These three Iraqi soldiers are Yezidis, a small sect dating from early Christianity, which accords equal status to Lucifer as to God; some Iraqis dismiss the sect as devil worshipers, and they have been targeted by al Qaeda attacks.
Steve Mumford originally went to Baghdad in 2003 to work as a war artist, embedded with the U.S. military, both writing a journal and making drawings and watercolors of what he saw there. He has been back several times; the text that follows is a report from his current visit. The archive for Mumford’s original "Baghdad Journal" can be found here.
