A father barbarically kills his own daughter, with the help of his two sons, her brothers... while the mother looked on, unable to stop it. The girl's crime was she fell in love with a British soldier in Basra.
The father was arrested, and then released two hours later...
because it was an "honour killing". And, unfortunately, that is something to be proud of for any Iraqi man.'
Rand Abdel-Qader, 17, told her closest friend that she was in love from the moment she set eyes on the young British soldier working alongside her in Basra, and she dreamed of a future with him.
It was an innocent infatuation but five months after Rand, a student of English at Basra University, met Paul, a 22-year-old soldier posted to southern Iraq, she was dead. She was stamped on, suffocated and stabbed by her father. Several brutal knife wounds punctured her slender, bruised body - from her face to her feet. He had done it, he proclaimed to the neighbours who soon gathered round, to 'cleanse his honour'.
When Rand's mother, Leila, saw what her husband, Rand's father, was about to do:
'I screamed and called out for her two brothers so they could get their father away from her. But when he told them the reason, instead of saving her they helped him end her life,' she said.
Every last al Qaeda member could be gone from Iraq, yet this behavior will still be condoned and praised. What the hell are we -- they fighting for? I'm not fighting over there, so I can't say "we."
Bush recently gave an Iraq speechwhen the circus -- I mean Petraeus came to town. There was not one word in that speech regarding women in Iraq and how they're treated.
At the local level, businesses are re-opening and provincial councils are meeting.
Not one word about honor killings.
Bush said: (emphasis mine)
All our efforts are aimed at a clear goal: a free Iraq that can protect its people, support itself economically, and take charge of its own political affairs. No one wants to achieve this goal more than the Iraqis themselves.
Maybe if someone could make a DVD and show it to Bush, he might learn something. But I'm guessing if it doesn't show an oil well in the video, he won't be interested.
Bush also said:
Our work in Iraq will still demand sacrifices from our whole nation, especially our military, for some time to come.
This must be the sacrificehe was talking about from me, a civilian:
Bush claimed Americans are sacrificing: "They sacrifice peace of mind when they see the terrible image of violence on TV every night."
Well, my job is done today. I made my sacrifice when I read a newspaper story and envisioned the violence dealt to this young woman.