Oh wonderful! So, Iraqi women get screwed again, in this case painfully!!!

[Montauk6]

Female circumcision surfaces in Iraq

A German aid group finds the first solid proof of the practice, thought to be prevalent in the Middle East.

By Nicholas Birch | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor

KIRKUK, IRAQ - Set on an arid plain southeast of Kirkuk, Hasira looks like a place forsaken by time. Sheep amble past mud-brick houses and the odd sickly palm tree shades children's games. There is no electricity.

Yet along with 39 other villages in this region that Iraq's Kurds have named Germian (meaning hot place), Hasira and its people have become noted for presenting the first statistical evidence in Iraq of the existence of female circumcision, or female genital mutilation (FGM), as critics call it.

"We knew Germian was one of the areas most affected by the practice," says Thomas von der Osten-Sacken, director of a German nongovernmental organization called WADI, which has been based in Iraq for more than a decade.

Of 1,554 women and girls over 10 years old interviewed by WADI's local medical team, 907, or more than 60 percent, said they had had the operation. The practice is known to exist throughout the Middle East, particularly in northern Saudi Arabia, southern Jordan, and Iraq. There is also circumstantial evidence to suggest it is present in Syria, western Iran, and southern Turkey.


More on this outrage: http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0810/p06s01-woiq.html

[fasttense]

1. I wonder if they made female circumcision mandatory

under the new constitution? n/t

[etherealtruth]

4. It's not against Islamic law ...

This is not a slam against Islam, if the Iraqi constitution is based upon Sharia there are little protections for women spelled out.

I don't believe that this is what the Prophet had intended, but IT IS how it is often interpretted.

[Montauk6]

5. There was an Islamic scholar on Tony Trupiano's show a few weeks ago

I don't remember the name (nor the date of the show, unfortunately). But this guy was saying that all those oppressive things done to women from the beatings to dressing them like ghosts is not of Islam but more a holdover from the secular culture/traditions.

Whether it's true or not I leave to the experts, but it wouldn't surprise me. After all, how many of Christ's teachings get put on the backburner because it doesn't jibe with the worshipper's day-to-day lifestyle/culture/traditions/folkways?

[etherealtruth]

7. There is a great deal of truth to that ...

However, though viewed as equal before God women ARE limited by Islamic law ... inheritance 1/2 that of men, legal testimony given only 1/2 the weight of that of men, how to discipline women for not following Islamic law (by their husbands, fathers and brothers) spelled out ... many, many more examples.

Through the devaluation of women I SEE a clear connection between human rights violations of women in Islamic theocracies.

I am not trying to slam Islam ... almost any kind of theocracy CAN lead to these abuses ... (IMHO) that is why a constitution based on Islamic law IS dangerous

[etherealtruth]

8. The BBC has an article on the ACTUAL effects of the Islamic law ...

... on women:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/2977446.stm

The article describes the part "culture" plays, implicating the misinterpretation of Islamic law by men ... there in lies the problem for me if women are not given equal value ...

It's "Theocratic governments' that are problematic ... in Iraq it is Islam.

[FloridaPat]

9. I have a Muslim female friend who told me once that God's intention

was not to have women treated so bad and the proof was that Mohammad only had daughters. If they were good enough for the profit, then they must be important.

[DemInDistress]

2. Where is main stream media....

I can understand today is Katrina but this barbaric practice should be voluntary at best..Bush's New Iraq....Shame on that Crime Family I denounce them and wish misery and hardship throughout their reign of power

[Montauk6]

6. Oddly enough, it vindicates those who have screamed the longest that Iraq

is worse off today than prior to our takeover. I know I feel like PUNCHING my speakers when I hear a freeper apologist call in and carry the talking point that the noble cause was bring freedom and peace to an oppressed people.
:nuke: :grr: :nuke:

[etherealtruth]

3. Oh, but it's their culture ... We have no right to interfere ...

:sarcasm:

I have never heard human rights violations or ritual torture against men dismissed as "being part of THEIR culture" ... yet, even here on the DU, I have seen these arguments made in relation to the status of women (most recently in Iraq).

Human rights violations are NEVER ok, nor is ritual torture (and I don't know how else to describe female genital mutilation).

Sorry, obviously I am more than a little upset about the status of 1/2 the population in Iraq ...

[niallmac]

10. Luckily I guess

I have NEVER seen a post on DU sympathetic to or excusing the mutilation of women or men.
I am also pretty ignorant about what has been done internationally to address this barbaric practice. As you know, standing around watching crimes against humanity is not a women only issue. The world fumbled around during WWII as men women and children were obviously being eliminated. The UN wrung it's hands as mostly Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered. It was a 'cultural thing' aggravated by colonial influence using one class against another.
No excuses here. If I could contribute to any effort to battle this inexcusable practice i would do what I could with what little I have.

[etherealtruth]

11. No, no,no ...

I am not claiming that there was a post dismissing female genital mutilation (specifically) ... the posts I refer to were posts dismissing OTHER (general) human rights violations against women as "their culture" and NOT our business.

I agree, the UN wrings it's hands muttering "it's cultural ... " far to o often.

edit: muttering/sp corrected

[DemInDistress]

12. Its God awful...I seen some pics somewhere

young girls scared terrorized and many times held down some butcher could cut off the clit.Its bloody and against human nature,customs like this need the publics attention..Imagine having your balls/clit sliced off against your will.If however females voluntary allow such a heinous act good for them I sincerely doubt voluntary "clitomectomy's" would happen......

[WildClarySage]

13. Clitorectomy is only one part of female genital mutilation. It gets worse

than a simple "cut off the clit" process.

[omega minimo]

14. This sort of flippant, bullshit, inflammatory disrespectful OP title

unredeemed by the empty, commentless article post

that used to seem worth pointing out.

There's enough pain in the world. This is a painful subject. If you feel compelled to inflict it here right now, is a throwaway jokey title the best you could do?

Maybe you'll think about that the next time you get painfully screwed or clitorectimized.