There's a million sad stories on the side of the road
Strange how we all just got used to the blood
Millions of stories that will never be told
Silent and froze in the mud
Silent and froze in the mud
I know a cold as cold as it gets
I know a darkness that's darker than coal
A wind that blows as cold as it gets
Blew out the light of my soul
Blew out the light of my soul
I dream in my sleep, I dream in my days
Of some sunny street not so far away
Where up in a window a curtain will sway
And you and I'll meet down below
You and I'll meet down below...
-- © 2004 Patty Griffin
One of the top "in-depth" stories on BBC News website today describes an Amnesty International report that women around the world are "bearing the brunt of war".
I looked at the report, plus some of the Iraqi women's personal stories on the Amnesty International site.
Look below the fold.
[editor's note, by Plutonium Page] Yes, I did post this yesterday, but diary cops be damned. I have no excuse except I want this information out there.
Excerpts from:
Iraq: living with fear
Asma (not her real name), a young engineer, was abducted in Baghdad in 2003. She was shopping with her mother, sister and a male relative when six armed men forced her into a car and drove to a farmhouse outside the city. There she was repeatedly raped. A day later, Asma was driven to her neighbourhood and pushed out of the car.
Women in Iraq remain in fear and insecurity as the violence against them has continued. Although kidnapping resulting in rape or sexual abuse of women appears to have decreased since late 2003, the lack of security for women remains a serious threat. Women and girls live in constant fear of being abducted, raped or murdered. Girls and women are also under threat in their own homes. With growing lawlessness, so-called "honour killings", in which the victims are women or girls killed by male relatives for allegedly immoral behaviour, have continued. Such crimes are known to have been ignored by the police.
"I took the veil, because the security situation now does not allow a girl to go around unveiled or even not fully veiled," a 23-year-old woman student told Amnesty International. More girls and women now feel they have to wear the hijab for security reasons or because of threats by Islamist groups towards women not observing a strict Islamic dress code.
[snip]
Neither the US-led coalition authority nor any of the Iraqi interim governing bodies since the 2003 war has taken effective steps to ensure adequate protection of women and women's rights defenders. Indeed, women detained by the US occupying forces are reported to have been sexually abused, possibly raped. The US military investigation headed by Major General Antonio Taguba found "systemic" and "illegal abuse of detainees" in Abu Ghraib Prison between August 2003 and February 2004. Among abuses documented were the "videotaping and photographing of male and female detainees" and "a male MP guard having sex with a female detainee".
A report on domestic violence against women in Iraq also mentions the effect of the war:
The political and security vacuum following the US-led invasion and occupation in 2003 has led to widespread looting and gun crime. Daily newspaper reports of kidnappings and rape have led many women to give up work or study and they are effectively confined in their homes. An Iraqi women's rights organization, the League of Iraqi Women, reported that more than 400 women had been "kidnapped, raped and occasionally sold" between the end of the war in April and August 2003.
[snip]
Some Islamist leaders have exploited the current instability in Iraq to press for their own agendas, which would entail imposing restrictions on women's freedom of expression and on women's freedom of movement.
The full Amnesty International report is here (pdf).
The news about the war can become a dull roar. It's easy to forget about the individuals whose lives are shattered. We talk about "civilian casualties" without remembering stories like the one Riverbend told over a year ago.
For that reason, I'd like to ask you to recommend this diary. Get these women's stories out there.