From Captain's Quarters, this startling revelation from Howard Dean:
Howard Dean, the Democratic National Committee chairman who was the hero of his party's anti-war wing before his gaffe-prone 2004 presidential candidacy crashed and burned in Iowa, still doesn't think the Iraqis are better off with dictator Saddam Hussein out of power and in prison.Appearing on CBS' "Face the Nation" yesterday, the fiery former Vermont governor said, "It looks like today, and this could change, as of today it looks like women will be worse off in Iraq than they were when Saddam Hussein was president of Iraq."
The US Department of State has this to say about how it was for women under Saddam:
Rape. The Iraqi Government uses rape and sexual assault of women to achieve the following goals: to extract information and forced confessions from detained family members; to intimidate Iraqi oppositionists by sending videotapes showing the rape of female family members; and to blackmail Iraqi men into future cooperation with the regime. Some Iraqi authorities even carry personnel cards identifying their official "activity" as the "violation of women's honor." (U.S. Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices-2001, March 2002; Iraq Research and Documentation Project, Harvard University)
And this from WomenOf.com:
Dr. Katrin Michael is from Northern Iraq; she joined the Kurdish-based Iraqi resistance movement in 1982 to fight against Saddam Hussein’s regime. A victim of chemical bombings by Saddam’s forces, she fled Iraq in 1988:"As a woman who wages peace, and who has lived through war, I appeal to all people, but especially women and peace activists, to support American actions to remove Saddam Hussein. After twenty-six years of resistance activities against Saddam, I have come to the conclusion that only support from outside Iraq can bring an end to the nightmare of his rule."No one in Iraq is immune from Saddam's brutality… but women's groups in the West should know that Saddam specifically targets women as part of his broader policies of intimidation. A commonly used form of torture is to bring in detainee's female relative, preferably his wife, daughter or mother, and gang rape her in front him. How many men can bear to subject their female relatives to such brutality? Iraqis in exile receive videotapes of their female relatives in Iraq being raped. Is it any surprise that Iraqi scientists refuse to speak to weapons inspectors?"
Or how about May Hasan Lamotte, who tried to deliver this message to Cindy Sheehan:
"I came after reading about Miss Cindy. They think their children are dead for nothing, and I am one who got freedom," Lamotte said. "I am grateful for her son and American soldiers. Everybody thinks (Casey) died for nothing. He gave his life as many other brave soldiers have to give me and my country freedom," she said.
Are there problems in Iraq with regards to the treatment of women since the fall of Saddam? Of course, and some of them are serious. But the difference between now and then is now there is hope that a civil society will take root and will put an end to the violence that happened before and is still happening now in many places. Even Amnesty International admits it:
In the past year, women's rights activists have successfully campaigned against an attempt to amend the Personal Status Law to place certain family matters under the control of religious authorities.Numerous non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other bodies working for women's rights have also been formed, including groups that focus on the protection of women from violence.
Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen called on the Iraqi government to ensure that the new constitution outlaws all discrimination on women.
But Dean Howard would have the clock turned back to Saddam's days, an attitude shared by Cindy Sheehan:
And I'm gonna say, "And you tell me, what the noble cause is that my son died for." And if he even starts to say freedom and democracy' I'm gonna say, bullshit.You tell me the truth. You tell me that my son died for oil. You tell me that my son died to make your friends rich. You tell me my son died to spread the cancer of Pax Americana, imperialism in the Middle East. You tell me that, you don't tell me my son died for freedom and democracy.'
Cuz, we're not freer. You're taking away our freedoms. The Iraqi people aren't freer, they're much worse off than before you meddled in their country.
Deaniacs and Sheehanites making common cause. Watch as the Democratic Party continues along the path to radicalization and marginalization.
[Ooops alert: I did a global search and replace to correct a minor typo, and never noticed that I reversed "Howard Dean" to "Dean Howard" everywhere.]
