Al-Ahram,
Egypt
How a Young Girl's Rape Mirrors the Fate of Her Nation
By Firas Al-Atraqchi
July 13 to 19 Issue
Al-Ahram - Egypt - Original
Article (English)
In early
2003, an Arabic-language newspaper ran a cartoon depicting the nation of Iraq
as a young girl being raped by a U.S. soldier, while several Arabs in
traditional garb enthusiastically egged the soldier on. The message was simple:
Iraq was about to be plundered of its wealth, stripped of its manpower, its
expertise, its middle and educated classes, its infrastructure and its
knowledge base. Like a rape victim, the country would be scarred, mutilated and
contorted, never again to appear fully sovereign.
This
vision became horrific reality in the town of Mahmoudiya in March 2006, when
16-year-old Abeer Qassem Hamza Al-Janabi was raped, shot and burned by a team
of American soldiers who allegedly had been planning to perpetrate their crime for
a week. Their plan included discarding their military uniforms and donning dark
clothes (resembling that of militia or fedayeen ) to avoid
identification as U.S. military personnel. Abeer's family was executed in the
assault, including her seven-year-old sister, so that none may point a finger
of blame at the U.S. military.
In the
immediate aftermath, the U.S. military cordoned off the area surrounding
Abeer's house, announcing that her family were Shiite and were murdered by
Sunni "insurgents." We now know that neither claim was true.
Al-Janabi's neighbors protested that the family was Sunni, and that the girl
had complained of harassment by American troops at a nearby checkpoint some
time earlier.
Three
weeks before the American military announced an internal investigation, the
alleged lead perpetrator of Abeer's rape was discharged from the Army on
grounds that he was mentally unstable. The undeclared reason, according to some
sources, was that the U.S. military was aware of his conduct in Mahmoudiya and
sought to avoid further embarrassment to a military plagued by atrocities in
Abu Ghraib and Haditha, among dozens of other reports of human rights
violations.
Rather
than face a court martial, "former" U.S. Army Private Jeremy Green is
being tried in a civilian court in Kentucky. Four other servicemen currently
serving in Iraq have also been charged.
For
Iraqis, Abeer's rape and murder mirrors the fate of the nation. Her attackers
stalked her, watching her house for a week before launching their offensive. In
the minds of many, this is synonymous with preparations for the invasion of
Iraq itself. Certain world powers continuously targeting Iraq, gathering
intelligence (which later proves misleading if not fabricated) and finalizes plans
that totally violate the sovereignty of the country.
Further,
Abeer's complaints of harassment are synonymous with appeals made by Iraq before
the 2003 invasion; that it was not affiliated with al-Qaeda nor did it possess
weapons of mass destruction. Iraq appealed to neighboring countries and the U.N.
to bring a halt to the military juggernaut massing on its borders. But just as
Abeer's neighbors proved unable to help, so too did the world community in
failing Iraq.
Abeer's
life as a whole is testament to the suffering of the Iraqi people. Born the
year Iraq invaded Kuwait, Abeer lived out her infancy under the regimen of punitive
sanctions. She grew up differently from other girls in the Arab world: an
innocent child, yet punished for wrongs she could not begin to understand. By
the time she turned 13, Iraq had been invaded and entire cities and villages
were under siege. In the great war of liberation, waged allegedly to stifle
terrorism and liberate the Iraqi people from tyranny, Abeer paid with her life
at the hands of the liberator.
Ahmed Qassim Hamza, 9, brother of the Iraqi
girl who was allegedly raped then killed, behind
his home in Mahmoudiya, July 6. His parents
and five-year-old sister were also killed. (above).
BBC NEWS VIDEO: Four U.S. soldiers charged
with rape, and a fifth charged with dereliction of
duty, for rape and murder of Iraqi girl,
July 9, 00:01:03
[LATEST NEWS PHOTOS: Iraq].
Steven D. Greena 21-year-old ex-Army private,
recently discharged due to a 'personality disorder,'
is one of 'up to' five soldiers being charge in the
rape and murder of a young Iraqi girl and the
killing of her parents and sister. (below).
---------------------------------------------------
Despite
the best efforts of senior officials to categorize Green's actions (and those
of his unit cohorts) as aberrations, evidence increasingly emerging from Iraq
indicates that similar crimes and human rights abuses are perpetrated nearly on
a daily basis.
In
Hamdaniya, U.S. soldiers planted a shovel and AK-47 on an Iraqi man they had shot
dead, seeking to hide the murder by depicting the man as an
"insurgent" planting an improvised explosive device.
In
Haditha, a military investigation led by Lieutenant General Peter W. Chiarelli
has found officers negligent in not questioning contradictions in the accounts
of an attack on a Marine unit and the subsequent massacre of 24 civilians,
including women and children. The criminal investigation is ongoing.
Regarding
Abu Ghraib, two years on from the scandalous atrocities captured on camera and
leaked to the press, according to New Yorker journalist Seymour Hersh, thousands
of pictures and video footage showing ongoing torture, human rights abuses and
the rape of minors remain unpublished.
The rape
and murder of Abeer has created a tidal wave of outrage in Iraq, prompting Prime
Minister Nuri Al-Maliki to berate the U.S. military in the sharpest rebuke to
date. "There needs to be a plan to educate and train soldiers, and those
who are brought to serve in Iraq shouldn't bear prejudices nor be reckless
toward people's honor," he said.
But who
is to define reckless? While the U.S. military's recruitment drive has failed
to meet its quotas, the standard of eligibility for military service has dropped,
leading to questionable - if not purposely lax - screening of candidates.
In recent months, The Los Angeles Times and other U.S.
media have reported that members of various gangs have "infiltrated"
the American military and are serving in Iraq, where they hope to gain skills
and expertise they can apply on their return to neighborhoods in America.
Media also
report that gang graffiti has been scrawled on walls in Iraq, including
proclamations of loyalty to the Aryan nation - a statement usually made by
white supremacists.
The
notion that racist ideology exists among U.S. military servicemen and women
serving in Iraq is hardly new. In late 2004, British officers told The
Telegraph that they viewed the U.S. use of force as aggressive and
disproportionate. They added that it was the belief of many British commanders
that certain quarters within the American military viewed Iraqis as untermenschen,
or sub-humans.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Perhaps
it is such dogma that facilitates the emergence of Web sites that display pictures
of Iraqi dead or allow for songs to be written about the killing of an Iraqi
girl and her family (Hadji Girl) by a U.S. Marine. Adding insult to injury,
such songs are being bought up by radio stations in the U.S. and will be
available for download at a premium.
The American
military has a serious personnel problem on its hands and has all but lost the
hearts and minds campaign it aimed to win among Iraqis. How could it be
otherwise when Abeer's savage rape and murder stands as testament to the
absence, at the core of the U.S. military, of adherence to even the most
fundamental tenets of ethics and human morality?
VIDEO FROM SYRIA: 'AMERICANS CAN BE
OUR FRIENDS ... IF THEY LEAVE QUICKLY'
SYRIAN TV, SYRIA: Excerpts from an interview with Secretary-General of the Sunni Clerics Association in Iraq, Sheik Hareth Al-Dhari, June 24, 00:04:48, Via MEMRI
"The Iraqis are not hostile to the Americans or the American people. They were not hostile even to the American army before it entered Iraq. The Americans could become our friends, if they leave Iraq peacefully, according to a timetable."
Sheik Hareth Al-Dhari