Sacrificed to the Surge
Some women saw warning signs last year when the movement was young. Suhair Shakir says Al Qaeda never got a foothold in her upscale east Baghdad neighborhood. But Sahwa took over anyway, and it has grown steadily more aggressive. One day last spring, Shakir was flagged down in her car at a Sahwa checkpoint. A young man sidled up to her window and asked why she wasn't wearing a headscarf. He twirled a pistol as he spoke—"like a cowboy, spinning his pistol on his finger," Shakir says. After that, she wore a scarf.
A few months later she had another encounter; this time the checkpoint's head man warned her that women shouldn't drive. At last she convinced him that she needed her car to get to work, only to be told that she could pass the checkpoint only during working hours, and never after 5 p.m. The harassment continued. Sahwa guards at the local gas station began criticizing her for being out unescorted. "These are teenagers with no knowledge and no education," she says. "They get their power and their weapons, and they try to control the life of the people."
At the national level, some women are still fighting to open up Iraqi society. Women's Affairs Minister Narmin Othman, for instance, is waging a campaign against "honor killings." If a man kills a straying wife or a daughter suspected of engaging in sex before marriage, he faces a maximum of three years in jail under Iraqi law. "Killing is killing," says Othman, a Kurdish woman partial to blue jeans and Ralph Lauren reading glasses. If an Iraqi woman kills a cheating husband, the charge is murder. Othman says men should get the same treatment.
But she faces stiff resistance from the religious parties leading the government. They claim Othman's proposal is contrary to Islam (a point disputed by some respected scholars). The Justice Ministry has refused even to provide Othman with official statistics on how many honor killings come to court. So far she and her allies have collected only 70 signatures, far short of the number necessary to get the bill considered by Parliament. She's in no hurry to bring it to a vote. "I think we would lose," she says. "We have to try to have more discussion and do more lobbying." She's not giving up. A similar measure has been adopted by leaders of the Kurdish region in northern Iraq.
Iraqi parliamentarian Samira Musawi worries that the Americans are sacrificing the possibility of a more liberal Iraq by putting too much trust in groups like the Sahwa. "There is a lot of respect for tribal sheiks, but a lot of them are not educated," she says. As she sees it, the less education they have, the more reactionary their views tend to be, especially on issues like women's rights. The Americans should be more cautious about building up the Sahwa, she says: "There have to be criteria."
But at present, U.S. forces are too pleased by the sharp drop in jihadist attacks to lose sleep over things like gender issues. "They're going to find their own level about what is acceptable," says Col. Martin Stanton, one of the Sahwa program's U.S. coordinators. "In terms of what they're doing within their own culture, I don't think we'd intervene in that." The Coalition has let Shiite groups impose their values across much of the south for years for the sake of stability; women there mostly go veiled now, and some have quit their jobs under pressure from Shiite militia members.
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Member Comments
Posted By: getzel @ 04/12/2008 9:44:11 AM
Comment: Islamic terrorist culture wants you at the gas pump/ copyright Getzel 2002. Hand delivered to every member of congress; 2002
We will have a nice LONG lasting WAR and sell lots of weapons/copyright Getzel 1989 referring to the Islamic terror war that they were waging against us for a long time already/ yes I hand delivered the message to every member of Congress in 1989. Yes World leaders adopted my 1989 phrase: LONG WAR/ just Google Long War.
Theoretical telephone conversation : Khomeini talking to President Bush in 1989: Your rules violate our rules, here we rush-to die to protect us from the satanic verses of the west/ no no your rules violate our rules, here sticks and stones may break our bones but words can never hurt us/ copyright Getzel 1989/ Yes I hand delivered that exact message to every member of Congress in 1989. Salmon Rushdie era..
1986 delivered to 50-100 members of Congress: A complete change in the government operating out of Moscow will occur...the change will occur similar to the way the government changed in the Philippines. copyright Getzel 1986.
June 2003 I wrote the exact outcome of the Iraq war...it was easy... President Bush chose the plans for the exact outcome we got...A nice LONG lasting WAR and sell lots of weapons.
I most humbly submit that those are not my best work.
Intelligence analyst: Getzel
War ends We win: when we pass a law that makes the minimum price of gasoline at the pumps: $1.75/gallon.
The ethanol investors do not build ethanol distilleries because monopoly OPEC would lower the price of crude/gasoline to rust out the billion dollar/million barrel a day ethanol stills.
Brazil is energy independent: ethanol; All their cars come built running on ethanol; The gas station fills the tanks with ethanol, no gasoline.
Archer Daniel Midland made millions in the USA selling $1.00 gallon ethanol in the 1990s;
That trumps any canard/invalid objection to ethanol. Use Cellulose ethanol, not corn ethanol.
Cellulose Ethanol energy independence in the USA, will balance the trade deficit, create full employment, bring down the price of fuel, break the monopoly on the pricing of fuel, balance the USA government budget, create less pollution, make the USA energy independent, and end the war because we will stop funding the bad guys everyday at the gas pumps.
With all the cars running on ethanol; the price of oil will collapse and the radical Moslem hordes will no longer have the funds we used to give them from gasoline sales to finance the war against us.
Yes, by 1982 I built a distillery and converted my GM car run to 160 proof ethanol; specifically to keep us out of this war; yes I delivered the message to every member of Congress.
President Bush and our Congress people would rather YOU fight than switch to ethanol. Copyright Getzel: 2005.
Posted By: eddiewhere @ 04/12/2008 5:06:18 AM
Comment: WE NEED TO MONITOR THE CyBER WAR CHINA HAS ALREADy LAUNCHED AGAINST THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS project IS AT THE Top of CHINA"S MILITARy offense against US.
