Promising Democracy, Imposing Theocracy:
Gender-Based Violence and the US War on Iraq
Endnotes
1Interview with Yanar Mohammed, April 25, 2006.
2International Women's Human Rights Law Clinic and Women Living Under Muslim Laws, "Shadow Report on Algeria to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women," Jan. 1999.
3Nir Rosen, "Anatomy of a Civil War," Boston Review, Nov./Dec. 2006.
4The Washington Post, July 11, 2003, quoted in Lee, Thomas, Battlebabble: Selling War in America. Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press, 2005. The same article elucidates the purpose of the IGC: "…a more prominent role in postwar governance is intended to place Iraqis at the receiving end of some of the popular discontent that has been directed at the occupation administration."
5Bremer's Islamist appointees include: Dr. Ebrahim Jafari Al Eshaiker (Dawa Party); Abdul Aziz al–Hakim (SCIRI); Abdul Karim Al Muhammadawi (Iraqi Party of God in Al Amara); Dr. Mohsen Abdul Hameed (Iraqi Islamic Party); and Dr. Seyyid Muhammed Bahr ul–Uloom, http://iraqcoalition.org (accessed Dec. 15, 2006).
6Huibin Amee Chew, "Occupation is Not (Women's) Liberation Part I," ZNet, March 24, 2005, http://www.zmag.org/content/ showarticle.cfm?ItemID=7518 (accessed Dec. 13, 2006).
7Noga Efrati, "Negotiating Rights in Iraq: Women and the Personal Status Law," Middle East Journal 59(4): 577–595.
8MADRE press release, Jan. 30, 2004, http://www.madre.org/press/pr/resolution137.html (accessed Feb. 21, 2007).
9Yanar Mohammed, "Iraq: Letter to Paul Bremer from Yanar Mohammed Concerning the Security of Iraqi Women," Christian Peacemaker Teams, Sep. 3, 2003, http://www.cpt.org/archives/2003/sep03/0001.html (accessed Dec. 13, 2006).
10Nathan Brown, "Debating Islam in Post–Baathist Iraq," Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Policy Outlook, March 2005.
11Ibid.
12Ibid.
13BBC News, "Morocco Boosts Women's Rights," Oct. 11, 2003, http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/–/1/hi/world/africa/3183248.stm (accessed Jan. 29, 2007).
14Imama Ayesha, "Working within Nigeria's Sharia Courts," Human Rights Dialogue 10(2): Fall 2003.
15Dexter Filkins, "Iraqi Talks Move Ahead on Some Issues," The New York Times, Aug. 21, 2005.
16Dick Cheney, "Vice President's Remarks at a Luncheon for Arizona Victory 2006," Aug. 15, 2006, www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/08/20060815–2.html (accessed Jan. 29, 2007).
17For example, Article 14 states: "Iraqis are equal before the law without discrimination based on gender, race, ethnicity, origin, color, religion, creed, belief or opinion, or economic and social status."
18Article 43 of the Hague Convention obligates the occupying power to restore and maintain public order and safety. Articles 29 and 47 of the Fourth Geneva Convention obligate occupation authorities to respect the fundamental human rights of the inhabitants of the occupied territory.
19Sabrina Tavernise, "As Trust Vanishes, Many Iraqis Look to Gunmen as Protectors," The New York Times, Oct. 21, 2006.
20Agence France–Presse, "More than 400 Iraqi Women Kidnapped, Raped in Post–war Chaos," Aug. 24, 2003, http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/
AllDocsByUNID/c21efb4c4e3dda7e49256d8d0010bacb (accessed Dec. 13, 2006).
21Sarah El Deeb, "Iraqi Women Deal With Mixed Legacy,"The Los Angeles Times, Jan. 26, 2004.
22Kim Ghattas, "Iraqi Women Struggle to be Heard," BBC News, Aug. 18, 2003.
23The Badr Brigade changed its name to the Badr Organization of Reconstruction and Development in 2003, although they are still commonly referred to as the Badr Bridgade, or the Badr Corps.
24Stephen Zunes, "The U.S. Role in Iraq's Sectarian Violence," Foreign Policy in Focus, March 6, 2006, http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/3139 (accessed Dec. 14, 2006).
25Sabrina Tavernise, "As Trust Vanishes, Many Iraqis Look to Gunmen as Protectors," The New York Times, Oct. 21, 2006.
26The Miami Herald, "Iraq: Women Want Rights Pledge Honored," Aug. 4, 2006.
