DAMASCUS, SYRIA – The government of Syria will be hosting the world's first official Iraq War reenactment, an international event drawing in thousands of participants in time for the Iraq War's ten-year anniversary in 2013.
"You might say the interest never really went away," said Abu Du'a, the leader of Al Nusra Front, the world's leading Al Qaeda in Iraq reenactment group. Dua appeared in a period costume of a track suit with an AK-47, with the black flag of Al Qaeda in Iraq behind him.
"A lot of our children are too young to remember battles like Nasiriyah or Fallujah, but hopefully we can give them the closest thing possible."
According to Abu Du'a, the kids even get to take part in the reenactments, monitoring suspected informants and emplacing IEDs along the main roads.
"During the Iraq War a lot of kids served as valuable interpreters, scouts, even front line fighters, and we've had parents and kids ask to bring back that experience."
Al Nusra Front contains a number of actual former Al Qaeda in Iraq members, many of whom described the reenactments as both educational and helping them cope with lingering post traumatic stress.
