For Iraqi women, Abu Ghraib's taint - Democratic Underground

NNN0LHI

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Fri May-28-04 07:04 AM
Original message

For Iraqi women, Abu Ghraib's taint

Edited on Fri May-28-04 07:06 AM by NNN0LHI

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0528/p01s02-woiq.html

Photos - even if fake - spark rumors that hit family honor

By Annia Ciezadlo | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

BAGHDAD – The pictures would horrify anyone: hooded US soldiers raping and torturing naked Iraqi women at gunpoint. But for Farah al-Azzawi, these blurry photos burn with agony and shame.

Ms. Azzawi is part of a secret sisterhood: her mother is one of three women inside Abu Ghraib, the notorious prison where US soldiers took smiling snapshots of themselves sadistically humiliating Iraqis. snip

It's not just the shame that makes Azzawi's hands shake with rage. What makes the counterfeit photos so searing, for her, is the fear that they might hold some truth. Among the 1,800 or so pictures taken by American soldiers at Abu Ghraib, there are others, viewed by Congress but not released to the public, of at least one Iraqi woman forced to bare her breasts. And a US military investigator, Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, cited at least one case of a military police guard "having sex with" a female prisoner. snip

Now that there are real pictures of US troops sexually humiliating Iraqi women, reality and rumors have tangled inseparably. "With the pictures and the CDs, it becomes almost irrelevant if they're raped or not," says Manal Omar, the Iraq coordinator of Women for Women, which helps women in former war zones. "Even before the torture, the rumor was out that they were raping women in the prison. With or without the pictures from the porn site, the real pictures made people believe that. It made that rumor fact."

more

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KoKo

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Fri May-28-04 07:12 AM
Response to Original message

1. After reading the latest accounts last night...new stories about England

Edited on Fri May-28-04 07:30 AM by KoKo01

and Garner and what went on in that Prison, we have to know that horrible things happened to those women. The kind of atomosphere among the soldiers in charge is worse than we imagined, and women are usually the first mistreated in wars. If they did what they did to the men, I really don't want to think about what happened to the women. They aren't releasing much about it...so we know they are putting the lid on as long as they can.

Did you read Kiskiska's post from WaPo laste night with the latest realeased from the Taguba report, Don? It's really awful.

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NNN0LHI

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Fri May-28-04 07:17 AM
Response to Reply #1

3. I didn't read it KoKo01. Is it on the front page here? Thank you n/t

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KoKo

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Fri May-28-04 07:44 AM
Response to Reply #3

8. Here's link to DU post and article. It was NYT's not WaPo. Maybe

you already read it. If you need the article from NYT's to read the whole thing and aren't subscribed, I can PM it to your here.

Although, maybe it's better not to read the whole thing. It makes you wonder how our military became so undisciplined that soldiers would treat officers the way they did. Explains some of how they treated their fellow human beings.

If this is the kind of military we have because of the commanders Bush put in place, then I imagine the atrocities go far beyond that prison, and a "handful of bad apples."

I sympathize about your daughter's fiance. I have one like that in my family. It's not easy...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x587559

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/27/politics/27PUNI.html

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SlingBlade

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Fri May-28-04 07:15 AM
Response to Original message

2. The Sickest thing about it is that

The Neo’s either number one deny that it ever happened or they actually try to defend it.
On one of the boards I “Visit”, They come right out and say that this is one of the “Fringe Benefits” of an occupying army, It is so RUSH and so perverted.
It’s very hard not to be drawn into their hate and to use it against them, But then that would make me as bad as them.

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NNN0LHI

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Fri May-28-04 07:28 AM
Response to Reply #2

4. You are handling it the right way kiloman

Edited on Fri May-28-04 07:43 AM by NNN0LHI

These people can laugh and joke about it all they want, but when it comes right down to it when they do so, I find it good to unmask these types. My daughters fiancee just shrugged this off as being OK to me a couple of weeks ago and I have not spoken or been around him since. And I don't plan on being around him in the future either. I have told my other daughter who just made me a grandfather last year to never leave my grandson alone with this fellow. Even for short periods of time. I explained to her why and she agreed with me. Welcome to DU kiloman

Don

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SlingBlade

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Fri May-28-04 07:38 AM
Response to Reply #4

6. Thank you NNN0LHI for the welcome.

Edited on Fri May-28-04 07:39 AM by kiloman

So sad to hear this, Hopefully it will expose more than his views on women, Perhaps this is a GOOD THING if you get my meaning.

Good luck

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jean

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Fri May-28-04 08:21 AM
Response to Reply #4

11. good that he's just a fiancee for now - let's hope he continues to

flap his ignorant mouth and your daughter will dump him!

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Kelvin Mace

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Fri May-28-04 07:36 AM
Response to Reply #2

5. Do us a favor...

post a link to the neo claiming this is a "fringe benefit" of an occupying power. I think people need to know how neo's think.

I certainly would love to post such views so people can see the utter moral bankruptcy of the RW view.

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SlingBlade

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Fri May-28-04 07:48 AM
Response to Reply #5

9. Well plan9_pub

I do have a few, You see I’ve been searching for quite some time, Then thankfully I’ve found D.U and haven't looked back since.
I am just exhausted by the continuous attacks and nonsense.

You will have to search for this particular post, But their direction is always the same, It’s pretty much the line that since WE were attacked We have these rights.
I’ve been on more than a dozen boards the last few months, Searching for some sanity.

Try these two, But beware, There are some real sick puppies on the first one.

http://users.boardnation.com/~kctv/index.php?board=7

And

http://cf.rrstar.com/forums/index.cfm

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Kelvin Mace

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Fri May-28-04 08:34 AM
Response to Reply #9

12. Thank you!

One other minor request: Can you tell me which topic you were reading that had the remark about the rapes? Even I can only stomach a few dozen of these at a time. Sifting through several thousand could be fatal. <s>

Welcome to DU. If I may also recommend my own site:

www.thoughtcrimes.org

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SlingBlade

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Fri May-28-04 09:05 AM
Response to Reply #12

13. plan9_pub-Thanks for the link, I’m saving it ...

“Even I can only stomach a few dozen of these at a time”

I know exactly what you mean.
This is a comment that stuck in my head, It’s one from what I can remember that I didn't even respond to, Although some others did if I recall.
I did just get back from both these sites and couldn't find the exact thread, It is as you say though very hard to read some of the responses that are given and the excuses that are offered.

As I’ve said, I’d been searching for something more tolerable to my mental health when I came upon D.U, And this is my home now as far as I’m concerned.
It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to discuss these issues with others without being attacked or marginalized.
I hope I did not lead you in the wrong direction, I will keep looking for that particular thread, A few at a time, It’s all I can take.

Once again, Thanks for the welcome and the link.

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chelsea0011

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Fri May-28-04 07:42 AM
Response to Original message

7. It is impossible to believe that with military women holding penis

that the men wouldn't have abused the women. But there has to be film proof or it may never come to light.

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The Backlash Cometh

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Fri May-28-04 07:55 AM
Response to Original message

10. No problem. Bring them to America where they can start a new life.

:eyes:

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