27On May 1, 2003, a group of labor activists founded the Union of the Unemployed in Iraq. The union has a membership of 150,000 people and has offices in Baghdad, Nasiriyah, and Kirkuk.
28Mark Osborn, "Iraqi Union Leader Murdered. 'Resistance' Targets Trade Unions, Women, Lesbians and Gay Men," Workers' Liberty, Jan. 12, 2005.
29Houzan Mahmoud, "Iraq Must Reject a Constitution that Enslaves Women," The Independent, Aug. 15, 2005, http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article305879.ece (accessed Dec. 13, 2006).
30Isobel Coleman, "Women, Islam, and the New Iraq," Foreign Affairs, Jan./Feb., 2006: 24–38.
31David Brooks, "Drafting Hitler," The New York Times, Feb. 9, 2006.
32Interview with Yanar Mohammed, April 25, 2006.
33Ibid.
34Isobel Coleman, "Women, Islam, and the New Iraq," Foreign Affairs, Jan./Feb., 2006: 24–38.
35International Women's Human Rights Law Clinic and Women Living Under Muslim Laws, "Shadow Report on Algeria to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women," Jan. 1999, p. 9.
36Monitoring of Human Rights in Iraq Network, "Second Periodic Report of Monitoring of Human Rights in Iraq," Nov. 20, 2005.
37Hanna Edwar, "Latest Update from the Iraqi Women's Network," Women's Human Rights Net, July 21, 2005, http://www.whrnet.org/fundamentalisms/docs/action–iraq–sitin–0507.html (accessed Jan. 29, 2007).
38Ruth Rosen, "The Hidden War on Women in Iraq," Global Policy Forum, July 13, 2006.
39Interview with Yanar Mohammed, April 25, 2006.
40Ken Adelman, "Cakewalk in Iraq," The Washington Post, Feb. 13, 2002, http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp–dyn/A1996–2002Feb12?language=printer (accessed Jan. 29, 2007).
41In fact, armed militias such as the Kurdish Pesh Merga and the Shia Badr Brigade were founded decades ago. Yet, the US military had no known plans for integrating militia members into a new and rehabilitated Iraqi security force. Instead, the US disbanded the Iraqi military (Coalition Provisional Authority Order 2, issued on May 23, 2003) without providing employment for its 400,000 officers and troops. By doing so, the US swelled the ranks of both militias and criminal gangs and deprived Iraq of a basic precondition for a functioning state: a monopoly on the use of force.
42 Charles Clover, "US–backed Militia Terrorizes Town," The Financial Times, April 8, 2003.
43Hilzoy, "Iraq: Women's Rights," Obsidian Wings, Aug. 21, 2005, http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2005/08/iraq_womens_rig.html (accessed Jan. 30, 2007).
44Michael Hirsch and John Barry, "The Salvador Option: Death Squads in Iraq?" Newsweek, Jan. 13, 2005.
45Kim Sengupta, "Iraq's Dirty War of Wolves in Police Clothing," The New Zealand Herald, Nov. 21, 2005.
46Lionel Beehner, "Backgrounder: Iraq: Militia Groups," Council on Foreign Relations, June 9, 2005, http://www.cfr.org/publication/8175/ (accessed Jan. 29, 2007).
47A.K. Gupta, "Unravelling Iraq's Secret Militias," Z Magazine Online, May 2005, http://zmagsite.zmag.org/Images/gupta0505.html (accessed Dec. 13, 2006).
48A.K. Gupta, "Understanding Bush's 'Surge' Strategy for 2007: A Second Civil War or Genocide," Indybay, Jan. 15, 2007, http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/01/15/18347261.php (accessed Feb. 5, 2007).
49United Nations Commission on the Truth for El Salvador, "From Madness to Hope: The 12–Year War in El Salvador," Aug. 1, 1993, http://www.usip.org/library/tc/doc/reports/el_salvador/tc_es_03151993_toc.html (accessed Feb. 5, 2007).
50Ali Al–Fadhily and Dahr Jamail, "Government Death Squads Ravaging Baghdad," Inter Press Service News Agency, Oct. 19, 2006, http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35167 (accessed Dec. 13, 2006).
51See, for example: "In Shadows, Armed Groups Propel Iraq Toward Chaos," The New York Times, May 24, 2006, and: "How Iraq Police Reform Became Casualty of War," The New York Times, May 22, 2006.
52Tom Lasseter, "Iran Gaining Influence, Power in Iraq Through Militias," The New York Times, Dec. 12, 2005.
53Solomon Moore, "The Conflict in Iraq: Killings by Shiite Muslims Detailed," The Los Angeles Times, Sep. 28, 2006.
