By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
It would seem that either Police Forces within the disputed territory of Kirkuk in Northern Iraq have otherwise vanquished all traditional urban crimes and have far too much time on their hands or a return to authoritarianism found a new attraction with withering memories of Saddam and Islamist attacks via ISIS.
Kurdish news reports police forces are arresting any miscreant and fashion terrorista openly wearing ripped or short length jeans. According to a police source, “the decision was sent to all the police stations to arrest anyone who wears short jeans and jeans with fashionable slits or rips in them.”
Police vowed to detain and hold for up to twenty-four hours those wearing the contraband jeans. First time offenders may secure release on a promise not to engage in jeans defacing recidivism.
I have to wonder what Real Politick conjured this enforcement policy. Political friction generated after Barzani’s Kurdish independence referenda and subsequently Shia Militias and the Iraqi military seized control of the area after Peshmerga withdrawal from the de facto autonomous North. If somehow the jeans were representative of Kurdish defiance I might be able to see, though would disagree with, why the police might press the need to clamp down. Regardless it is a futile gesture regardless of the intent of the clothing wearer.
The larger problem is government and politicians simply refusing to leave ordinary people alone. Whether it be wearing of torn jeans, saying the wrong words, worshiping the wrong god, or loving a prohibited person the tyranny is the same. Humanity surely could benefit from restrained leadership.
By Darren Smith
Sources: eKurd.net Photo: U.S. Army photograph of Leigh Jones
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