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Promising Democracy, Imposing Theocracy:
Gender-Based Violence and the US War on Iraq

March 6, 2007

MADRE has released a groundbreaking report on the incidence, causes, and legalization of gender-based violence in Iraq since the US-led invasion. Amidst the chaos and violence of US-occupied Iraq, women—in particular those who are perceived to pose a challenge to the political project of their attackers—have increasingly been targeted because they are women. Today, they are subjected to unprecedented levels of assault in the public sphere, "honor killings," torture in detention, and other forms of gender-based violence. Promising Democracy, Imposing Theocracy documents the use of gender-based violence by Iraqi Islamists, brought to power by the US overthrow of Iraq's secular Ba'ath regime, and highlights the role of the United States in fomenting the human rights crisis confronting Iraqi women today.

A re-telling of the Iraq war from the perspective of Iraqi women illuminates the strong links between women's human rights and democratic rights in general and the Bush Administration's clear contempt for both.

This report is dedicated to the courageous women of the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq and to all Iraqis working to build a democratic, secular Iraq free of military occupation and religious coercion.

Special thanks to Yanar Mohammed, director of the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq.

Download a PDF version of the report

View video of report release event

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Contents

Letter from the Executive Director

Executive Summary

Introduction

Part I. Towards Gender Apartheid in Iraq

• The Iraqi Governing Council Attacks Women's Rights
• The Battle over Iraq's Family Law
• Iraq's Constitution: Islamists Appeased
• Legalizing Violence against Women

Part II. Iraq's Other War: Imposing Theocracy through Gender–based Violence

• Islamists Unleashed
• Violence against Women as a Strategy for the Creation of a Theocracy
• A Division of Labor
• US Support for Islamists: Blunder or Blueprint?

Part III. The Rise of US–backed Death Squads

• From Cakewalk to Quagmire
• Refusing to Connect the Dots
• From Violence to Feminicide

Part IV. Violence against Women within Families

• "Honor Killing"
• Honor under Occupation
• The Culture Card: Religion as an Excuse for Violence against Women

Part V. Gender War, Civil War

• A Product of US Policy
• Looking at Gender in Iraq's Civil War

Part VI. Gender–based Violence against Men

Part VII. Violence against Women in Detention

• Routine Horrors
• New Jailers, Old Torments
• Coerced Silence and Official Denial
• US Media Tow the Line

Conclusion: Standing with Iraqi Women in a Time of War

Endnotes

Written by Yifat Susskind, Communications Director