Prostitution is illegal in Iraq. According to Mohammed, a typical prison sentence for women convicted is three to four months in jail, but their customers are rarely, if ever, arrested.
(If you're in a hurry, skip past the video and just read the article excerpts I've posted. It's the type of story that makes one's "problems" seem non-existent.)
Right now there's a war taking place in the heart of Africa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and more people have died there than in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Darfur combined.
. . .
Dr. Denis Mukwege is the director of Panzi Hospital in eastern Congo. In this war against women, his hospital is the frontline. One of the latest victims he’s treating is Sifa M'Kitambala. She was raped just two days before the team arrived by soldiers who raided her village.
"They just cut her at many places," Dr. Mukwege explains.
Sifa was pregnant, but that didn't stop her rapists. Armed with a machete, they even cut at her genitals.
In the last ten years in Congo, hundreds of thousands of women have been raped, most of them gang raped. Panzi Hospital is full of them.
. . .
"Has rape almost become the norm here?" Cooper asks Anneka Van Woudenberg, who is the senior Congo researcher at Human Rights Watch.
"I think because of the widespread nature of the war, because there has been so much violence, rape is now on a daily basis - rape is the norm," Van Woudenberg replies.
"Women get raped in wars all the time. How is it different here?" Cooper asks.
"I think what's different in Congo is the scale and the systematic nature of it, indeed, as well, the brutality. This is not rape because soldiers have got bored and have nothing to do. It is a way to ensure that communities accept the power and authority of that particular armed group. This is about showing terror. This is about using it as a weapon of war," she explains.
. . .
In some villages as many as 90 percent of the women have been raped; men in the villages are usually unarmed, and incapable of fighting back. In Walungu the team found 24-year-old Lucienne M’Maroyhi. She was at home one night with her two children and her younger brother, when six soldiers broke in. They tied her up and began to rape her, one by one.
"I was lying on the ground, and they gave a flashlight to my younger brother so that he could see them raping me," she recalls.
"They were telling your brother to hold the flashlight?" Cooper asks.
"Yes," she says. "They raped me like they were animals, one after another. When the first one finished, they washed me out with water, told me to stand up, so the next man could rape me."
She was convinced they'd kill her, just as soldiers had murdered her parents the year before. Instead, they turned to her brother. "They wanted him to rape me but he refused, and told them, 'I cannot do such a thing. I cannot rape my sister.' So they took out their knives and stabbed him to death in front of me," she recalls.
. . .
"When they take a woman to rape her, they'll line up the family, they'll line up other members of the communities to actually witness that," Registre says. "They make them watch. And so, what that means for that particular woman when it's all over, is that total shame, personally, to have been witnessed by so many people as she's being violated."
Many of the women in Dr. Mukwege’s hospital are not only blamed for what happened to them, they are shunned because of fears they’ve contracted HIV and shunned because their rapes were so violent they can no longer control their bodily functions.
Dr. Mukwege says he's doing about five surgeries a day.
His patients often have had objects inserted into their vaginas, like broken bottles, bayonets. Some women have even been shot between the legs by their rapists.
"Why would somebody do that? Why would somebody shoot a woman inside?" Cooper asks.
"In the beginning I was asking myself the same question. This is a show of force, of power, it's done to destroy the person," Dr. Mukwege says. "Sex is being used to commit evil. People flee. They become refugees. They can't get help, they become malnourished and it's disease which finishes them off."
. . .
There may be no justice in Congo, but there are organizations trying to help rape survivors get back on their feet. "Women For Women" teaches survivors how to make soap, how to cook - skills they can use to earn money. They also learn how to read and write. It is the first time many of these women have ever been in a classroom - it is their chance for a whole new life.
Remember Lucienne M’Maroyhi? She’s jumped at that chance. She hopes to start her own business one day.
She is also now the mother of a little baby girl, born a year ago. The father is one of her rapists, one of the men who killed Lucienne's brother. She named the girl "Luck."
