6 more tortured and killed in Iraq for being Gay (ABC News)

[FreeState]

http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=7448915&page=1

Two gay men were killed in Baghdad's Sadr City slum, and police confirmed they found the bodies of four more men, all killed during a 10-day period after an unknown Shiite militia group urged a crackdown on homosexuals in the country.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs believes as many as 30 people have been killed during the last three months because they were -- or were perceived to be -- gay.

In a letter to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the human rights group Amnesty International called for "urgent and concerted action" to end the violence against the gay community, the group reported on its Web site.

Homosexuality is prohibited almost everywhere in the Middle East, but conditions have become especially dangerous in recent years for gays and lesbians, as religious militias have become more powerful since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

But an Iraqi military source claimed the recent killings were linked to tribal violence, not militias, and his characterization of the killings hints at how deep homophobia runs in Iraqi society.

"Two young men were killed Thursday. They were sexual deviants. Their tribes killed them to restore their family honor," an Iraqi army member who did not want to give his name told ABC News.

[Roon]

1. .

:cry:

[keepCAblue]

2. religious militias have become more powerful since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Some "liberators", 'eh?

[SacredCow]

3. Oh, quit your whining....

the execution of GLBT people is just a pet issue...

:argh:

[Taverner]

4. You know, I hate to say it - but this never happened under Sadaam

He was too busy being paranoid

[nomorenomore08]

5. Making Saddam seem progressive...

It's not just appalling, it's downright pathetic. :grr:

[Taverner]

6. Appalling, pathetic - but true

He did not go after the Iraqi gay community

[nomorenomore08]

7. Offering proof, perhaps, that a secular dictatorship might be marginally better than a theocracy?

But then, guys like Stalin and Pol Pot could be seen as counter-examples to that theory, so I really don't know... :shrug:

[Taverner]

8. No, just pointing out differences

If you were GLBT, your life might have been better under Sadaam

If you were a GLBT fighting for Democracy, it probably wasn't

Why so hostile?

[nomorenomore08]

11. Hostile? Sorry, I didn't mean to be hostile at all. I was just musing on the subject.

I guess you got my tone all wrong. My apologies... :hi:

[Smarmie Doofus]

13. Interesting chapter in Hitchens' God is not Great' that ....

... speaks to this very paradox.

[nomorenomore08]

14. Oh, I see... You thought I was calling *your argument* "appalling" and "pathetic,"

when I was really saying that the reality of the situation (in Iraq) was. That's what I hate about message boards - so easy to misinterpret text with no tone of voice or anything else attached.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

9. Its islam and the sharia in action

And to think some progressives support it...

[Smarmie Doofus]

12. And the absolutely predictable result of the US invasion....

... that overthrew the ( relatively ) secular dictatorship that preceded it.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

19. Actually those kinds of things are expected anywhere islam gets any serious foothold

The treatment of gays and women in any islamic or sharia environment is horrific

[Duncan Grant]

10. So if I accuse my worthless boss of being a homosexual, will you kill him for me?

It would be great for my career. Maybe you could glue his anus shut?

[Wednesdays]

15. K&R

:kick:

[kenny blankenship]

16. What does Fierce Advocate have to say about this ?

Iraq doesn't have to listen to Amnesty International or the UN.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

17. Did you ask the Professor if you could post this?

[QC]

18. He will have to send his permission by messenger,

as he has been barred from this particular part of the college.