hawijah and nearby towns. It was painful to read about atrocities inflicted by ISIS on the primarily Sunni people of the area.
It was a wake-up call when I saw the news that Master Sgt. Joshua Wheeler of the U.S. Army, became the first U.S. service member to be killed in action in support of Operation Inherent …show more content…
No doubt there are restrictions placed on people due to the countries being strictly Islamic, such as no eating or drinking in public places during Ramadan, in daytime or smoking or drinking alcohol, but generally petty crime rate is very low perhaps because the culprits are harshly punished under Sharia law. Many countries still conduct beheadings even of women, (such as in Saudi Arabia) for crimes deemed serious enough to warrant such drastic repercussion. Such punishments are based on religious doctrine. In 2015, in a video released online, a Saudi women was beheaded by the local police, on the charges of murdering her step-daughter. Even as the executioner attacked her with swords, at a public square, she kept crying out claiming innocence, till a final blow silenced her. On the other hand, ISIS conducts public beheadings in Raqqa and Mosul, with great fanfare and posts their videos on