![Mourners pray near the coffins of victims killed by a bomb attack at a Shi'ite Muslim village near the Iraqi city of Baquba, during a funeral at the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf, 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad, January 25, 2014. Police said that at least six people were killed on Saturday when three mortar bombs hit the village. REUTERS/ Alaa Al-Marjani (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS CONFLICT) - RTX17U8H](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/02/RTX17U8H.jpg/RTX17U8H.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=G0z6PkVB)
Ali Abel Sadah is a Baghdad-based writer for both Iraqi and Arab media. He has been a managing editor for local newspapers as well as a political and cultural reporter for more than 10 years.
![Mourners pray near the coffins of victims killed by a bomb attack at a Shi'ite Muslim village near the Iraqi city of Baquba, during a funeral at the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf, 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad, January 25, 2014. Police said that at least six people were killed on Saturday when three mortar bombs hit the village. REUTERS/ Alaa Al-Marjani (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS CONFLICT) - RTX17U8H](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/02/RTX17U8H.jpg/RTX17U8H.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=G0z6PkVB)
![Iraqi SWAT troopers pose for pictures as they take part in an intensive security deployment during clashes with al Qaeda-linked Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the city of Ramadi, 100 km (62 miles) west of Baghdad, February 1, 2014. Iraqi troops and allied tribesmen killed 57 Islamist militants in Anbar province on Monday, the Defence Ministry said, in advance of a possible assault on the Sunni rebel-held city of Falluja. There was no independent verification of the toll among the militants,](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/02/RTX186GQ.jpg/RTX186GQ.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=Y7Cj4-aU)
Ali Abel Sadah
![Monumental Assyrian works stand in a gallery of the Iraq Museum in Baghdad. The authorities closed the museum and removed most of its other treasures to secret hiding places during the 1990-91 Gulf crisis, but are now considering plans with UNESCO to put them back on show. (Picture taken 30NOV98) - RTXHUYE](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2013/11/RTXHUYE.jpg/RTXHUYE.jpg?h=2d235432&itok=vOzaKGC9)
Ali Abel Sadah
![Iraqi political leaders and members of parliament including from (L-R) Iyad Allawi, former prime minister and head of the secular Iraqiya coalition, Iraqi parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi, Iraq's President Jalal Talabani, Kurdish President Masoud Barzani, Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Malik and Iraq's Kurdistan region Prime Minister Barham Salih are attend the 13th Conference of Kurdistan Democratic Party in Arbil, 310 km (190 miles) north of Baghdad December 11, 2010. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari (IRAQ - Tags:](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2013/10/Iraq%20leaders.jpg/Iraq%20leaders.jpg?h=2d235432&itok=Q2ymn9KO)
Ali Abel Sadah
![Iraqi Sunni Muslims burn a poster of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during an anti-government demonstration in Falluja, 50 km (31 miles) west of Baghdad April 26, 2013. Tens of thousands of Sunni Muslims poured onto the streets of Ramadi and Falluja in the western province of Anbar following Friday prayers, in protest at the perceived marginalisation of their sect since the U.S.-led invasion overthrew Saddam Hussein and empowered majority Shi'ites through the ballot box. Iraq's delicate ethno-sectari](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2013/10/Iraqprotest.jpg/Iraqprotest.jpg?h=2d235432&itok=L8EVguHT)
Ali Abel Sadah
![Iraqi President Jalal Talabani (R) speaks with Kurdish President Masoud Barazani (L) during his visit to Dokan, 290 km (180 miles) northeast of Baghdad July 29, 2009. Ruling parties in Iraqi Kurdistan will retain control of the Kurdish parliament after weekend polls, preliminary results showed on Wednesday. An opposition movement, campaigning against corruption and for political reforms, took a surprise 23.8 percent, electoral officials said in the Kurdish capital Arbil. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari (IRAQ POLITICS](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2013/09/RTR26779.jpg/RTR26779.jpg?h=2d235432&itok=PAZLZYgn)
Ali Abel Sadah
![Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki (R) and Iraqi Kurdish President Masoud Barzani (L) talk as they hold a joint news conference in Baghdad, July 7, 2013. Barzani visited Baghdad on Sunday for the first time in more than two years, in a symbolic step to resolve disputes between the central government and the autonomous region over land and oil. The visit follows an equally rare trip by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki who met Barzani in Kurdistan last month, breaking ice between leaders who have repeated](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2013/09/1-RTX11G5J.jpg/1-RTX11G5J.jpg?h=2d235432&itok=_TyZEMzH)
Ali Abel Sadah
![Supporters of anti-U.S. Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr wave Iraqi flags during a rally in Baghdad, February 9, 2012. REUTERS/Mohammed Ameen (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR2XJEL](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2013/08/sadr.jpg/sadr.jpg?h=2d235432&itok=Zj6k1IkF)
Ali Abel Sadah
![Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki inspects a guard of honour during his ceremonial reception at the forecourt of India's presidential palace Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi August 23, 2013. Maliki expects to finalise a deal to sell India more crude oil during a visit to New Delhi over the next few days, he said on Thursday. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi (INDIA - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS ENERGY COMMODITIES) - RTX12TX2](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2013/08/Maliki-a.jpg/Maliki-a.jpg?h=2d235432&itok=DGUdqSXJ)
Ali Abel Sadah
![A vehicle burns at the scene of a car bomb attack in Baghdad's Kadhimiya district August 15, 2013. A series of car bombs in Baghdad killed at least 28 people and wounded more than 100 on Thursday, with one exploding near the "Green Zone" diplomatic complex, the latest attacks in some of the worst violence since U.S. troops left. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS CONFLICT) - RTX12M6R](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2013/08/1-RTX12M6R.jpg/1-RTX12M6R.jpg?h=2d235432&itok=9McZYAnq)
Ali Abel Sadah
![Kurdish Peshmerga troops are deployed on the outskirts of Kirkuk, some 250km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, November 24, 2012. Iraq's Kurdish region has sent reinforcements to a disputed area where its troops are involved in a standoff with the Iraqi army, a senior Kurdish military official said, despite calls on both sides for dialogue to calm the situation. Picture taken November 24, 2012. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari (IRAQ - Tags: CONFLICT POLITICS MILITARY) - RTR3AUX2](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2013/08/1-RTR3AUX2.jpg/1-RTR3AUX2.jpg?h=2d235432&itok=g462ZTve)
Ali Abel Sadah
![Members of the new Iraqi Parliament attend a session at the Parliament headquarters in Baghdad, November 11, 2010. Iraq's fractious politicians have agreed to return Shi'ite Nuri al-Maliki as prime minister, ending an eight-month deadlock that raised fears of renewed sectarian war, but leaving some Sunnis sceptical he can forge national unity. The pact on top government posts brings together Shi'ites, Sunnis and Kurds in a power-sharing arrangement similar to the last Iraqi government and could help prevent](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2013/08/RTXUI7Q.jpg/RTXUI7Q.jpg?h=2d235432&itok=9yBq6EO6)
Ali Abel Sadah