The Journalist Connection

Gathering Intelligence

By MARYAM ISHANI
Published: July 15th, 2009
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  • BAGHDAD, IRAQ: The Sahwat—known in the West as the Sunni Awakening—is the coalition of armed groups that contributed to the reduction in violence in Iraq by relentlessly attacking Al-Qaeda. One of the most distinctive characteristics of the Sahwat is that its militias operate in their own neighborhoods and communities. The gunmen know the people who live there and rely on them to gather information on any armed group that may be active in the area. In this sequence of photographs taken in August 2008 in Al-Adhamiye, a neighborhood in the northwest of Baghdad, a woman approaches a Sahwat gunman to share security-related information.


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