Please Listen to Iraqi Women: "If I was president -1st thing I would do is ask Americans to leave"

[kpete]

Please Listen to the Women of Iraq
Posted March 6, 2008 | 03:31 PM (EST)

................
I no longer recognized Baghdad. Each neighborhood is now controlled by a different militia. We never talked about Sunni/Shi'ah as much as everyone is talking about it today. We never thought about the idea of splitting the country into federations more or less divided along sectarian lines. We never had as many religious symbols as we have in the city now -- so much so that a new visitor could never believe that Baghdad was once a secular city where religion was seen and respected as part of its citizens' private lives but not as the public definition of the city.

Even beyond Baghdad, 89 percent of women thought that the separation of people along ethnic/religious/sectarian lines was a bad thing. Although 72.7 percent of the women said that in the future there should be one unified Iraq with a central government in Baghdad, only 32.3 percent of the women thought there would in fact be such a thing in five years.

As I traveled the country, I asked women what they want for Iraq's future. One woman, Shatha, explained, "If I was the president of the country, the first thing I would do is ask the Americans to leave. I then would make filling the stomachs of the people my utmost priority, by ending poverty and creating jobs. And thirdly I will focus on education. We can't have real democracy if we don't have educated people pushing for a real democracy." When I asked the women to further explain their position on American presence in Iraq, one woman, Amira, explained that the Americans "gave us something but they took from us another thing. They gave us freedom and they took from us security... but if I have to choose one, I will choose safety and security."

more at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/zainab-salbi/please-listen-to-the-wome_b_90280.html

[niyad]

1. thank you

[niyad]

2. k & r

[BOSSHOG]

3. What the hell do Iraqi's know about Iraq?

george bush knows whats best for them. And us to. Three buck a gallon gas, a ruined Army and a despondent housing market. What a guy!

[tom_paine]

4. And the second thing she would do is be assassinated by a "lone gunman"

Bhutto was a fool for letting the Bushies lure her to her death, which the Bushies likely sanctioned and privately danced with glee over.

This woman would be killed by the Bushies so fast it would make her head spin.

[trueblue2007]

5. The US should never have attacked her country in the first place

BUSH HAS BLOOD ON HIS HANDS. Every American and Iraqi civilian who died was killed by Bush & Company.

[JuniperLea]

6. Thank you, kpete...

For bringing us back to reality. This is what really matters right now... and I think we have lost sight of it for too long.

[pleah]

7. They would get my vote!