Dozing in the midday heat, the men jumped to attention when an officer barked for them to present themselves to a visiting journalist. Inside, recruits crammed on to stained bunk beds in dark rooms decorated incongruously with images of flowers and waterfalls. Hundreds of sweat-stained men trudged across a dirt lot strewn with cardboard and plastic bottles in baking heat to register at a training camp in the northern Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr Kanat this week. SistaniвЂ™s fatwa, or religious edict, has ensured there is no shortage of such volunteers, many of them young men from poor ShiвЂ™ite areas who see volunteering as a solemn obligation. вЂњIf theyвЂ™re trained and they want to join their brothers, we will not say no,вЂќ he said. The volunteers were mostly given вЂњsecond lineвЂќ duties like searching cars and manning checkpoints, the colonel said, although a few were so eager they pushed ahead to the front lines on their own. Their arrival has provided vital relief for MajidiвЂ™s men, who oversee a large area bordering Anbar, where insurgents control the two largest cities. He said 1,200 volunteers have arrived to bolster his original force of over 3,400 troops since Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, IraqвЂ™s most influential ShiвЂ™ite cleric, called on all men able to carry arms to fight the insurgency on June 13. Volunteers in desert camouflage salute as they enter Colonel Ali al-MajidiвЂ™s office, a spacious room packed with ornate sofas, coffee tables, ashtrays and vases at a military base in the Abu Ghraib district west of Baghdad. вЂњAnd it is certainly not an improvement in building a bridge between Sunnis and ShiвЂ™ites.вЂќ A CALL TO ARMS вЂњThe end result is it is not an improvement in political stability,вЂќ said Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Maliki, blamed by his critics for worsening the conflict, is unlikely to rein them in as he fights to stay in power.

troops before they withdrew in 2011 have surged back into prominence since the start of the year, battling first in the western Anbar province and BaghdadвЂ™s perimeter, and then leveraging the current crisis for fresh legitimacy and broader popularity. Deployment of ShiвЂ™ite militias in civilian areas could sharpen the conflictвЂ™s sectarian edge. Many new recruits are of little use on the battlefield. The effort probably helped security forces stave off total collapse. Tens of thousands have been mobilized since IraqвЂ™s top ShiвЂ™ite cleric issued a call to arms in response to the lightning offensive led by the Islamic State, a hardline Sunni group. Some go to the front, while others man checkpoints, guard bases and carry out raids. In some areas, there are now at least as many ShiвЂ™ite gunmen and civilian volunteers as there are regular soldiers, volunteers and a militia spokesman said. The deserterвЂ™s story illustrates a dynamic increasingly shaping a conflict that could tear Iraq apart: With the armyвЂ™s northern divisions hard hit by desertions as key Sunni cities fell in June, Prime Minister Nuri al-MalikiвЂ™s ShiвЂ™ite-led government has leaned heavily on ShiвЂ™ite militias and volunteers motivated by a sense of religious duty. вЂњThe officers brought us to the point where a soldier could either die or flee,вЂќ the 31-year-old said, asking his name be withheld to avoid punishment. Instead, he wants to sign up as a volunteer, alongside tens of thousands of others, to help defend ShiвЂ™ite shrines against Sunni insurgents who have swept the countryвЂ™s north and west and who he believes now threaten his sect. Volunteers, who have joined the Iraqi army to fight against militants of the Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), get dressed in their military attire in Baghdad July 8, 2014.

Oakley eye pro military