"I named her Luck because I went through many hardships," she explains. "I could have been killed in the forest. But I got my life back. I have hope."
Hope is not something you’d expect Congo’s rape survivors to still cling to. But they do.
Each morning in Panzi hospital they gather to raise their voices, singing at a religious service. Our sufferings on earth, they sing, will be relieved in heaven.
Relief in Congo, it seems, is just too much to ask for.
Reader commentary re: censoring pictures of a suicide bombing in Anbar:
"Respect for the dead in any of these pictures is not an issue. To say it [is] disrespectful is a pretense of morality. They are dead and in pieces. There was no respect for them when they were alive. Respect for the living is not an issue either. These pictures show no respect for those who were alive. Those of us who are left alive do not deserve the kind of respect of being denied the reality of war. These pictures ought to be shown to show the world, to show us, the repugnance of war . . ."
Creative activism...
Happy anniversary, War! I can hardly believe we've been together for five years now ... that's a fifth of the way to our silver anniversary!
Traditionally, a fifth anniversary is marked with gifts of wood, symbolizing a "strong and lasting marriage." But I knew you wouldn't mind a gift of Kevlar -- I looked it up, and apparently it symbolizes "a strong and lasting insurgency." Somehow it just seemed more appropriate.
It's sooo sweet of you to take me out to dinner for our anniversary, War. I know it's not easy getting a reservation here in Baghdad, with so many of the local restaurants destroyed by suicide bombers. But eating in the Green Zone is fine. No, really! Concrete barriers and barbed wire can be extremely romantic.
Anniversaries make me so nostalgic. I have to confess, though, when we first met I wasn't all that sure about you. Remember those sweet nothings you used to whisper in my ear, about WMD and "shock and awe"? Did you think I was impressed by all that macho posturing? I never really fell for it, you know.
I have to say, you didn't make a great impression on my mother either. She always thought you were a bully and a liar. And I don't know if you noticed this, War, but even your friends were pretty appalled by some of your behavior. Right, wild oats. Whatever. Still, I wasn't surprised so few of your so-called friends showed up for the wedding, and fewer still stayed for the dancing. Some "coalition" that turned out to be!
But I don't want to dwell on the bad times, because we did have some good times, didn't we? Remember those peaceful days between "Mission Accomplished" -- I think that was May 1, 2003 -- and ... and ... well, July 2003 or so, when we could still stroll around Baghdad at dusk, interrupted only by occasional small-arms fire? Those were the days, before the car bombs and IEDs.
We were happy then, weren't we, War?
I really think we were. True, the parades and flowers never did materialize, but I'm not a romantic sap. For me, it was enough that hope was in the air. Children were going to school, political dissidents could speak openly, Iraq was full of a sense of freedom and possibility. So there were no WMD after all -- so what? All's fair in love and war, right? -- and all's well that ends well!
Except, I guess, that the whole thing hasn't exactly ended well.
Don't you wish we could go back to those halcyon days in the spring and summer of 2003, and have a do-over? This time, we'd do it all so differently, wouldn't we, War? We've learned, we've grown. Oh! If we could only do it all over again, we'd have more troops to start with, and we'd never have had that awful quarrel with nice General Shinseki. We wouldn't disband the Iraqi army, we wouldn't have done that whole de-Baathification thing, we'd have prevented the looting and infrastructure sabotage that helped the insurgency get off the ground. Right?
But you can't go back again, can you? If all that couples counseling has taught me anything, War, it's that we need to take responsibility for what's happened, because when relationships sour, there are always casualties.
In this case, a whole lot of casualties. Nearly 4,000 U.S. troops are dead, and more than 29,000 U.S. troops have been wounded. At least 82,000 Iraqi civilians have died violent deaths since the invasion, and some estimates suggest that as many as 600,000 other Iraqi civilians have died of causes indirectly related to the conflict. They say that nearly 20% of Iraqis have had to flee their homes.
