Women and the Transition to Democracy: Iraq, Afghanistan, Beyond

Let me say at the outset that the broad principles underlying our approach to democratic transitions are truly global in scope. As President Bush said in his first State of the Union Address: "America will always stand firm for the non-negotiable demands of human dignity: the rule of law; limits on the power of the state; respect for women; private property; free speech; equal justice; and religious tolerance." These values are a vital part of our interaction with the whole world – and their scope includes both women and men, always and everywhere. Indeed, as the President delivered those words, one of his invited guests of honor in the Chamber was the first Minister of Woman’s Affairs in liberated Afghanistan, Dr. Sima Samar.

In introducing a group from the organization Women for a Free Iraq a month ago, I said that we are respectful of nations that differ from our own. At the same time, we believe that democracy and human rights are not just for some people but for all people. They are universal principles that every man, woman and child is entitled to. We want to help Iraqis take back their country after decades of tyranny and build foundations of a democratic society, a society based on Iraqi traditions and culture and founded on the universal principles of freedom and liberty. The women of Iraq have a critical role to play in the future revival of their society. They bring skills and knowledge that will be vital to restoring Iraq to its rightful place in the region and in the world. However, the U.S. will not dictate what the future Iraqi government will look like. Those decisions are for the Iraqi people to make.

Until just now, Saddam’s regime brutalized all Iraqis. Men died in the hundreds of thousands, in wars of aggression and internal repression, leaving women and children without husbands or fathers. Men, women, and children were indiscriminately slaughtered in gas and other deliberate attacks on civilian populations. People were tortured in front of their families, leaving all scarred for life. That is why we see scenes of jubilation in Basra, Baghdad and Kirkuk, as the statues of Saddam are toppled by the people of Iraq. Now they can build a future in which all Iraqis, men and women, can participate in full.

The Office of International Women’s Issues has put together a fact sheet outlining the horrible fate of Iraqi women under Saddam. You will see that Saddam’s regime has used beheading, rape, torture, and legalized murder of women as a way to punish women and their families, in Iraq and abroad, for speaking out simply about the truth and the horrors of his regime. Saddam’s military, almost incredibly, actually had an official assignment called "al-I’tida’ ‘ala sharf al-nisa’" violation of women’s honor.

Those women who have nevertheless chosen to speak out have often been forced into exile. And even in the midst of this war, President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and Dr. Rice have met some of these free Iraqi women, to discuss the situation in Iraq and to develop ideas to insure the full participation of Iraqi women in their country’s reconstruction.

I was moved by these women. They told chilling stories of the atrocities they and their families suffered in Saddam’s Iraq. These are the sorts of crimes that this dying regime has continued to commit right to its bitter end. And yet, despite the terrors that these women recounted, they exhibited the resolve and courage to reclaim their country. Allow me to quote one of these brave women, Maha Al-Attar, in full:

"We are willing to work together and also with the U.S. to establish democracy," she declared. "It’s not going to be easy. Nobody has said it’s going to be easy. But we don’t have any other option but to proceed toward democracy. There is no other option." And, she continued, "there have been many instances in the world where people have started from scratch with democracy. Germany is one. Japan is one. The U.S. was very influential in helping those countries in establishing democracy, and I hope it will do the same for us."

The fact is that there is a precedent for such a transformation inside Iraq itself. Here is a recent observation by Isobel Coleman, director of the Council on Foreign Relations project on U.S. Foreign Policy and Women: "In northern Iraq," she writes, "3.6 million Kurds have carved out an economic and political system under the protection of the U.S. and British no-fly zone. Kurdish women travel there freely, hold high-level economic and political positions and have been critical to the region’s revival. Several Kurdish women serve as judges, and two regional government ministers are women. Hotels and restaurants there have flourished, patronized in large part by Iranians who cross the border to enjoy the freer, no-veil-required environment for women."

These examples of women’s participation in the democratic political and economic structures of northern Iraq indicate what is possible for women – and for men -- in the rest of the country, including other Iraqi men and women who fled Saddam’s terror over the past three decades. More will return to rebuild their country, prepared to take on leadership roles. President Bush put it very succinctly this week. Squelching any rumors that our victorious coalition might seek to "impose" a new leader on Iraq, the President simply said: "Forget it… From day one, we have said the Iraqi people are capable of running their own country. And that’s precisely what is going to happen."

