This is the most disturbing thing I’ve seen from the Maliki government. I don’t understand this. It’s almost beyond comprehension. Accolades?
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
Disturbing from beginning to end. She was treated in an American-run hospital and her records given to the Maliki government? That could spark the beginning of the end. Unbelievable!
This is the woman described by the Riverbend diary, is it not? Has Madame Secretary of State responded to questions about the situation? It seems that everyone would like the situation buried, so efforts to make it as public as possible might be our way to blow the lid off the situation.
Everyone should read Riverbend’s two most recent posts, dated Feb 20. They deal pretty bluntly with why it is unlikely any Iraqi woman would call ‘rape’ as a political stunt. Pretty much the same reasons apply everywhere else in the world: women usually have little to gain and everything to lose by making a complaint.
It’s clear what Maliki is up to. He can’t afford to have the lid blown off the appalling violence – sexual and otherwise – perpetrated on innocents by the official Iraqi forces. He can’t countenance Iraqi women upsetting the status quo where no-one talks about rape. And he can’t admit that crimes of violence are being committed on ethno-religious grounds.
Maliki says that a medical examination found no evidence of rape. Yet the BBC reports (hat tip to ask for the link)
I don’t think we’re going to see the US military helping to resolve the veracity of Maliki’s claim any time soon…
Maybe W has one of those Medals of Freedom lying around to give them…
Unforgettable Photos
finally, after all these years, i now know who this is:
i remember seeing this video as a child; it happened a few years before i was born, so it was obviously a re-broadcast. but until today i never knew who this was, where it occurred or what it was all about.
what stuck in my mind was the graphic nature of the video: it was very clear and unobstructed. yamaguchi came out of nowhere. asanuma was very overweight and with each plunge of the sword his large soft belly quivered like jello.
i see youtube has a clip of the event.
but this clip is not the particular one i remember, which recorded the assassination from the much closer vantage point of the photograph shown above. asanuma’s speech — and unexpected murder — was obviously a heavily-covered media event.
Are you disturbed with the subject of the Rape? I find myself disturbed with a number of things in this article but to me, the most disturbing aspect of this is the fact that the headline does not include any single reference to the rape! Anyone looking thru the paper or the site would in no way become aware of the rape!
So, horrendous as the rape story and the garbage government in power over there is, as i see it, this was the posts’ attempt to get away with blunting any criticism for a lack of coverage! This is the continuing criminal disgrace of this war and the total capitulation of the media in this country!
You can bet your ass that the result of this nightmare will be the promotion and or rewarding of the officers involved, and that will be it.
billjpa