More peace and democracy in Iraq

President George Bush justifies the entire illegal invasion of Iraq with the tired line that it will bring peace and democracy to the Middle East, and liberate Iraqis from repression.

But these claims to be fighting a war to establish a democracy in Iraq are belied by the fact that Iraq is more theocracy than it is democracy, where the “peaceful” laws of Islam trump universal civil rights.

I have no love for Saddam’s brutal and sinister regime, but at least under Saddam, Iraq was a secular nation, one in which Iraqi women enjoyed freedoms unheard of in the rest of the middle east. But along with the death, mayhem and economic depression wrought by the U.S. invasion, women’s rights are experiencing a slow, agonizing demise.

The International Campaign Against Honour Killings recently reported on the beating and stoning to death of 17-year-old Du’a Khalil Aswad, in northern Iraq. While law enforcement officials turned a blind eye, a mob of frenzied men murdered the young girl to death. Neighbors watched, recording the crime on cell phones.

What was Aswad’s crime? She fell in love with someone of a different religious sect her family did not approve of.

In the U.S., most people think this kind of brutality is exactly the kind of thing that U.S. democratization will stop,” says Yifat Susskind, communications director of MADRE, an international human rights organization. But, they’d be wrong.

“In fact, the opposite is true,” Susskind writes on the ICAHK blog. “Since the US invasion, “honor killings” have been on the rise across Iraq, due in large part to measures enacted by the US.”

CNN released video footage of the attack, and it’s been widely circulated on internet sites.

After destroying the Iraqi state, religious powers amenable to the United States quickly filled the legislative and political voids. Although the U.S. is responsible for the protection of all Iraqi’s human rights, honor killings are still rarely prosecuted and if they are, only carry a sentence as little as six months in jail, versus life in prison for murder.

These same religious leaders who operate with the blessing of the U.S. promote honor killing as a religious duty. Women are killed to protect the “honor” of their families, even if they are raped. In October 2004, Iraq’s Ministry of Women’s Affairs revealed that more than half of the 400 rapes reported since the US invasion resulted in the murder of rape survivors by their families.

The next time you hear Bush praising the new democratic system in place in Iraq, think of the Du’a Khalil Aswads in Iraq, whose murders are a direct result of American empire-building.

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Administrative news

Okay, so I need to design my own custom theme for this blog, but it’s about 1 million on my list of a gazillion things to do.  In the meantime, this theme will do nicely.

I just discovered  today that I won the department of English’s Coons Lafcadio Hearn Journalism award, for a feature story I wrote for my magazine writing class last quarter.  Supposedly, there’s a cash prize to go along with it, but I haven’t heard yet how much it is.

I’m not really concentrating on this blog at the moment, so updates will be sporadic at best.  I’m focusing most of my efforts at my The-F-Word blog, which to my surprise, has become quite successful, blog-wise.  I’m averaging about 400 visits a day to the site.

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Wtf… Kansas?

So, we took the HGTV quiz You Should Live Here and were told:

Lawrence, Kansas 

Because you require a high standard of living with unexpected luxuries, you should live here: Lawrence, Kansas.  Lawrence is truly a college town with a vitality and diversity uniquely its own. From outdoor sculpture exhibits on downtown street corners to engaging performances, you’ll find new opportunities to immerse yourself in the arts. Take a look around and find out why Lawrence has been named the most culturally rich American city under 100,000 people.  More than 50 local parks and Clinton Lake state park provide fun outings for the whole family. Boaters, golfers, hikers, birdwatchers - even frisbee golfers - have access to an infinite amount of recreational opportunities. 

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First post!

First post on the new blog, which I relocated from www.foolishinconsistencies.org. I’ll work on moving the archives over within the next couple weeks.

Life has been crazy busy hectic here in the Kinman/Richardson household. I’ve begun what I call Project Backyard, which (ideally) involves a woodchipper, backhoe, tiller and lots of bricks. Our house is on a fairly steep slope, and nothing has ever been done to the backyard, so it’s full of brush, shrubbery, weeds and rocks. Hopefully, by the end of summer, it’ll be worthy of any HGTV show.

A great chunk of my time is being spent on the multimedia presentation for the upcoming 30th anniversary of the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire, which occurred Memorial Day weekend. I’m creating a chronology of the tragedy in Flash, with a couple other related Flash graphics on it. But it’s all overtime work.

Lots of end-of-year school stuff coming up… I’m in the running for the prestigious C-Ring award through the university, which recognizes academic excellence and advocacy for women. They selected 15 semi-finalists who had to interview before a 10-panel committee. It was daunting, to say the least. We find out who won at the banquet, May 19.

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