US, Canada walkers join Iraq pilgrimage for charity

NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - Among the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims streaming into Iraq's holy Shi'ite city of Kerbala on Saturday, Michael Symons' blonde goatee and bald white head wrapped in a headscarf stood out like a beacon.

The Canadian sales manager was among a group of Canadian and U.S. citizens, some of them formerly from Iraq, who joined this year's Arbain pilgrimage to raise money for Iraqi orphans, like other walkers defying the threat of bomb attacks by insurgents.