the nyt had an sunday mag article last year on iraqi weddings.
vehy interesting! they marry their cousins, in order to secure the families from outside influences.
Arabs in the Middle East have the highest rate of 1st cousin marriage anywhere. In most parts of Saudi Arabia, 60% of marriages are to 1st cousins. In Iraq it was about 30% IIRC. And while geneticists have shown that the absolute rate of defects only increases to 3%, that's still double what it would normally be. That 3% also has had a lot of time to compound. Now, I'm not eugenics proponent but I think some of this explains why the Middle East is as screwed-up as it is.
We have a few of those in Utah, Arkansas, and West Virginia.