Help Protect Iraqi Women

[CODEPINK]

Can you imagine being afraid to leave your home because of the
very real threat of attack--whether by bomb or bullet or
stone? This is a fear, a threat, Iraqi women have to live with
every single day. 
In April 2006, CODEPINK released Iraqi Women Under Siege, a
detailed report
[http://www.codepinkalert.org/downloads/IraqiWomenReport.pdf]on
the status of Iraqi women. In it, we describe the serious
deterioration of women's rights since the U.S. invasion. We
explore how the high level of violence in Iraq has constrained
women's lives and limited their options, leaving them and
their families to grapple with the traumatic impact of war
both physically and psychologically.
We also produced a video based on our sponsorship of a tour of
Iraqi women to the United States, Women Say NO to War: Iraqi
and American Women Speak Out. You can order it here
[http://equalityiniraq.com/english.htm].
Unfortunately, since we produced these materials, the
situation of Iraqi women has gotten dramatically worse. A
recent Reuters article
[http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/4a66b6c2d010e2842304ea70ed6e0877.htm]documents
how sectarian violence is forcing Iraqi women from their jobs
and into arranged marriages. We receive heartbreaking letters
from our friends in Iraq on a regular basis. Here is an
excerpt from one we received a week ago:
Our country before the war in 2003 was beautiful, clean,
shiny, full of historic monuments and huge universities. The
streets were full of people working, visiting friends and
families, drinking tea until very late at night.
Our country was full of colors. Today the only colors are red
and dark, red by the blood and dark by the smoke of bombs and
cars burning. 
We are ready to clean our country, we are ready to rebuild our
country with our hands, we are ready to forget that our petrol
and our history were stolen. All we ask for is security. Is it
so much to ask for? 
Unfortunately, security is almost impossible to come by for
Iraqi women. In the Kurdish north, the part of the country
insulated from most of the violence, the situation of women
has reached new lows. Du'a Khalil Aswad, a 17 year old from
the town of Bashiqa, in Iraqi Kurdistan, was stoned to death
on April 7, 2007. She came from a family of Yazidi faith, and
was snatched from her home by Yazidi men who had discovered
that she was in love with a Muslim Arab man and had visited
him. In front of hundreds of people, including local police,
they dragged her to the center of town and stoned her to
death. Townspeople watched and even filmed this barbaric act.
You can see a portion of the tape at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0pgKn3w8zI (viewer discretion
is STRONGLY advised). The killers, obviously well known in the
community, are still free. 
We have created a petition which demands that the Iraqi
Government and Kurdistan Regional Government condemn this
brutal act and bring the killers to justice and that they
outlaw honor killings, as well as all violence and oppression
of women. You can sign it at
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/codepink/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=626.

We will deliver this petition to the Iraqi Embassy and Kurdish
Representatives in Washington, DC. Together we can raise our
voices to help our sisters in Iraq. 
For further information about the status of Iraqi women, and
to learn how women in Iraq are organizing to fight for their
own rights, please visit the website of the Organization of
Women's Freedom in Iraq at
http://equalityiniraq.com/english.htm.

[Tom Joad]

1. K&R thanks for the post

[libodem]

2. this is an important message

We have left the women and children much worse off than they were. It's a damning indictment of our invasion.

[Fridays Child]

3. k/r

[FloridaJudy]

4. Signed K&R n/t