54Jabr was named finance minister in May 2006 under Nuri al–Maliki.
55Edward Wong, "Shiite Cleric Wields Violence and Popularity to Increase Power in Iraq," The New York Times, Nov. 27, 2005.
56Patrick Cockburn, "New Terror that Stalks Iraq's Republic of Fear," The Independent, Sep. 22, 2006.
57Robert Dreyfuss, "Death Squads and Diplomacy," TomPaine.com, Oct. 5, 2005, http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2005/10/05/death_squads_and_diplomacy.php (accessed Dec. 14, 2006).
58Interview with Yanar Mohammed, April 25, 2006.
59Associated Press, "Official: 150,000 Iraqis Killed by Insurgents. Basis of Iraqi Health Minister's Estimate Since March 2003 is Unclear," Nov. 10, 2006.
60Kent Paterson, "Feminicide On the Rise in Latin America," Global Politician, March 10, 2006, http://globalpolitician.com/articles.asp?ID=1654 (accessed Dec. 5, 2006).
61Interview with Yanar Mohammed, April 25, 2006.
62Susan J. Brinson, "Torture or 'Good Old American Pornography'?," The Chronicle of Higher Education, 50(39), June 4, 2004: B10–B11.
63Quoted in Azam Kamguian, "The Lethal Combination of Tribalism, Islam, & Cultural Relativism," Jan. 17–19, 2003, http://www.middleastwomen.org/html/combination.htm (accessed Jan. 29, 2007).
64Like "crime of passion," the term "honor killing" communicates the perspective of the perpetrator, and thereby carries an implicit justification. Some women's rights advocates therefore prefer the terms "feminicide," "shame killings," or "so–called honor killings."
65See paragraph 35 of Integration of the Human Rights of Women and the Gender Perspective: Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy, submitted in accordance with Commission on Human Rights resolution 2001/49, Jan. 31, 2002, UN Doc. E/CN.4/2002/83.
66Jennifer Copestake, "Gays Flee Iraq as Shia Death Squads Find a New Target," The Observer, June 8, 2006.
67For reference to Sistani's fatwa, see: Doug Ireland, "Shia Death Squads Target Gay Iraqis," Gay City News, March 23–29, 2006, http://www.gaycitynews.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=
17008058&BRD=2729&PAG=461&dept_id=568864&rfi=8 (accessed Dec. 11, 2006).
68Interview with Yanar Mohammed, April 25, 2006.
69American Bar Association Iraq Legal Development Project, "The Status of Women in Iraq: An Assessment of Iraq's De Jure and De Facto Compliance with International Legal Standards," July, 2005.
70Kay S. Hymowitz, "Why Feminism is AWOL on Islam," City Journal, Winter 2003, http://www.city–journal.org/html/13_1_why_feminism.html (accessed Dec. 11, 2006).
71Amnesty International, "No Protection, No Justice: Killings of Women in Guatemala," June 9, 2005, http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGAMR340172005 (accessed Jan. 29, 2007).
72Patrick Cockburn, "Iraq is Disintegrating as Ethnic Cleansing Takes Hold," The Independent, May 20, 2005.
73Anthony Shadid and Steve Fainaru, "Militias on the Rise Across Iraq," The Washington Post, Aug. 21, 2005.
74Solomon Moore, "The Conflict in Iraq: Killings by Shiite Muslims Detailed," The Los Angeles Times, Sep. 28, 2006.
75Article 41 of the constitution states: "First: The followers of all religions and sects are free in the: A. Practice of religious rites, including the Husseini ceremonies (Shiite religious ceremonies); B. Management of the endowments, its affairs and its religious institutions. The law shall regulate this. Second: The state guarantees freedom of worship and the protection of the places of worship." (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp–dyn/content/article/
2005/10/12/AR2005101201450.html, accessed Feb. 7, 2007).
76MADRE, "MADRE Opposes Abolition of Iraqi Women's Human Rights in Draft Constitution," July 20, 2005, http://madre.org/press/pr/iraq072105.html (accessed Dec. 11, 2006).
77Hamza Hendawi, "Gunmen Kill 8 Women and Girls Working in Field Outside Baghdad, Then Kidnap 2 Teenagers," Associated Press, Oct. 13, 2006.
78Sabrina Tavernise, "As Trust Vanishes, Many Iraqis Look to Gunmen as Protectors," The New York Times, Oct. 21, 2006.
79James Glanz, "U.S. Said to Fail in Tracking Arms for Iraqis," The New York Times, Oct. 30, 2006.