As events in Iraq unfold, we will continue our efforts to work with Iraqi women and men to ensure their participation in a free and open Iraq. And there is plenty of work to be done, in every area where we typically support women’s issues: from human rights, to political participation, to economic opportunity, to education. Unfortunately, some people still believe that totalitarian regimes like Saddam’s offer "progress" on women’s rights under a dictator’s thumb. To be sure, most Iraqi women have not been secluded at home, as were women under the rule of the Taliban and some other backward regimes. Yet in reality, Iraqi women have not fared well at all by world standards, whether in education, employment, or health care, under the brutal Ba’ath regime. Nor, for that matter, of course, have Iraqi men. Iraq was once a seat of great learning and social progress. But now, according to UNESCO figures, only one-quarter of Iraqi women can read and write; even the World Bank’s figure, while substantially higher, is nevertheless under half. Iraqi men have fared somewhat better in this respect, but still only a bare majority are literate. Just one out of every five Iraqi women has found paid employment of any kind.

The children of Iraq have also suffered greatly from Saddam’s misrule. Many of their fathers have been needlessly sacrificed in lawless military adventures, and their entire families have been hostage to the most vicious suppression of all political or religious freedom. Child mortality rates have been staggeringly high – as high as 13% by one recently published estimate -- all because of the perverted priorities of Saddam. He built palaces and poison factories, while hospitals and other health services languished for lack of attention. We can now help the Iraqi people to change this inhuman agenda, one that was foisted upon them by an utterly unscrupulous ruling clique.

Today, we are already well into the planning and initial implementation of Iraq’s reconstruction. And I don’t mean just bridges and buildings – I also mean the human needs of education and employment, for Iraqi girls and women as well as boys and men. For example, we will support Iraqi efforts to prepare school materials that will help teach the country’s youth about tolerance and individual freedoms, rather than the belligerent, totalitarian content that has been standard in Saddam’s textbooks for an entire generation. On the economic front, we are also thinking about how to help Iraqi women overcome the legacy of dependence on government rations and handouts. To cite just one instance, we hope to invite a representative group of aspiring Iraqi businesswomen to an NGO-sponsored Arab Women’s Summit, planned for Morocco this coming June. And the Iraqi women I have met lately have shown their gratitude for our support. As one of them, Esra Naama, put it to the press a few weeks ago, "We want to thank President Bush and the troops that are there in the desert …Thank you for helping my people and for going to liberate my country."

This will not happen overnight, nor can the United States bear sole responsibility for this global transition to democracy. But doing our share is an effort well worth our dedication and our perseverance. Ultimately it promises to fulfill the President’s vision, which I know you and most Americans share, of a world in which humanity’s most basic values are respected, so that free individuals -- men and women alike – can live in free societies that no longer threaten each other. As we work to find realistic, practical measures that will help translate this bold vision into reality, we will welcome your suggestions and your support. Thank you

The Office of International Women's Issues has put together a fact sheet outlining the horrible fate of Iraqi women under Saddam. You will see that Saddam's regime has used beheading, rape, torture, and legalized murder of women as a way to punish women and their families, in Iraq and abroad, for speaking out simply about the truth and the horrors of his regime. Saddam's military, almost incredibly, actually had an official assignment called "al-I'tida' 'ala sharf al-nisa'" violation of women's honor.

OH, God, how I want the Susan Sarandons, the Jane Fondas, the Kevin Costners, the Jeanine Garafalos to have to see and understand this kind of evil. Maybe then.... 28 posted on 04/14/2003 12:16 PM EDT by stboz

Where Are the Human Rights Groups? Only evil America was capable of committing atrocities.

Unfortunately, some people still believe that totalitarian regimes like Saddam’s offer "progress" on women’s rights under a dictator’s thumb.

Hanoi Jane, Planned Parenthood and the War in Iraq Yet Feldt clings to this absurd notion that Iraqi women will only be "free" when they can do to their own pre-born children the same thing Saddam has done to so many innocents during his reign of terror.

This will not happen overnight, nor can the United States bear sole responsibility for this global transition to democracy.