Oh, I know, War, I know. In five years, every relationship is going to have its ups and downs! And you're right, you've been trying hard lately to turn things around. I do give you credit for that. Your surge brought violence down, even though it seems to be rising again. And you've tried so hard to listen, finally, and understand that an enduring relationship has to be about more than just brute force.
But, War, it's just not enough. It's too little, too late. "Political progress," "reconciliation" -- pretty words, but I just can't see it happening.
Anyway, War, I don't like to be a stick in the mud, but it kind of bothers me that these days we're jumping into bed with absolutely everyone: Sunni insurgents, Shiite insurgents, Kurds, God knows who else. It's like being inside Eliot Spitzer's marriage and James McGreevey's marriage and David Paterson's marriage, all at once.
Look, War, I don't quite know how to say this, on our anniversary and everything, but ...
I want a divorce.
My paperwork is sitting with the family accountant. He's got my W-2, my 1099-MISC and a 1098-T as well. As a result, my conscience is killing me. I'm filing taxes for the purposes of abiding by the law of the land, but dang it by doing so I'm perpetuating my role as a silent partner in war crimes.
The US Campaign to End the [Apartheid] Israeli Occupation says: "in 2007, the United States gave Israel $2.34 billion in military aid to enforce its illegal military occupation and siege of the Palestinian West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. That amounts to each individual tax payer giving on average $8.56 to [apartheid] Israel to commit its human rights abuses."
Mind you, this is just Apartheid Israel. Imagine if we added the cost of imprisoning folks for non-violent crimes (in this country), Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. etc.
It would obviously be a generalization to say all of the troops are scum, but it might be one that I could make without feeling guilty. It's as though everyday we learn something new and disgusting that they are being "ordered" to do.
I'd like to believe they go in as kind hearted people attempting to save the world. It is the institution and the task at hand that are the problem. It's the uniform that makes otherwise great people do the things recorded in the video below?
We lost Kucinich, but Nader's coming to the rescue:
MR. RUSSERT: Will you run for president as an independent in 2008?
MR. NADER: Let me put it in context, to make it a little more palatable to people who have closed minds. Twenty-four percent of the American people are satisfied with the state of the country, according to Gallup. That's about the lowest ranking ever. Sixty-one percent think both major parties are failing. And, according to Frank Luntz's poll, a Republican, 80 percent would consider voting for a independent this year. Now, you take that framework of people feeling locked out, shut, shut out, marginalized, disrespected and you go from Iraq to Palestine/Israel, from Enron to Wall Street, from Katrina to the bungling of the Bush administration, to the complicity of the Democrats in not stopping him on the war, stopping him on the tax cuts, getting a decent energy bill through, and you have to ask yourself, as a citizen, should we elaborate the issues that the two are not talking about? And the--all, all the candidates--McCain, Obama and Clinton--are against single payer Health insurance, full Medicare for all. I'm for it, as well as millions of Americans and 59 percent of physicians in a forthcoming poll this April. People don't like Pentagon waste, a bloated military budget, all the reports in the press and in the GAO reports. A wasteful defense is a weak defense. It takes away taxpayer money that can go to the necessities of the American people. That's off the table to Obama and Clinton and McCain.
The issue of labor law reform, repealing the notorious Taft-Hartley Act that keeps workers who are now more defenseless than ever against corporate globalization from organizing to defend their interests. Cracking down on corporate crime. The media--the mainstream media repeatedly indicating how trillions of dollars have been drained and fleeced and looted from millions of workers and investors who don't have many rights these days, and pensioners. You know, when you see the paralysis of the government, when you see Washington, D.C., be corporate-occupied territory, every department agency controlled by overwhelming presence of corporate lobbyists, corporate executives in high government positions, turning the government against its own people, you--one feels an obligation, Tim, to try to open the doorways, to try to get better ballot access, to respect dissent in America in the terms of third parties and, and independent candidates; to recognize historically that great is sues have come in our history against slavery and women rights to vote and worker and farmer progressives, through little parties that never ran--won any national election. Dissent is the mother of ascent. And in that context, I have decided to run for president.MR. RUSSERT: How would you feel, however, if Ralph Nader's presence on the ballot tilted Florida or Ohio to John McCain and McCain became president, and Barack Obama, the first African-American who had been nominated by the Democratic Party--this is hypothetical--did not become a president and people turned to you and said, "Nader, you've done it again"?