80Wenona Giles and Jennifer Hyndman, eds. Sites of Violence, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004, p. 32.
81Sabrina Tavernise and Qais Mizher, "The Struggle for Iraq: Daily Life; In Iraq's Mayhem, Town Finds Calm Through Its Tribal Links," The New York Times, July 10, 2006.
82Ibid.
83UN News brief, "UN Refugee Agency Increasingly Concerned at Surging Exodus Due to Violence," Oct. 13, 2006.
84The New York Times, "Iraq's Refugees," Editorial, Jan. 31, 2007.
85Ibid.
86The Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq, "International Campaign to End Rape, Abduction, and Killings of Women in Iraq," Oct. 30, 2003.
87Houzan Mahmoud, "A Dark Anniversary," Guardian Unlimited, Sep. 27, 2006, http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/houzan_mahmoud
/2006/09/on_the_occasion_of_24th_september.html (accessed Dec. 11. 2006).
88Anissa Helie, "The U.S. Occupation and Rising Religious Extremism: The Double Threat to Women in Iraq," Women's World, June 24, 2005, http://www.wworld.org/programs/editorialItem.asp?id=483 (accessed Jan. 31, 2007).
89For more information on attacks on the Christian minority, see the Associated Press, Nov. 13, 2004.
90Jennifer Copestake, "Gays Flee Iraq as Shia Death Squads Find a New Target," The Observer, June 8, 2006.
91Basim al–Shara'a, "Baghdadi Gays Fear for their Lives," Electronic Iraq, Oct. 23, 2006, http://electronicIraq.net/news/printer2557.shtml (accessed Dec. 11 2006).
92Doug Ireland, "Shia Death Squads Target Gay Iraqis," Gay City News, March 23–29, 2006, 93Basim al–Shara'a, "Baghdadi Gays Fear for their Lives," Electronic Iraq, Oct. 23, 2006, http://electronicIraq.net/news/printer2557.shtml (accessed Dec. 11, 2006).
94Knight Rider News, "Wolf Brigade Heroes to Iraq Shiites," May 22, 2005.
95London Guardian, quoted in A.K. Gupta, "Unravelling Iraq's Secret Militias: Ruthless U.S. Tactics are Propelling the Country Toward Civil War, A Special Report," Z Magazine 18(5) 2005, http://zmagsite.zmag.org/Images/gupta0505.html (accessed Dec. 11, 2006).
96A.K. Gupta, "Unravelling Iraq's Secret Militias: Ruthless U.S. Tactics are Propelling the Country Toward Civil War, A Special Report," Z Magazine 18(5) 2005, http://zmagsite.zmag.org/Images/gupta0505.html (accessed Dec. 11, 2006).
97Doug Ireland, "Reality Television Hits Iraq: Lynch–Mob 'Justice' Encouraged by U.S.–Financed Iraqi TV", TomPaine.com, March 28, 2005, http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2005/03/28/reality_television_hits_iraq.php (accessed Feb. 5, 2007).
98China Daily, "Iraqi Prisoner Details Abuse by Americans," May 3, 2004, http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004–05/03/content_328017.htm (accessed Dec. 11, 2006).
99Haifa Zangana, "The Height of Humiliation," Middle East Online, June 26, 2006, http://www.middle–east–online.com/English/?id=16823 (accessed Dec. 11, 2006).
100Monitoring of Human Rights in Iraq Network, "The Second Periodic Report of Monitoring Net of Human Rights in Iraq," Nov. 20, 2005.
101Luke Harding, "The Other Prisoners," The Guardian UK, May 20, 2004.
102Haifa Zangana, "Women of the New Iraq," Alternet, Aug. 16, 2005. www.alternet.org/story/24063/ (accessed Dec. 11. 2006).
103Annia Ciezadlo, "For Iraqi Women, Abu Ghraib's Taint," Christian Science Monitor, May 28, 2004.
104Haifa Zangana, "The Height of Humiliation," Middle East Online, June 26, 2006. http://www.middle–east–online.com/English/?id=16823 (accessed Dec. 11, 2006).
105Mohammed Bazzi, "US Using Some Iraqis as Bargaining Chips," Newsweek, May 26, 2004.
106See for example: paragraph 36 of the International Committee of the Red Cross' "Report of the International Committee of the Red Cross on the Treatment by the Coalition Forces of Prisoners of War and other Protected Persons by the Geneva Conventions in Iraq During Arrest, Internment and Interrogation," Feb. 2004. OWFI reports the case of Ahmad Ibrahim Mahmoud Al Jibouri of Kirkuk. He was arrested for allegedly trying to shoot down a US helicopter. In detention, US soldiers raped his wife and daughter in front of him in order to elicit his confession. His wife was detained for two–and–a–half years. (OWFI Summer 2006 Report, p. 11).
