# Why do Iraqi Insurgents wear ski masks? Why do they care who sees their face? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 15, 2004, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-iraqi-insurgents-wear-ski-masks-why-do-they-care-who-sees-their-face/274851 "2004-11-15T13:52:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-iraqi-insurgents-wear-ski-masks-why-do-they-care-who-sees-their-face/274851/21 "2004-11-16T05:27:03Z")
In the past, the Israeli government has sent out assassination squads to deal with terrorists, sometimes catching up to them many years after the crime was committed. While I’m not certain that our government would use assassination squads, I’m sure that they’d have no qualms about putting an insurgent on trial years from now for crimes against humanity. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-iraqi-insurgents-wear-ski-masks-why-do-they-care-who-sees-their-face/274851/22 "2004-11-16T07:52:54Z")
:Woody Allen: Hey there, Abdul, I’d like some pita bread, a little falafel, and aaaaahhh…one of those ski masks over there. Yeah, the black one. :/Woody Allen: So, can anyone tell me the difference between a _militant_, an i_nsurgent_, and a plain ol’ _terrorist_? ---
**Author:** ![Gotterfunken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/58956e/32.png) [@Gotterfunken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gotterfunken)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-iraqi-insurgents-wear-ski-masks-why-do-they-care-who-sees-their-face/274851/23 "2004-11-16T15:25:56Z")
Before this completely turns in to a GD or Pit thread, I wanted to mention that wearing ski-masks or other disguises is a typical practice for paramilitary groups, and not only in the Middle East. For example, both [IRA](http://archive.salon.com/news/1997/10/21news.html) and [Loyalist](http://peacelinetours.g2gm.com/murals/lomural4.jpg) militants in Northern Ireland were commonly associated with ski-masks (AKA balaclavas), and are often depicted wearing them in Belfast murals (esp. but not only the Loyalist ones): [Loyalist mural](http://peacelinetours.g2gm.com/murals/lomural1.jpg) (many, many more like this) [Republican mural](http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/mccormick/photos/no987.htm#photo) I think the balaclava originated for the practical purposes already mentioned–i.e., the paramilitary doesn’t want to be easily identified as he has a normal civilian life that he wants to keep living (and his extralegal activities would make this life troublesome). However, there’s a symbolic value that should also be considered–the identity of the individual is subsumed into the greater nobility of a cause, and for some people, it just looks “cool.” ---
**Author:** ![Chairman\_Pow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Chairman\_Pow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chairman_Pow)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-iraqi-insurgents-wear-ski-masks-why-do-they-care-who-sees-their-face/274851/24 "2004-11-16T16:44:58Z")
> [@Skopo](#): > > I think the balaclava originated for the practical purposes already mentioned–i.e., the paramilitary doesn’t want to be easily identified as he has a normal civilian life that he wants to keep living (and his extralegal activities would make this life troublesome). However, there’s a symbolic value that should also be considered–the identity of the individual is subsumed into the greater nobility of a cause, and for some people, it just looks “cool.” I was going to say something similar: it’s a uniform the same way that the Americans or other peace keepers wear one. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-iraqi-insurgents-wear-ski-masks-why-do-they-care-who-sees-their-face/274851/25 "2004-11-16T17:36:53Z")
> [@Phlosphr](#): > > Most western media show the Iraqi Insurgents wearing black ski masks, or some type of face covering. Why do they wear such masks? Or face coverings? Are they really concerned about their face being seen? I would assume that they want to preserve the option of melting back into the population if/when the new Iraqi government gets the place more or less under control. That would be difficult if your mug is on CNN tape threatening to behead people. ---
**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-iraqi-insurgents-wear-ski-masks-why-do-they-care-who-sees-their-face/274851/26 "2004-11-16T18:31:15Z")
> [@Sam Stone](#): > > So no, they aren’t freedom fighters. They’re slavers, trying to take power. Any moral equivalence with the American Revolutionary is, to say the least, repugnant. The irony here of course is that many of the US Founding Fathers were literal slavers, whereas none of people fighting US troops at the moment in Iraq have even been accused of anything of the sort from our end. Clearly there are a number of different groups of Iraqis fighting US troops with different goals in the end, but all of them agree that they want US troops out and that they want control of their own country and its resources. If indeed we’re talking about “Baath Party loyalists” (indeed this is/was a popular pan-Arab political party for decades, in and out of Iraq; are we banning political parties in our occupied territories now?), the secular Baath Party was at the forefront of forwarding women’s rights in the region. If we want to argue Islamic militants… we can’t claim it’s the Baath Party. Can’t have it both ways. We’re now claiming having killed over 1,200 “insurgents” in Fallujah alone, and have started another offensive in Mosul. I’m sure there’s other fighting as well. The odds of this being all or mainly foreign fighters who have slipped into Iraq for this purpose strikes me as extremely unlikley. As far as “Islamic militants” go: How long after a predominately Muslim army invaded Texas would we hear about “Christian militants” fighting back? I don’t think it’d take long. ---
**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-iraqi-insurgents-wear-ski-masks-why-do-they-care-who-sees-their-face/274851/27 "2004-11-16T23:32:35Z")
> [@Sam Stone](#): > > Couple that with a LOT of foreign fighters (the U.S. has indentified plenty of them among the casualties in Fallujah)… “Yesterday, the Marines said they had taken more than 1,000 prisoners in the battle for Fallujah. Colonel Michael Regner, operations officer for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Fallujah, said at least 1,052 prisoners had been captured in the battle. No more than about two dozen of them were “foreign fighters”, he said.” [link](http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/111704Y.shtml) That’s not even 2%. We’re fighting Iraqis for control of Iraq. ---
**Author:** ![Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnac_the_Magnificent)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-iraqi-insurgents-wear-ski-masks-why-do-they-care-who-sees-their-face/274851/28 "2004-11-17T02:06:16Z")
> [@Crandolph](#): > > “Yesterday, the Marines said they had taken more than 1,000 prisoners in the battle for Fallujah. Colonel Michael Regner, operations officer for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Fallujah, said at least 1,052 prisoners had been captured in the battle. No more than about two dozen of them were “foreign fighters”, he said.” > > [link](http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/111704Y.shtml) > > That’s not even 2%. We’re fighting Iraqis for control of Iraq. Substitute “German” for “Iraqis/Iraq” and then superimpose on 1945 Berlin. Still no objections? Aside from concealment, the black masks are meant to command fear, to terrify. Not surprising, as these are terrorists. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-iraqi-insurgents-wear-ski-masks-why-do-they-care-who-sees-their-face/274851/29 "2004-11-17T02:40:39Z")
> [@Carnac the Magnificent!](#): > > Substitute “German” for “Iraqis/Iraq” and then superimpose on 1945 Berlin. Still no objections? I can’t tell whether you’re fulfilling Godwin’s Law or just not making sense. The situation in Iraq today is quite different from the situation in Berlin in WWII. > [@](#): > > Aside from concealment, the black masks are meant to command fear, to terrify. Not surprising, as these are terrorists. That’s funny, I thought they were attacking military and pseudo-governmental targets. Believe it or not, “terrorists” does not mean “people who oppose the US”. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-iraqi-insurgents-wear-ski-masks-why-do-they-care-who-sees-their-face/274851/30 "2004-11-17T13:26:08Z")
> [@Carnac the Magnificent!](#): > > Substitute “German” for “Iraqis/Iraq” and then superimpose on 1945 Berlin. Still no objections? I, too, have no idea what this means, but there was not a single American combat death in post-war Germany. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-iraqi-insurgents-wear-ski-masks-why-do-they-care-who-sees-their-face/274851.md?page=1)