A member of the Iraqi security forces shows his passport as he prepares to travel, at the international airport in Najaf, south of Baghdad, September 3, 2015. REUTERS/ALAA AL-MARJANI
Reuters: Some Iraqis ditch fight against Islamic State for life in Europe
Some Iraqi soldiers are abandoning their posts and joining a wave of civilian migrants headed to Europe, raising new doubts about the cohesion of the country's Western-backed security forces in the fight against Islamic State militants.
Interviews with migrants and an analysis of social media activity show scores of fighters from the national army, police and special forces as well as Shi'ite militias and Kurdish peshmerga have left in recent months or plan to go soon.
They join more than 50,000 civilians who have left Iraq in the past three months, according to the United Nations, part of an even larger exodus from neighboring Syria and other conflict zones across the Middle East.
WNU Editor: There is some truth to this report. According to the UN organization responsible for refugees .... they are estimating that almost three quarters of the refugees fleeing to Europe right now are males between the ages of 18 - 35 .... in short ... males of military age. The UNHCR link is here.
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