THE NEW FACE OF THE IRAQ WAR
See the identity card to the left? It used to belong to fifteen-year-old Abeer Qasim Hamza- an Iraqi girl who lived in Mahmoudiya. Every day, she had to pass through a checkpoint, manned by American troops. She was always scared of them- she told her mother about how these strange american soldiers were making inappropriate advances towards her.
On march 10, 2006, Abeer's mother Fakhriyah had a conversation with a neighbor, Omar Janabi, expressing her fears that her daughter might be assaulted or raped by the americans. Janabi agreed to give Abeer shelter among the women of his household. But, after making his promise, he spoke with Abeer personally, and tried to assuage her fears.
He told her "the Americans would not do such a thing."
Alas- the next day...
American soldiers came to Abeer's house, separated her from her family, and raped her (apparently to death.) In an attempt to cover their crimes, these american soldiers fatally shot Abeer's mother, father and seven-year-old sister, before attempting to burn Abeer's body.
When neighbors entered the house after the incident, they found the dead family, along with Abeer sprawled in a corner, with her dress pulled up to her neck, her hair and a pillow next to her consumed by fire.
Now, before I proceed, the soldiers responsible for this horror have been arrested, and are certain to face a military court- however, they will go scott-free. The punishment for the crimes that these cretins committed, under the uniform code of military justice, is death, and there's no way that the assholes that are running this war are going to allow such a sentence to be carried out- it's just too much "bad press" for them to deal with, right now.
In the months following, this whole incident will be swept under the rug, and will be "old news", as the corporate media continues to spend more time covering "So you think you can dance", than the ongoing war.
I've been to Freeperville, to check their comments about this incident, and quite frankly, what they're saying doesn't warrant repeating- it's just too horrific- people are CHEERING and EXCUSING the rape of a 15-year-old girl, and the murder of her family.
Myself? This is another reason why I can't do animations. When I was reading the details of this atrocity, I was banging my head against my desk, and screaming bloody hell- I wanted to die, out of sheer shame of being a citizen of a country that would allow this sort of crap to happen.
The anger I feel about this war can no longer be portrayed in a flash slideshow, and things are just going to get worse. I don't say this as a pessimist, or a doomsayer- I say this, because that's the way things are going to be.