THIS IS A FACT. THE AMERICAN pEOpLE NEED TO KNOW THE TRUTH. REMEMBER CLINTON SOLD THE LINCOLN BEDROOM TO THE CHINESE.
IN THE LONG RUN WE ALSO NEED TO MONITOR A pOSSIBLE MILITARy ALLIANCE BETWEEN RUSSIA AND CHINA. NOW, if McCAIN SETs A ONE HUNDRED yEAR AGENA FOR pREVENTING AN ALLIANCE BETWEEN RUSSIA AND CHINA, WELL THAT MAKES SENSE.
THE ONLy REASON THE REBpULBICANS SUppORT STAyING IN IRAQ IS DUE TO THE FACT THAT THE REBpULBICAN POWER BASE and it's backers are making BILLIONS IN IRAQ. WHILE OUR TREASURy IS BEING DRAINED EVERy DAy at the tax Payers exPense.
MORE THAN HUNDRED THOUSHAND DOLLARS A DAy. THIS IS A MODEST ESTIMASTE.
WHY CAN'T WE SEE THAT THE PeoPle Profiting from the war are haPPy with the status quo. WHo are these PeoPle,
Private Contrators who lobbied the RePublican adminstration
Cheney/ Halliburton who Provided billion dollar contracts to selected firms.
These caPitalists decided to unite and Profit in Iraq, Build a new economy in Iraq where the oil comPainies, caPitalists that suPPort the Bush Administration, War Profiteers and other Private comPanies could all make Billions at the tax Payers exPense. HERE"S THE proof, keep in mind this is just the tip ot the ice berg
Cheney's stock options which were worth $241,498 a year ago, are now valued at more than $8 million-- for an increase of 3,281% . Cheney has pledged to give the proceeds to charity. Cheney continues to receive a deferred salary from the Halliburton. He was paid $205,298 in 2001; $162,392 in 2002; $178,437 in 2003; and $194,852 in 2004.
Halliburton, has already raked in more than $10 billion for work in Iraq, and was handed some of the first Katrina contracts. The company has been criticized by auditors for its handling of no-bid contacts in Iraq, and there have been numerous allegations of over charging for services. Auditors found the firm marked up meal prices for troops and inflated gas prices in a deal with a Kuwaiti supplier. The company also built the American prison at Guantanamo Bay. "It is unseemly for the Vice President to continue to benefit from this company at the same time his Administration funnels billions of dollars to it. Lautenberg???
They even "pimped" our troops. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
Do you think Bush and Cheney care that we are spending billions in IRAQ, NO. THis is why they hated the CLINTONS. THE CLINTON"S ACTUALLY USED TAX payer money to help the middle class and all AMERICANS.
LET US REMEMBER THE VICTIMS OF THE TINANMEN SQUARE MASSACRE, WHERE HUNDREDS WERE FLATTENED LIKE PANCAKES ON DIRECT ORDERS FROM THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT. LET US REMEMBER THE ONE MILLION CHINESE CITIZENS ROTTING IN JAIL FOR NO REASON.
Posted By: getzel @ 04/11/2008 11:10:38 PM
Comment: Islamic terrorist culture wants you at the gas pump/ copyright Getzel 2002. Hand delivered to every member of congress; 2002
We will have a nice LONG lasting WAR and sell lots of weapons/copyright Getzel 1989 referring to the Islamic terror war that they were waging against us for a long time already/ yes I hand delivered the message to every member of Congress in 1989. Yes World leaders adopted my 1989 phrase: LONG WAR/ just Google Long War.
Theoretical telephone conversation : Khomeini talking to President Bush in 1989: Your rules violate our rules, here we rush-to die to protect us from the satanic verses of the west/ no no your rules violate our rules, here sticks and stones may break our bones but words can never hurt us/ copyright Getzel 1989/ Yes I hand delivered that exact message to every member of Congress in 1989. Salmon Rushdie era..
1986 delivered to 50-100 members of Congress: A complete change in the government operating out of Moscow will occur...the change will occur similar to the way the government changed in the Philippines. copyright Getzel 1986.
June 2003 I wrote the exact outcome of the Iraq war...it was easy... President Bush chose the plans for the exact outcome we got...A nice LONG lasting WAR and sell lots of weapons.
I most humbly submit that those are not my best work.
Intelligence analyst: Getzel
War ends We win: when we pass a law that makes the minimum price of gasoline at the pumps: $1.75/gallon.
The ethanol investors do not build ethanol distilleries because monopoly OPEC would lower the price of crude/gasoline to rust out the billion dollar/million barrel a day ethanol stills.
Brazil is energy independent: ethanol; All their cars come built running on ethanol; The gas station fills the tanks with ethanol, no gasoline.
Archer Daniel Midland made millions in the USA selling $1.00 gallon ethanol in the 1990s;
That trumps any canard/invalid objection to ethanol. Use Cellulose ethanol, not corn ethanol.
Cellulose Ethanol energy independence in the USA, will balance the trade deficit, create full employment, bring down the price of fuel, break the monopoly on the pricing of fuel, balance the USA government budget, create less pollution, make the USA energy independent, and end the war because we will stop funding the bad guys everyday at the gas pumps.
With all the cars running on ethanol; the price of oil will collapse and the radical Moslem hordes will no longer have the funds we used to give them from gasoline sales to finance the war against us.
Yes, by 1982 I built a distillery and converted my GM car run to 160 proof ethanol; specifically to keep us out of this war; yes I delivered the message to every member of Congress.
President Bush and our Congress people would rather YOU fight than switch to ethanol. Copyright Getzel: 2005.