Bush, Cheney Should Pay Impoverished Iraq War Widows

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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 doesn't know what she's talking about. Iraq is a democracy. It often acted independently of the Bush Administration since its liberation. Erbe writes like Iraq was the Garden of Eden while Saddam was in charge.
The Bush Administration attempted to regulate Fannie and Freddie beginning in 2001. They were blocked by congressional Democrats. Here's what Barney Frank said in 2003:
"I worry, frankly, that there's a tension here. The more people, in my judgment, exaggerate a threat of safety and soundness, the more people conjure up the possibility of serious financial losses to the Treasury, which I do not see. I think we see entities that are fundamentally sound financially and withstand some of the disaster scenarios. . . ."
"I do think I do not want the same kind of focus on safety and soundness that we have in OCC [Office of the Comptroller of the Currency] and OTS [Office of Thrift Supervision]. I want to roll the dice a little bit more in this situation towards subsidized housing. . ."
So congressional Democrats, including Obama, rolled the dice with trillions of dollars of other people's money. Not only have they not taken responsibility, they used the crisis they largely caused to come out ahead.

leslein of VA 7:27PM February 10, 2009

Will he take the blame for one of his biggest mistakes, the move toward socialized med.
While he has some good proposals he is moving too fast on the stimulus

SRD of NY 1:05PM February 10, 2009

the saddest thing here is that someone who lacks intelligence like Erbe gets to pretend she knows anything beyond her inner hatred. What a ridiculous comment to make.
Erbe is a non-player anyways.

damon of IL 10:19AM February 10, 2009

Let's not forget the freedoms they now have. Let's see them protest during Hussein's reign. All of our monthly budgets have been cut thanks to the Liberals in this Country--I for one am not for socialism. I will fight intil the very end,.

DJ of NV 9:55AM February 10, 2009

I am constantly amazed at some individuals thought process.Based on your line of logic: nixon/johnson should pay vietnam,eisenhower should pay the germans,f.d.r. should pay the japanese...etc,etc,etc...but,who should the american indian pay,the ones that came across from russia??

JDH of IL 11:35PM February 09, 2009

So, the price of oil has finally plunged, and Americans are not being gouged so much. But your article implies that this is the cause of them not having any money? It is ridiculous to tie the two together. Middle Eastern countries made BILLIONS of dollars when we were paying more than $4 per gallon for gasoline, which was not all that long ago. Because they are not bringing in that kind of money now does not mean they do not have the money to help the poor Iraqi women. It sounds to me that whoever raked in that money does not want to part with it. I feel bad for their plight, but won't be making any donations.

Dee of PA 5:23PM February 09, 2009