Islamic Law & its Challenge To Western Civilization

Shari'a is key to understanding Islam

Shari'a law⁶^,⁷ is the key to understanding Islamic ideology, government, economics, and social institutions. It is the basis for Islamic fundamentalism's disagreement with Western thought, and it encapsulates the ideology of Islam that is found in the Qur'an and Sunnah. Shari'a brings Islamic theology down to a person's everyday life. The objective of Islamic ideology is to have all the people of the world governed by Shari'a law. Muslims believe this law expresses the universal will of Allah for humankind. They think they have an holy obligation to impose it upon all the nations of the world.

We believe that Shariah should be used as a standard of test of validity of all positive laws. The essence of advocating for the application of Shariah is its ethics, once these can be incorporated to any system of law, such law is Islamic law. So the Shariah ethic should be set up as a standard of values to which all law must be compiled with. Any law that is inconsistent or in conflict with this value should be null and void. This is the only way in my view that Shariah can be use today. No only be the Muslim, but by all humanity. The earlier the Muslim can be thinking of this line, the sooner they can be able to contribute to the shaping of the 21st century of the Christian era.⁸

Following on from Islam's conceptual dissolution of the 'spiritual' and 'material' domains, is the salient reality that Islam is an inherently political doctrine. Sheikh Nabahanni, the famous jurist and political thinker of our age, quite aptly described the Shahada as a simultaneously spiritual and political doctrine. It is spiritual for the obvious reason that it is firmly rooted in the belief in Allah, but of equal political significance because Allah alone is the sovereign law maker. Politics is therefore not part of Islam, for this denotes that in origin it is a distinctly separate sphere of existence which is then eventually amalgamated with Islam; politics is the inherent core of the Islamic imperative of Allah's sovereignty - Islam thus cannot be described except in political terms.⁹

Conclusion

In order for Western peoples to understand Islam, they have to realize that Islam is more than a spiritual belief system. It is an all-encompassing ideology that seeks to regulate the world's political affairs according to Shari'a law. Islam conflicts with Western ideals of government and social order; and, because of the West's freedom, education, wealth, and military power, Islamic fundamentalism sees the West as its greatest obstacle to world leadership. Islamic fundamentalists find the West hindering its objectives in Africa, Southeast Asia, Palestine, and other parts of the world. Until the West understands the full scope and intent of Islamic political ideology, they will not understand Islamic fundamentalism's objectives. Typically, Western leaders think Islam is a just a competitor of Judaism and Christianity. However, Shari'a law gives a clear insight into Islam's objectives for a political and social world order. Islam challenges Western civilization itself, because it is a Complete Way of Life — and its Shari'a Law is not compatible with Western ideals and civilization.

What is Jihad - article by Daniel Pipes One answer came last week, when Saddam Hussein had his Islamic leaders appeal to Muslims worldwide to join his jihad to defeat the "wicked Americans" should they attack Iraq; then he himself threatened the United States with jihad.

As this suggests, jihad is "holy war." Or, more precisely: It means the legal, compulsory, communal effort to expand the territories ruled by Muslims at the expense of territories ruled by non-Muslims.

The purpose of jihad, in other words, is not directly to spread the Islamic faith but to extend sovereign Muslim power (faith, of course, often follows the flag). Jihad is thus unabashedly offensive in nature, with the eventual goal of achieving Muslim dominion over the entire globe.

Jihad did have two variant meanings through the centuries, one more radical, one less so. The first holds that Muslims who interpret their faith differently are infidels and therefore legitimate targets of jihad. (This is why Algerians, Egyptians and Afghans have found themselves, like Americans and Israelis, so often the victims of jihadist aggression.) The second meaning, associated with mystics, rejects the legal definition of jihad as armed conflict and tells Muslims to withdraw from the worldly concerns to achieve spiritual depth.

Jihad in the sense of territorial expansion has always been a central aspect of Muslim life. That's how Muslims came to rule much of the Arabian Peninsula by the time of the Prophet Muhammad's death in 632. It's how, a century later, Muslims had conquered a region from Afghanistan to Spain. Subsequently, jihad spurred and justified Muslim conquests of such territories as India, Sudan, Anatolia, and the Balkans.