MR. NADER: Not a chance. If the Democrats can't landslide the Republicans this year, they ought to just wrap up, close down, emerge in a different form. You think the American people are going to vote for a pro-war John McCain who almost gives an indication that he's the candidate of perpetual war, perpetual intervention overseas? You think they're going to vote for a Republican like McCain, who allies himself with the criminal, recidivistic regime of George Bush and Dick Cheney, the most multipliable impeachable presidency in American history? Many leading members of the bar, including the former head of the American Bar Association, Michael Greco, absolutely dismayed over the violations of the Constitution, our federal laws, the criminal, illegal war in Iraq and the occupation? There's no way. That's why we have to take this opportunity to have a much broader debate on the issues that relate to the American people, as, as, as a fellow in Long Island said recently, M . Sloane, he said, "These parties aren't speaking to me. They're not speaking to my problems, to my family's problems."
Food for thought as we near the end of World Refugee Day:
We are approaching the 4th anniversary of the illegal invasion, of the "shock and awe" attack, on Iraq.
Please note, as of midnight PST on Saturday, March 17th, the illegal war in Iraq will have cost us over $408,938,000,000. And it continues to increase every second.
I don't know about you BUT . . .
I refuse to be party to this war.
I refuse to allow innocent civilians to be killed in my name.
I refuse to say nothing while men are killed for defending their homes.
I refuse to accept that war is the answer.
I refuse to believe gang raping women will bring them liberation.
I refuse to label freedom fighters, terrorists.
But most importantly I refuse to sit silently by, apathetic and complacent. I refuse to resign myself to the lowest level of faith (and humanity if you ask me) - disliking evil within my heart.
I refuse . . .
For those of you in Southern California:
Orange County
Los Angeles
And for those of you in Northern California:
San Francisco: Sunday & Monday
San Jose
insh'Allah (God willing) I will see you at one of these? And if you're opposed to the war, but aren't attending any of the protests - what are you are doing instead, to voice your opposition? To voice your anger? Your disagreement? Your conscience?
. . . my outrage. Subhan'Allah.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6384781.stm
Cortez added: "Green then placed himself between Abeer's legs to rape her. When Green was finished, he stood up and shot Abeer in the head two or three times."
. . .
The entire crime took about five minutes and the girl knew her parents and sister had been shot while she was being raped, the hearing heard.
AND so after reading that, maybe just maybe this will help calm your tears:
Top Saudi Cleric Issues Religious Edict Declaring Shiites to be Infidels
The Associated Press
Friday, December 29, 2006
CAIRO, Egypt A top Saudi Arabian Sunni cleric on Friday declared Shiites around the world to be infidels who should be considered worse than Jews or Christians, the latest sign of increasing sectarianism in the Middle East.
Abdul Rahman al-Barak, one of the top several Wahhabi clerics in Saudi Arabia and considered close to the Kingdom's royal family, also urged Sunnis worldwide to oppose reconciliation with Shiites. The Wahhabi stream of Sunni Islam that is followed in Saudi Arabia is conservative and views Shiites as heretics.
"By and large, rejectionists (Shiites) are the most evil sect of the nation and they have all the ingredients of the infidels," Abdul Rahman wrote in a fatwa, or religious edict, that was posted on his web site Friday.
"The general ruling is that they are infidels, apostates and hypocrites," he wrote. "They are more dangerous than Jews and Christians," he wrote in the edict, which Abdul Rahman said was in response to a question from a follower.
