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A busy street in Nasiriya, Iraq, last month ( The Washington Post)
W
hen the call came to fight the Islamic State, the lines of volunteers in Nasiriyah, Iraq, stretched for blocks. Friends pooled money to pay for the ride to militia recruitment offices. Young men were already scrambling on to buses bound for the front lines.
As the Iraqi army melted away, it fell often to the mostly Shiite Muslim militias to go back and rout the Sunni extremists of the Islamic State. For many in the city, it felt like a battle for Iraq’s soul.