Today, jihad is the world's foremost source of terrorism, inspiring a worldwide campaign of violence by self-proclaimed jihadist groups:

America, Islam, Jihad, and Terrorism I believe that Muslims will one day detonate a nuclear warhead, or warheads, in large American cities.

Instead of actually facing the evil of Islam, and trying to comprehend just how evil Islam is, we have preferred to hope that Islamic violence is just the pernicious work of a few individuals or radical groups. We hope that by destroying the al-Qaida network the threat of Islamic terrorism will cease. We put it out of our minds and hope and pretend that it will no longer affect us, choosing to be re-consumed with our football (how about Liverpool!), or American football (go 49ers!), baseball (Arizona!), and the return of Michael Jordan to the NBA. We are captivated by Harry Potter, the Lord of the Rings, and Michael Jackson's latest performance. We are happy that the DOW is back up and interest rates have lowered, and hoping that the recession will soon be over. Yet, those that planning our destruction are still living among us and saying that Islam is a religion of peace. All the while, just as Maslama deceived his good friend Kab in order to murder him, these Muslims are prudently, and patiently planning their next acts of terrorism.

Jihad: The Teachings of Islam from its primary sources - the Qur ... [Note: This is a 26 page study. Please don't begin unless you intend to carefully and fully read all these verses from the Quran and the traditions on the subject of Jihad. It is my intent simply to make it possible for you to make your own judgment as to the teaching of Islam about Jihad.]

The [Suicide] Jihad Menace - article by Daniel Pipes ...Islamists consider suicide as not just legitimate but highly commendable when undertaken for reasons of jihad (sacred war). Going into war knowing with certainty that one will die, they argue, is not suicide (intihar) but martyrdom (istishhad), a much-praised form of self-sacrifice in the path of God, a way to win the eternal affection of the houris in paradise.

A leading Islamist authority, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, recently explained the distinction this way: attacks on enemies are not suicide operations but "heroic martyrdom operations" in which the kamikazes act not "out of hopelessness and despair but are driven by an overwhelming desire to cast terror and fear into the hearts of the oppressors."

....

JIHAD SUICIDE has been around for a millennium. The Assassins, a fanatical religious sect that flourished in the twelfth century developed jihad suicide into a powerful tool of war that succeeded in killing dozens of leaders and cast a long shadow over the region's politics for decades.

The Assassins' suicide soldiers' mission, as explained by the historian Bernard Lewis, had a distinctly familiar flavor: "by striking down oppressors and usurpers, they gave the ultimate proof of their faith and loyalty, and earned immediate and eternal bliss."

In recent times, the revival of jihad suicide began as an Iranian project, starting with the 1981 blow up of the Iraqi embassy in Beirut, killing 27, and followed by a long sequence of attacks on U.S. installations around the Middle East, killing as many as 19, 63, and 241 Americans. During its eight-year war with Iraq, Tehran dispatched young soldiers to detonate land mines, then commemorated their deaths as martyrs.

The Sources and Tenets of Shi'ite Islam Redemption through suffering has thus become one of the major tenets of Shi'ite Islam, although it is not redemption through the vicarious atonement wrought through the sufferings of another, as in Christianity. Each of the Shi'ah must redeem himself through his willingness to undergo various deprivations and sufferings in emulation of Husain who made the supreme sacrifice. The sufferings of the other Imams, whether before or after Husain, are only seen as typical of the sufferings of this one man who is at the heart of the Shi'ite worship and piety. Even the sufferings of Muhammad himself are said to be only symbolic of the sufferings of Husain.

Their suffering and sorrows are in turn intensely concentrated in the sufferings of one man, 'the wronged martyr', Imam Husayn, son of Ali Ibn Abi Talib. Indeed, all sufferings before are but a prelude to his, the final act in a long drama of tribulation. He is the seal of the martyrs and their chief. All suffering and martyrdom after him are only modes of participation in his martyrdom. (Ayoub, Redemptive Suffering in Islam, p.27).

....

If Abdul Qadir al-Jilani has displaced Muhammad in the eyes of the "Sufi-worshipping public" as Rahman has put it, Husain has likewise become the most prominent figure in the worship and convictions of the Shi'ite Muslims.

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