Iraqi Women - Witnesses to War
By Mike Hersh and Karen Bradley, Mar 10, 2006
Five women from Iraq discussed their experiences and explained the situation in Occupied Iraq at a press conference facilitated by Code Pink and Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson. Dr Entisar Mohammad Ariabi delivered their conclusion: "The central cause of tragedy in Iraq is the occupation." Noting that the event promoted a Women's Call for Peace on International Women's Day, Dr. Ariabi described the current conditions: "Iraqi women are looking for their children under rubble, and looking for their husbands in prison. Pregnant women cannot find sufficient care. No hospital or delivery room. Ambulances are shot."
Correcting claims by American war supporters, Nadje Al-Ali explained that from 1968 until the US-led invasion of 2003, the general situation for Iraqi women was better than it is now. The Iraqi women disproved assertions that Iraq women "were not allowed to go to university or school." Bush Administration officials and their supporters in the media use that inaccurate accusation to defend the war and occupation.
The delegation - made up of an engineer, a doctor, two pharmacists, and a university instructor - proved pro-war assertions are - as they put it "lies." They noted that they were not allowed to see Bush to present petitions with over 100,000 names, but another group of women from Iraq were meeting with Bush to support false claims.
The women at this press conference explained that under Saddam Hussein, women enjoyed access to education and participated in every profession - engineering, law, medicine, the petroleum industry - and although they were attached to the Ba'ath Party - "100s of [women's] centers [served] millions of women." Even taking account of the decades of oppression and years under sanctions, the women of Iraq were better off under Saddam than under US-led occupation regarding their personal safety, as well as literacy, education, opportunity, health care, and more.
According to Al-Ali, for a brief time after the invasion toppled Saddam's regime, "women came together and mobilized." When the interim Iraqi Governing Council - which Al-Ali referred to as US "puppets" - "tried to change family law to more conservative law [that would undermine their rights] women mobilized to stop this." Since then, Iraqi women haven't had as much success defending and maintaining status and rights they'd enjoyed under Saddam Hussein.
Al-Ali said the United States and United Kingdom brought in NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) which have been hostile to women's equality. The US sent "women who were inexperienced" and who think "feminism is a dirty word." Most had "never left the US." The occupying powers appointed interim officials, "two-thirds from outside, including women from outside [Iraq] many there to line their pockets and for power with a patronizing attitude." In confirmation, Code Pink cofounder and PDA board member Medea Benjamin noted Phyllis Schlafly and Madeleine Albright are leading the US women's efforts to "help" Iraqi women, the former is hostile to women's rights here while the latter said the deaths of 10,000s of Iraqi children from sanctions was "worth it."
While 25% of the new Iraqi government are women, that is "meaningless [because] people don't trust the government," according to Al-Ali who described "incredible corruption with $billions going into the pockets of American corporations and some Iraqi companies and officials." She said the "grassroots women's groups deserve support." With $6,000 in help from Code Pink, one such group established two medical clinics in one Iraqi town.
Faiza Al-Araji confirmed Al-Ali's testimony. She "went to see the NGOs, meeting with western women to ask them 'what human rights and women's rights are you bringing to Iraq?'" To answer her question, Al-Araji explained "I can no longer drive my car - I need my husband, son or another male driver." She added, "I cannot send my daughter to school for fear of kidnapping." She questions the NGOs agenda, saying they're dividing Iraqi families, "provoking Iraqi women against their fathers and husbands." This when the Iraqis "need unity to calm violence." Al-Araji told American-led NGOs, "This is not the Oprah Show," that their agenda is wrong. She said if people want to help the Iraqi people and especially Iraqi women, "the priority is [ending] the war. Women are losing rights because of war."
Sureya Sayadi, a Kurdish woman born in Kirkuk who now lives in the US, told us 30 million Kurds are the largest ethnic group without a home. Her people live mainly in four nations - Iraq, Iran, Syria and 15 million or more in Turkey. Sayadi said, "Saddam committed atrocities against the Kurds, 100,000s killed in the desert, but none of the Kurds I know supported the [American-led] war." This directly contradicts claims that the Kurds were for the war and the war was for the Kurds.
She noted that many "Kurdish women are less educated" than their countrywomen, but "every mind in the world is beautiful." Her sisters in Iraq "struggle to study" but suffer from lack of opportunity. Also, her people "still have 'honor killings,'" adding "burning is the [most common method of] suicide for Kurdish women." Kurds have lived for "30 years as refugees in their own country," according to Sayadi who said Americans should "bring psychologists and therapists, but this cannot happen while there is war."
The Delegation spent Tuesday lobbying members of Congress. They met people who "don't know what to do about Iraq" and asked them for answers. One reported she was speaking with a staffer about the death of her loved ones, but got no response. She said it's difficult to speak to a "blank face and a frozen heart." The women praised some "well-briefed, sympathetic" staffers they met, but many weren't as respectful.
One office after another failed to honor appointments. Many said they had only a few minutes. Some offered to discuss their family tragedies in the hallway. A few met the women, but according to Faiza Al-Araji many "looked at papers [and] weren't concentrating" during the meetings. She met members of Congress and staff and thought, "poor American people!" This from a woman who endured decades of dictatorship.
The following biographical and other information provided by womensaynotowar.org:
The delegation is a diverse group, including Shia, Sunni and Kurdish women - some secular, some religious. All have paid a very high price for the war and occupation of their country, and want to tell their stories to the American people. Unfortunately, two Iraqi women whose families were killed by US troops were denied visas to enter the US as part of the delegation.
These women are not politicians, but ordinary Iraqis who are desperate to see an end to the violence and are taking great personal risk to come to the US. It's a rare opportunity to hear from Iraqis themselves, and we hope that you will help ensure they are heard.
The delegation is promoting a Women's Call for Peace, signed by over 100,000 people from around the world. The Call for Peace requests the withdrawal of all foreign troops and foreign fighters from Iraq, negotiations to reincorporate disenfranchised Iraqis, full representation of women in the peacemaking process, and a commitment to women's equality in the post-war Iraq. This Call is part of a Women Say No to War campaign www.womensaynotowar.org designed to bring women together across borders to demand an end to the bloodshed in Iraq.
Nadje Al-Ali is a writer/researcher specializing in women in the Middle East. She is a founding member of Act Together: Women's Action on Iraq and mother of a 3-year-old daughter.
Faiza Al-Araji is a civil engineer, blogger afamilyinbaghdad.blogspot.com religious Shia with a Sunni husband, and mother of three. After one son was recently held as a political prisoner by the Ministry of the Interior, the family fled to Jordan.
Eman Ahmad Khamas is a human rights advocate who has documented abuses by the US military in Iraq. She is a member of Women's Will, and is married with two daughters.
Dr Entisar Mohammad Ariabi, a pharmacist at the Yarmook Teaching Hospital in Baghdad, has documented the deteriorating health system. She is married with five children.
Dr. Rashad Zidan, a pharmacist, works in Baghdad and Fallujah with the Women and Knowledge Society to aid victims of war, especially orphans.
Sureya Sayadi, a Kurdish woman born in Kirkuk, is an activist for human rights in the Middle East, particularly for the Kurdish people. She now lives in the United States, but her family is dispersed in Iraq, Iran and Turkey.
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