Religious Vigilantes Killed 40 Women This Year In Southern Iraqi City Of Basra, Police Say

[Purveyor]

Source: Associated Press

Religious vigilantes have killed at least 40 women this year in the southern Iraqi city of Basra because of how they dressed, their mutilated bodies found with notes warning against "violating Islamic teachings," the police chief said Sunday.

Maj. Gen. Jalil Khalaf blamed sectarian groups that he said were trying to impose a strict interpretation of Islam. They dispatch patrols of motorbikes or unlicensed cars with tinted windows to accost women not wearing traditional dress and head scarves, he added.

"The women of Basra are being horrifically murdered and then dumped in the garbage with notes saying they were killed for un-Islamic behavior," Khalaf told The Associated Press. He said men with Western clothes or haircuts are also attacked in Basra, an oil-rich city some 30 miles from the Iranian border and 340 miles southeast of Baghdad.
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Before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, was known for its mixed population and night life. Now, in some areas, red graffiti threatens any woman who wears makeup and appears with her hair uncovered: "Your makeup and your decision to forgo the headscarf will bring you death."

Read more: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/12/10/africa/ME-GEN-Iraq-Women-Killed.php

[msongs]

1. sounds like a MAN problem with religion used as an excuse nt

[TheWraith]

9. Because it's all about gender, right?

Nevermind the fact that they're also murdering gay men in droves, as well as teachers of every stripe, shop owners who sell liquor, men and women both who dress or act in western manners... No, it can't be that they're just sick fucking assholes, it has to be that men = bad.

[donsu]

10. well, its mostly men - what 95% at least

nt

[tabasco]

2. Good thing the USA is there to be the policeman of the world.

There were over 17,000 murders in the USA last year.

[Faygo Kid]

3. Get out now. Now. The madness will only worsen.

"Before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, was known for its mixed population and night life."

This nation has gone insane, while the corporate media doesn't even report on Iraq anymore. It's just a permanent state of affairs, to the tune of endless deaths and $3 billion a week.

We will reap what we have sown in 2008. Next year will chill the blood of any decent person whose blood has not yet been chilled by the Bush administration.

[Danger Mouse]

4. So this is what Bush meant when he talked of Iraqi Freedom...

:puke:

[Doctor_J]

5. Let Freedom Ring

1.2 million civilians dead, 1.3 trillion dollars spent, oil at $100/bbl, 9 trillion dollars in debt. Why are we there again?

[dflprincess]

13. Because the people of Iraq are sooooo much better off with Sadamm Hussein

:sarcasm:

(Not that he wasn't a horrible excuse for a human being, but at least the people had electricity, clean water and jobs and less of a chance of being randomly murdered.)

[Sultana]

6. Islam is overrun by fundies

"The women of Basra are being horrifically murdered and then dumped in the garbage with notes saying they were killed for un-Islamic behavior,"

-Isn't it un-Islamic to kill or am I missing something?

[TheWraith]

8. Nothing to do with religion, really. Or gender, for that matter.

Or sexual orientation, education, sale of liquor, or any of the other reasons that they're murdering people. It just boils down to sick people on a power trip, kind of like Jack the Ripper, Queen Mary, or Reinhard Heydrich.

[TrogL]

11. Authoritarianism with an Islamic bent

[cascadiance]

7. A good documentary to try and understand this is "And Along Came a Spider"

which is about an Iranian serial killer that goes out and solicits and murders Iranian prostitutes, which he rationalizes to himself and to his family as doing "god's service". When you hear this guy talk a lot about what he's doing, and what motivates him for doing so, along with his family's comments too, I think it helps one understand the mentality at work here. It has aired a few times on either Free Speech TV or Link TV a while back.

http://www.linktv.org/programs/along

[boricua79]

12. so much for the respect of women in Islam...as dictated by the Koran NT

Medieval Islam strikes again...

when will we see a Reformation or Enlightenment in the Islamic world?

When will we see progressive interpretations of Islam flourish in the larger society?

When will we see Sha'ria law and legal systems that mirror or match Western systems of civil rights? Is it a possibility to imagine a religion-based legal system that matches a secular legal system based on Enlightenment values? Are we asking for too much?

All i know is that I'm tired of reading these stories, and tired of hearing the "it's only a minority" meme, and I'm tired of Medieval Islam.

I'm also tired of having to add the necessary caveat at the end of my post, "I also feel this way about Christianity and other religions". If I don't, I get labeled an Islamophobe.

[stanwyck]

14. Is Laura Bush going to condemn this

or make more speeches about how the invasion has helped Iraq's women? Laura seems to have a habit of becoming enamored with a cause and then letting it drop. Remember how she was going to solve the gang problem in our country? GWB said in his state of the union address "he could think of no one more qualified." Well, I'm sure that's true. Then, there was her literacy program. She seems to be a short-attention span First Lady. Our next First Lady/First Man - whether it's Bill, Elizabeth, or Michelle will definitely be an improvement over Laura. I sure miss Ladybird Johnson, Betty Ford, and Rosalyn Carter. No there were some First Ladies who knew how to get things done.
Heaven help us if the next First Lady is Judith.