Iraqi offering cash to intermarry

BAGHDAD, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- Iraq is offering $2,000 cash to Shiites and Sunnis who intermarry to try to ease sectarian tension, officials said.

"The idea behind this project is that promoting love and socializing between Iraq's people is good for the country," said Raad Majeed Mohammed, an aide to Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi.

Intermarriage between Shiites and Sunnis was relatively common before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, when Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated regime was over thrown and Shiites came to power.

Intermarriage virtually stopped in 2006 after the bombing of the Shiite Askariya shrine in Sunni-dominated Samarra, USA Today reported Monday.

Now, sectarian tension has eased and Iraq's government has handed out the $2,000 gift to dozens of mixed couples in the last year. About dozen mixed couples are to receive the $2,000 gift at a mass wedding Friday in Baghdad in which the government also is paying for gowns for the brides, suits for the grooms and hotel rooms for the night.