Omar, a Sunni driver, lived in a pleasant house in a Shia neighbourhood of al-Jihad district in west Baghdad until he decided that it was too dangerous for his family to stay. He moved with them to Damascus, but it was too expensive and he had no chance of getting a job. He returned to his home in al-Jihad, but when he arrived his neighbours said that the Mahdi Army Shia militia had left a message for him. It said that if he ever re-occupied the house, they would kill him. Omar moved to the supposedly safer Sunni district of al-Khadra, but now he faces another problem. Al-Qa’ida insurgents are demanding that he join them on nightly patrols. First they asked him politely to meet their emir or local leader. Later, when he failed to do so, they became more menacing. They said: ‘Either you come with us or you will have to leave here. We suspect that you are not a Sunni, because a real Sunni would not hesitate to join the jihad.’ Across Iraq, millions of people are looking for safer places to live, and not finding them. The United Nations High […]