In an article in this weeks addition of Time magazine, there was a story that focused on the amount of women and girls as young as 14 disappearing in Iraq. Many are being kidnapped and sold to either men in neighboring countries or are shipped to brothels. Obviously this is unbelievably disturbing, but whats more disturbing is the amount of women being kidnapped and forced into the sex trade by their captors. Since the fall of Saddam in 2003, there are an estimated 2,000 missing women and girls from Iraq. Accompanying the story is one about a young girl and her own accounts of how she was kidnapped, beaten, tortured, and than eventually being sold to a man from the U.A.E. for a reported $10,000.
Unfortunately her story is not few and far between. But what may be even more horrifying is that most of the disapparences aren't being reported and the victims who are found, have no where to go. They are often looked at as having "uncompromised chastity" that they may never be taken back by their families due to their shame of their daughters or wives. This is another unfortunate result of the U.S. occupation in Iraq. During Saddam's regime, sex trafficking was basically non-existent. But since law and order has yet to be restored to many areas of Iraq, this type of action goes unnoticed and apparently condoned. And what makes it even more aggravating is that the organizations that are trying to help these women and girls and provide them a safe sanctuary are being held back by the new Iraqi governments red tape and bureaucracy. Way to go Bushie, you're doing a heck of a job protecting Iraqis as well as spreading freedom in the Middle East. Yeah only if your a man and you're involved in either a local militia or a gang and make a living as a sex trafficker and/or terrorist.