107Tara McKelvey, "Unusual Suspects," American Prospect Online, Feb. 1, 2005, http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewPrint&articleId=9044 (accessed Dec. 15, 2006).
108Ibid.
109Ibid.
110Haifa Zangana, "The Height of Humiliation," Middle East Online, June 26, 2006, http://www.middle–east–online.com/English/?id=16823 (accessed Dec. 11, 2006).
111See Article 9 of the United Nations International Covenant on Political and Civil Rights, as well as the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
112Guardian Unlimited, "Torture in Iraq 'worse than under Saddam'," Sep. 21, 2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1878100,00.html (accessed Jan. 31, 2007).
113Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq Summer 2006 Report, p. 7.
114Amnesty International, "Iraq: UN Security Council should ensure full accountability for Multinational Force abuses," June 14, 2006, http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE140272006?open&of=ENG–IRQ (accessed Feb. 5, 2007).
115Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq, Summer 2006 Report.
116Rouba Kabbara, "Human Rights Groups: Iraqi Women Raped at Abu Ghraib Jail," Middle East Online, May 29, 2004, http://www.middle–east–online.com/english/?id=10096 (accessed Dec. 11, 2006).
117Scheherezade Faramarzi, "Female Prisoners Key in Iraq Hostage Drama," Associated Press, Jan. 21, 2006.
118UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, "Iraq: Activists call on army, police to respect women's rights," IRIN News, Feb. 8, 2006, http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51607&SelectRegion=
Middle_East&SelectCountry=IRAQ (accessed Dec. 13, 2006), and: Haifa Zangana, "The Height of Humiliation," Middle East Online, June 26, 2006, http://www.middle–east–online.com/English/?id=16823M (accessed Dec. 11, 2006). The nine organizations include: Women's Will, Occupation Watch, the Women's Rights Association, the Iraqi League, the Human Right's Voice of Freedom, the Association of Muslim Scholars, the Iraqi Islamic Party, the Iraqi National Media and Culture Organization, and the Iraqi National Association of Human Rights. The Iraqi National Association of Human Rights' report on Oct. 29, 2005 documented that women held in Interior Ministry detention centers are subject to "systematic rape by the investigators and to other forms of bodily harm in order to coerce them into making a confession." The Ministry of Justice confirmed the accuracy of the report.
119UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, "Iraq: Activists call on army, police to respect women's rights," IRIN News, Feb. 8, 2006, http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51607&SelectRegion=
Middle_East&SelectCountry=IRAQ (accessed Dec. 13, 2006).
120Mark Tran, "Cheney Endorses Simulated Drowning," The Guardian, Oct. 27, 2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/guantanamo/story/0,,1933317,00.html (accessed Feb. 5, 2007).
121Susan J. Brinson, "Torture or 'Good Old American Pornography'?," The Chronicle of Higher Education, June 4, 2004: B10–B11.
122Lila Rajiva, "Iraqi Women and Torture, Part One: Rapes and Rumours of Rape," Dissident Voice, July 27, 2004, http://www.dissidentvoice.org/July2004/Rajiva0727.htm (accessed Dec. 13, 2006).
123Radio address, Nov. 17, 2001.
124Antonia Juhasz, "It's Still About The Oil," TomPaine.com, http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/01/19/its_still_about_the_oil.php (accessed Jan. 19, 2007).
125Andrew Cockburn and Patrick Cockburn, Out of the Ashes. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2000.
126Naomi Klein, "You Can't Bomb Beliefs," The Nation, Sep. 30, 2006, http://www.thenation.com/doc/20041018/klein (accessed Jan. 31, 2007).
127Giles Fraser, "The evangelicals who like to gift–wrap Islamophobia: The world's largest children's Christmas project has a toxic agenda," The Guardian, Nov. 10, 2003, http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1081349,00.html (accessed Jan. 29, 2007). In Oct. 2003, General William Boykin, US deputy undersecretary of defence for intelligence, described the US as waging a holy war against "the idol" of Islam's false god and "a guy called Satan" who "wants to destroy us as a Christian army. "
128As quoted in: Huibin Amee Chew, "Occupation is Not (Women's) Liberation Part I," ZNet, March 24, 2005, http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=7518 (accessed Dec. 13, 2006).