'State of Superstition': Iraq sitcom mocks IS to 'remove the phobia'

As Iraqi forces struggle to pin back the Islamic State group on the ground, Baghdad is taking its war against the jihadists to the airwaves with a television comedy series. The usually elusive Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi features prominently in the series, whose title loosely translates as “State of Superstition” and is a play on the Arabic word for caliphate. Promoters argue that ridiculing the jihadist supremo can help dent his aura of almost supernatural villainy. The goal of the show is “to remove this phobia that has taken root in a lot of people’s minds,” show supervisor Thaer Jiyad told AFP News on the set between two scenes.

Ultimately, with fundamentalist organizations, the only solution is to confront them, and that starts with the leaders.

Thaer Jiyad, show supervisor

But if the show is Baghdad’s new weapon in the war against the Islamic State militants, then its very first shots were a friendly fire blunder that sparked controversy even as the series premiered on Saturday. The trailer that Iraqiya state TV had been showing several times a day for weeks plays on a belief widely held in Iraq that the Islamic State was created by the CIA, Israel and Gulf monarchies to sow chaos. The Iraqi Media Network production company had to order a last-minute re-shoot.

Middle East islamic state