inkbluesky

The Afghan women jailed for being victims of rape

Two-thirds of the women in Lashkar Gah’s medieval-looking jail have been convicted of illegal sexual relations, but most are simply rape victims – mirroring the situation nationwide. The system does not distinguish between those who have been attacked and those who have chosen to run off with a man.

Illegal sexual relations can constitute simply running off with another man. The sentences for being raped ( not a typo) and illegal sexual relations can run from ten to twenty years. Unless claimed by a family the children stay in prisons with their mothers. Food is meager at best, there is no fresh running water and sanitary conditions are deplorable. Some of the living conditions might improve once a new prison is completed, but that would have no effect on the sentences. These “criminals” are as young as 13. One prisoner was traded off as a bride when she was eleven. The war in Afghanistan is officially known as Operation Enduring Freedom. OEF began as an operation to destroy al-Qaeda, close down terrorist training camps, and obtain the release of the political prisoners held there. Currently OEF is a joint operation with participation of NATO. A report from the non-partisan CSBA put the cost of just the U.S. participation in Afghanistan at the end of fiscal year 2005 at $58 billion dollars. Osama Bin Laden remains at large. al-Qaeda is reported to have regrouped to prewar levels. A 22 year soldier or marine currently serving in Afghanistan would have been too young to enlist when OEF started in 2001.

broken

McCain Broke Pledge To Stay in ‘Cone of Silence’ apparently John listened to the questions put to Senator Obama while waiting. Thus giving him and his staff time to prep some talking points. The McCain campaign has stated “He’d never cheat. He was a POW for God’s sake”. Even the most partisan American would acknowledge and empathize with McCain’s POW experience, but short of a modern day miracle that transformed him into the only human being on earth that never lies his POW experience isn’t relevant to the fact that he cheated on his final exam, so to speak. To hide that cheating behind ones war experiences isn’t appropriate behavior for a grown-up or respectful of others who have suffered in similar circumstances. Some are suggesting that McCain’s camp is mustering up a storm of such false outrage in order to distract from his likely rhetorical plagiarism of Alexander Solzhenitsyn “Cross in the Dirt” story. Here, “Cross in the Dirt” story stolen from Solzhenitsyn and here, McCain lies, contradicts himself on Cross story.The Big Dog, Bill Clinton, in an interview last week said that politics at this level is a contact sport. I don’t think he meant one in which the object was to knock yourself out.