Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Afghan Women's Rights Activist Murdered Outside Her Home

Front paged at Booman Tribune and ePluribus Media

About that whole "things are going so great for women in Afghanistan" thing, well, never mind that.


In yet another horrific display of the results of cutting and running from Afghanistan (and yes, I did say it days before John Kerry did, thank you very much), Safia Amajan, a women's rights "activist" (if you can call promoting women's education and work such things as "activism"), was gunned down in front of her home in Afghanistan yesterday.


So, George, Dick, Laura and all of you others who have been touting the heckuva job that we are doing in Afghanistan (including you, Newsweek), I say the following with all sincerity and from the bottom of my heart:


Fuck you, you heartless lying criminals.


Why did this woman have to fight so hard for those very "freedoms" that we take for granted here in the United States? Those freedoms that you "promised" were on the march in Afghanistan? Those freedoms that you high-tailed it out of Afghanistan to "spread in Iraq" after not doing what you were supposed to do there in the first place? And why will this horrific crime get nary a mention from any of the talking meatsticks who would rather gleefully spew lies, spread hate and rewrite history?


You want to talk about "heroes". You want to talk about people that should be looked up to. You want to talk about people that fight for things that they believe in. Well, because you let the Taliban come back into power, because you think that a half ass job is more than enough, because you think that photo-ops will solve every colossal fuck up you have presided over, because you think that if you ignore things that they really didn't happen - this woman, who was brave enough to speak out and try to better the lives of women in Afghanistan (you remember Afghanistan, right - you know - the country you let Bin Laden escape from and then cut and ran from to sell the world a pack of lies about nonexistent "imminent threats") lost her life.


And what about that great Afghani government that you, Dick, are touting?

A Taliban commander, Mullah Hayat Khan, declared that Ms Amajan had been "executed". He said: "We have told people again and again that anyone working for the government, and that includes women, will be killed."


As for Stepford wife, plastic, emotionless, sanctimonious hypocritical Laura Bush, what about that declaration you made about the "emancipation of women" in Afghanistan and how much we should be kissing your dry drunk military deserting war criminal failure of a president husband's feet?

At the official end of the Afghan war, America's first lady, Laura Bush, was among those who declared that one of the most important achievements of overthrowing the Taliban was emancipation of women. However, since then female social workers and teachers have been maimed and killed, girls' schools shut down and female workers forced to give up their jobs. The few women out in the streets in Kandahar and other places in the south are covered in burqas. A report by the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission spoke of the "systematic and violent campaign" directed against women.


Statistics paint a bleak picture of women's lives with 35 female suicides in Kandahar alone and nearly 200 attempted suicides in the Herat region - one third of which were successful. Rights groups estimate that between 60 and 80 per cent of marriages in the country are forced. And the majority of those marriages involve girls under the age of 16.


But of course, none of this matters, since the US "officially" declared that the Afghan war is over. Just like all of the deaths to US soldiers and Iraqis as well as wounded troops and innocent civilians don't matter since we all know that the "Mission" was "accomplished" years ago.


Ms. Amajan was a former teacher. She wanted to help the 85% or so of Afghani women who are illiterate. She helped set up schools where women could learn crafts such as tailoring. She opened up a number of schools where nearly a thousand women learned how to make and sell their goods. She repeatedly asked for, and was denied, bodyguards and protection, despite numerous death threats.


And she did all this in Kandahar, which is where discrimination and repression of women's rights are the worst in the country.


Say a prayer for Ms. Amajan, as we are likely to be among the very few here in the US that will do so. And while you are, please say a prayer for women's rights in Afghanistan, which without Amajan's persistence and dedication, are likely to only get worse from this:

Human rights groups point out, however, that the battle for women's rights is in serious danger of being lost. There are now entire provinces where there is no girls' education; of the 300 schools shut or burnt down, the majority were for girls. The death rate at childbirth is the second highest in the world, and the number of women who have committed suicide, mainly through self-immolation, has risen by 30 per cent in two years.


I'm sure that the rest of the women in Afghanistan really appreciate the great "freedoms" that George and Laura Bush are touting so much.

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