Recently Sunni islamists in Baghdad snuck into a brothel and killed 20 women. There is no doubt in my mind that this is their primary concern--the suppression of womens freedom and independence, a lesson they like to teach in the most brutal ways imaginable. This story from Afghanistan is beyond horrific. It pains me to even call attention to it but I must. The girl who was raped weighs 40 pounds, bled profusely and nearly died. Perhaps that would have been better than what will now happen to her. If this happened here there would cries to string this rapist up--yet another man of god using his divine authority to brutally torture a child for his fleeting gratification. But there this poor child will likely be murdered by her own father, having brought shame on her family. As we pull out of Afghanistan aid is already plummeting for civil projects, and Afghan protectors of abused and terrified girls such as this are fleeing in terror. I was and am against the war in Iraq from the get-go, and the fiasco it left in Afghanistan. There is no way to win--nor were we really fighting for the supposed ideals we claimed to be. I get that. And this is not our culture or province. But, for me, this murderous suppression of women is a form of immense evil--from the salafist insurgents in Syria and Iraq to the brutality, backwardness and insanity of a patriarchy that demands the murder of a child who has been already brutally raped--and no punishment for the rapist. I dont know what the answer is. The military one has failed repeatedly. Yet we cannot turn our backs on the people who have been helped, and who continue to work in such places to help others fight for their lives, for education, and some bit of sovereignty over their own bodies. We did it to the Kurds in 1988--Bush 1 telling them to rise up then abandoning them to be gassed by the thousands--and to the Vietnamese in the 70s, though far fewer were murdered by the Communists than by our once pet dictators. Perhaps both were inevitable consequences of our sticking our nose in places it didnt belong. But there must be another way. Let us not forget these people whose hopes we raised up and interests we once protected. You know what? Send in Seal Team 6 and see if they can SAVE a life for a change.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Jul 2014 19:12:43 +0000
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