Were there any Iranians or Jaish al Mahdi fighters?
No, there were no Iranians. But because we proved extreme bravery in the fighting, they accused us of bringing Iranian fighters to fight by our side and that they claimed we had brought in Iranian weapons. All our fighters come from our village and not from outside. No, there were no Iranians, but it is because my uncle was chased and threatened by the Saddam regime. And he was forced to flee to Iran and after the fall, he came back to the village. No more, no less. But they accused him of being Iranian and accused us of sheltering Iranian fighters and bringing in Iranian weapons. We have no contacts with the Iranians nor have we brought any weapons from Iran. We use very unsophisticated weapons. [She says the attack lasted for a short time, an hour or so.] When we reported the attack to the American base in Khalis, they said the American troops had nothing to do with it and denied they knew anything about it. They said they were not responsible for it. Some said al-Qaida was to blame.