Like most hardline Sunnis, Abdul Rahman employed the word "rejectionists," used as a derogatory term to describe Shiites because they opted out of the Sunni school of Islamic theology. He also said the sect was the work of a Jewish conspiracy.
Abdul Rahman's remarks comes amid concern by many Sunni Arabs about what they perceive as a Shiite revival following the 2003 war that toppled Saddam Hussein in Iraq. They include Jordan's King Abdullah and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Earlier this month, Nawaf Obeid, an adviser to the Saudi embassy in Washington, spoke of "massive Saudi intervention to stop Iranian-backed Shiite militias from butchering Iraqi Sunnis" if the United States withdraws from the country. Saudi citizens are also reportedly raising funds for Sunni insurgents in Iraq.
Earlier this month, about 30 prominent Saudi Wahhabi clerics called on Sunni Muslims around the Middle East to support their brethren in Iraq against Shiites and praised the anti-American insurgency.
Thousands of Iraqis have been killed this year in sectarian bloodshed between the majority Shiites and the Sunni Arab minority, who lost their dominance after the fall of Saddam Hussein.
Saudi Arabia, like most Arab countries, is predominantly Sunni but has a significant Shiite minority.
http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/topstories_story_361174438.html
Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has been executed by hanging after three years in U.S. custody. He died before dawn Saturday in Iraq, which was about 10 p.m. Friday EST.
. . .
Meanwhile, leaders in one of the United States' largest Arab-American communities said Saddam's execution will increase violence overseas and will not help the Iraqi people. Osama Siblani, publisher of The Arab American News, said Saddam's death sentence is one more casualty in a war that has killed thousands, and it will not solve the power struggle among Iraqi religious groups.
In the Name of Allah The Beneficent the Merciful
Islamic Center of America
19500 Ford Rd.
Dearborn, MI 48128
313-593-0000
313-271-0459 fax
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 13, 2006
Imam Qazwini Condemns Wahhabi Clerics Statement
Imam Hassan Qazwini, the Spiritual Leader of the Islamic Center of America, issued the following statement today:
It has been reported that a group of 38 Wahhabi scholars in Saudi Arabia have issued a joint statement calling on the global Sunni Muslim population to support Sunni Iraqis against their Shia brethren. The Wahhabi scholars urged this support through all channels, including military, financial, and moral support. This worrisome statement coincides with the New York Times article dated Wednesday, December 13, 2006, detailing how Saudi officials have informed the U.S. administration that it will provide financial backing to Iraqi Sunnis in any war against Iraqs Shiites if the United States pulls its troops out of Iraq.
Such a stance is extremely unfortunate, as we would expect the Saudi government and its Wahhabi scholars to call for self-restraint and reconciliation between Shias and Sunnis. Rather than being an instrument of peace, the Saudi government and the Wahhabi scholars have been involved in violent incitement and support for terrorists in Iraq. This sectarian violence waged by their own Saudi terrorists has brought disharmony and violence to a country that has not experienced sectarian violence for over a thousand years.
We condemn both the statement made by Saudi Wahhabis and the attempt by the Saudi government to ignite a civil war between Shias and Sunnis in Iraq. We urge the Saudi government to cease from meddling in the neighboring countrys affairs, hold these hardliner Wahhabis responsible for their inciting statement, and stop its support for Al-Qaida terrorists in Iraq.
We also request that all Muslim governments, as well as the government of the United States, pressure the Saudi government to curb the influence of these Wahhabi clerics and prevent any financial and military support from reaching the terrorists in Iraq.
Finally, we urge all Muslims -- Shia and Sunnis alike -- to stand united and work together to bring peace between their Muslim brethren in Iraq and call on them to reject bloodshed, civil war, and all hostile acts. By doing so, all Muslims will be displaying the unity and brotherhood described in the Holy Quran: The believers are but brethren, therefore make peace between your brethren. (Quran 49:10)
Posts
All Comments
