Tensions come to a head as Ally is forced to justify her investigative actions to Tom and Huda is cornered by the mukhabarat. The discovery of Miriam Pachachi’s sculpture, which is tied to Ally’s photo of her mother, is overshadowed by the fact that Ally cannot talk to anyone about the discovery. Ally’s ignorance of the deeper political repercussions of specific actions causes problems when she insists upon visiting the Rashid Hotel despite the dangers involved in going to a place with a reputation for harboring spies and political intrigues. Due to her recklessness, Huda is threatened and harassed by the mukhabarat, despite acting directly under the organization’s orders by spying on Ally’s activities. When the mukhabarat instruct Huda to pretend that everything is fine, the order reflects the internal commands that both women have been giving to themselves in the situation; Ally is pretending that she is not desperate for more information on her mother, and Huda is pretending that she is not desperate for more information on Ally. In this way, the fear that permeates Iraqi society compels the women to tell stories even to themselves in their desperate attempts to survive the oppressive forces that have ensnared them.

At the same time, the mukhabarat acquiesce to Ally’s demands as they balance the line between oppressing their own people and maintaining foreign relations. The mukhabarat’s need to detain and hurt Huda to show the organization’s willingness for violence if she does not comply, but they also need to create the illusion of nonviolence to avoid potential foreign intervention. Part of the contempt for Ally, such as the derogatory name russee, reflects the need for foreign aid and avoidance of foreign sanctions combined with a hatred for Iraqi dependence on European countries and the United States. In this situation, Ally is a representation of entities like the United Nations, which watch for human rights violations around the world. The mukhabarat cannot openly abuse their citizens while under such scrutiny, but the restrictions placed on them by foreign countries stimulate a need for violent outlets.

The irony of the interrogation comes from Huda’s admission to working with Abu Issa and the mukhabarat, as well as the fact that Huda is being attacked by the same group that essentially sent her to the hotel. On one hand, Huda is more free to speak openly in the interrogation room than when she is in the car with Ally, since, in this room, she is free to tell the truth about herself and her current situation. On the other hand, Huda must also navigate the threats of physical violence, detention, or death implicit in the unwanted attentions of the mukhabarat. This dual irony reveals the paradox of life in Iraq, in which citizens are both most and least free when they are in the direct clutches of government agents. In this situation, the carrot-and-stick comparison takes on a new depth in the extremes of the rewards and consequences involved. Huda can potentially earn a lot of money by working with the mukhabarat, and the mukhabarat themselves enjoy a great deal of freedom, but at the same time, both informants and agents alike are perpetually at risk of imprisonment or death if their actions are perceived to indicate disloyalty to the regime. In this way, Wilkinson continues to explore Different Forms of Loyalty and Betrayal.

It is also important that the mukhabarat are revealed to be a decentralized institution, in which no two members of the mukhabarat can be guaranteed to have access to the same essential information or have the ability to communicate with one another on key issues. Although the men who detain Huda work for the same organization as Abu Issa and even know his name, they do not have the same information. This decentralization means that no two encounters with the mukhabarat are likely to play out the same way, increasing the danger of any involvement with them.

Crucially, Huda needs to call on Abu Issa while she is in the interrogation room, since, ironically, he is the only man able to protect her. In theory, Huda’s involvement with the mukhabarat should offer her some protection against wanton violence, but just like her husband, Abu Issa is absent in her time of need. This critical absence of a protective male presence serves as the culmination of an ongoing theme in this chapter. Earlier examples of this pattern include Abdul Amir and Khalid’s behavior at the ice cream parlor, for they both abandon Huda in her attempt to bring the family together, emphasizing their detachment from her and from each other. This abandonment likewise leaves Huda vulnerable to another approach from Abu Issa, in which he mixes the carrot and stick in the form of the offer to recruit Khalid to the Lions Club, further endangering the safety of Huda’s family. While joining the Lions Club would be a conceptual favor for Khalid that would offer him a prestigious position in the military, the brutality of the Club and of the fedayeen death squad poison that prestige with trauma. Importantly, Abdul Amir also displays his detachment from his family and from reality when he notes that joining the fedayeen is preferable to abandoning Iraq, and his attitude reveals another element of male negligence in the form of nationalistic pride.

As Huda requests aid from Rania, the danger transfers from the threats against Huda to the threats against Rania. The source of the divide between the two women is partially revealed as Huda points out that Rania could have potentially saved Mustafa and Ali from execution. In essence, Huda is asking Rania to make up for the deaths of Huda’s brothers by saving her son, but the actual content of that request reverses the power dynamic between the two women. While Rania formerly held the power to save Huda’s brothers, Huda now holds the power to harm Rania and her family. By wielding that power, Huda becomes the same type of person that she hates Rania for being in the past and succumbs to the temptation to use Fear as a Tool of Repression and Manipulation.