http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/our-legacy-is-a-dark-and-forbidding-place-of-militias-797787.htmlBut some in Basra are too full of grief to have any hope for the future. Hala um Hassan, whose full name is not being published to protect her, went to the police after her 20-year-old daughter Roula failed to return home from university. Her body was found, with gunshot wounds to the head, nine days later. "She had been warned for dressing and behaving in a provocative way by some religious people, said Mrs Hassan. "My daughter always covered her head when she went outside the house. We had heard about other girls going missing. But one morning she went out and did not come back."
Who do the family blame? "The first responsibility lies with the men who did this, they would kill women like they would kill a bird," said Roula's cousin Hania. "But the British have a big army at the airport. What is the point of staying here if they do not deal with these terrible things?"