Tuesday, May 11, 2004

Iraqi Female Prisoners Face Future of Shame -- or Death

One woman told her attorney that she was forced to disrobe in front of male prison guards. After much coaxing, another woman described how she was raped by U.S. soldiers. Then she fainted.

Raped by a U.S. soldier and then she fainted. Removing a woman's headscarf is traumatic enough. But rape? I can't even wrap my head around these heart-breaking accounts. We normally embrace victims here in the US, but the culture is so much different in Iraq.

A woman who is raped brings shame on her family in the Islamic world. In many cases, rape victims have been killed by their relatives to salvage family honor, although there is no evidence this has happened to women who have been prisoners in Iraq.

As the administration decides when or if to publish more prison abuse photos, let's hope the identity of all the victims remain anonymous. I wish we didn't know the identity of the first prisoners photographed. The stigma is unbearable, and they're already emotionally sentenced to a lifetime of humiliation and disgrace.

--Tracy Wilkinson, LATimes
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Posted by: Susan Cook & cross-posted to - Easy Bake Coven.

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