Bush, Cheney Should Pay Impoverished Iraq War Widows

February 9, 2009 RSS Feed Print
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By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Here's a sad story, sure to tug at your heartstrings. The Iraqi state minister for women's affairs has resigned in protest, because the country's puppet government (set up by the invading Bush administration, claims of a democratic election notwithstanding) is not giving her enough money to support the women driven into poverty by the U.S. invasion of Iraq:

"In an interview Sunday with The Associated Press, Nawal al-Samarraie described how her office's budget was so tight that she often found herself dipping into her own pockets for the women who came begging for help.

She said she finally submitted her resignation last week in part because her budget was slashed from $7,500 to $1,500 per month — part of overall government spending cuts forced by plunging oil prices. The figure didn't include staff salaries.

"I reached to the point that I will never be able to help the women," said al-Samarraie, whose job lasted just six months. "The budget is very limited ... so what can I do?"

Here's an idea: As a start, confiscate the Bush and Cheney family fortunes, which are voluminous, and use that money to feed the widows and orphans their war created.

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Tags:
Iraq war (2003-2011)

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Great site. Good info.

soma perry kalis md zanesville of MT 5:17AM July 04, 2009

Officials at social service agencies tell of widows coerced into "temporary marriages" - relationships sanctioned by Shiite tradition, often based on sex, which can last from an hour to years - to get financial help from government, religious or tribal leaders.

Other war widows have become prostitutes, and some have joined the insurgency in exchange for steady pay. The Iraqi military estimates that the number of widows who have become suicide bombers may be in the dozens.

The latest plan, proposed by Mazin al-Shihan, director of the Baghdad Displacement Committee, a city agency, is to pay men to marry widows. "There is no serious effort by the national government to fix this problem, so I presented my own program," he said.

When asked why the money should not go directly to the women, Shihan laughed.

"If we give the money to the widows, they will spend it unwisely because they are uneducated, and they don't know about budgeting," he said. "But if we find her a husband, there will be a person in charge of her and her children for the rest of their lives. This is according to our tradition and our laws."

Nunya of AL 6:48PM February 23, 2009

We at the Network for Oxford Women for Justice and Peace (NOW) are very concerned for the safety and welfare of Dr. Nawal al Samarrie, who has not been seen or heard from since her resignation as Iraqi Minister for Women’s Affairs. The message that follows explains the gravity of the situation:

The US forces have started the handover of detainees to the Iraqi occupation government, despite all the concerns being expressed by UNAMI, Amnesty and HRW.

http://english. aljazeera. net/news/ middleeast/ 2009/01/20091241 51723529286. html

Also a very far reaching and damning statement in a report available only in Arabic on al Jazeera.net quoting Amal Al Samarraie the minister for Iraqi women affairs on Iraqi women detainees. This report confirms everything that Hanaa Ibrahim and her organisation Women Will Association has been saying for the last 5 years!

The minister: Nawal Al Samarraie (she attended parliament and voted against SOFA, while others chickened out!) says that

1) US forces arrested women in lieu of their men folk

2) many women who were arrested by the US have simply disappeared

3) Women detained by US or Iraqi forces were subjected to: solitary confinement, mal treatment and torture

4) The minister very clearly accuses the Iraqi forces of rape.

وزيرة المرأة العراقية تكشف معاناة العراقيات المعتقلات

http://www.aljazeer a.net/NR/ exeres/FF8F0DB9- A939-4480- AE0B-0997B03378E B.htm

rosemary galli 7:34AM February 12, 2009

Bonnie Erbe

Bonnie Erbe

Bonnie Erbe is a contributing editor at U.S. News & World Report and hosts PBS's weekly news analysis program, To the Contrary with Bonnie Erbe. She also writes a weekly syndicated newspaper column for Scripps Howard News Service.

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