Madmen In Baghdad Murdering Women
Posted by Michelle Moquin on July 17th, 2014
Good morning.
I hate to ruin anyone’s day but it is a story that I feel should be told, because these women will never live another day. Men are getting away with murdering women and labeling them prostitutes. And, even if they were prostitutes, no one has the right to murder them.
Warning: The photo is very graphic.
Who’s Murdering Baghdad’s Prostitutes?
Twenty-nine women, reported to be prostitutes, were executed inside the apartment where they worked in the Zayouna neighborhood on Baghdad’s east side. Two men also were found dead inside, one of them the reported pimp. Many of those killed had gunshot wounds to the head. Police found one woman’s body inside a cupboard where she had tried to hide. Photographs of the gruesome spectacle have circulated widely on the Internet.
Written on the door of the building was the warning: “This is the fate of any prostitution.” The carnage and the inscription are read by Iraqis as a militia’s show of power, declaring authority in the area, and warning locals that what the militia deem moral crimes can be punished with summary execution.
No one will name the group responsible for the slaughter but privately Iraqis say that it was likely carried out by Asaib Ahl al-Haq, an Iranian-backed Shia militia group that operates openly in Zayouna. There is no proof that it is responsible for the killing Saturday, but few Iraqis doubt that it is capable of such violence.
Asaib Ahl al-Haq, which means “League of the Righteous,” began as an arm of the Mahdi Army, Iraq’s largest Shia militia led by the militant religious leader Muqtada al-Sadr, but it split from the group in 2008. Since the U.S. military’s withdrawal in 2011, Asaib Ahl al-Haq has become a powerful force in Iraq, with a small but dangerous army of devoted fighters and influence inside the national government. In neighborhoods like Zayouna, Iraqis live under the authority and at the whim of such men. And few are more vulnerable than women sex workers.
“Everyone knew it was prostitutes there; the militia killed them,” said one Iraqi vendor selling water on the street only a block from where the massacre took place. He could or would not say what militia was responsible for the crime and asked not to be identified out of fear for his safety. “The same ones who killed them used to visit,” the vendor said. How he would know this is unclear, but it’s a common view of what happened.
Qain Zuhair, a teacher who has worked with many young Iraqis, also believes that a militia was responsible for the killing and that the group’s morality police take a selective approach to enforcement. “They are conflicted,” he said. “The same men who killed the prostitutes also went to visit them. They love the prostitutes, then they kill them.”
More From Iraq: Baghdad’s Shia Militia Plans for War on ISIS
Similar murders have taken place in Zayouna in the past. Two separate shootings killed 15 people, among them several prostitutes, in May 2013. Stores selling alcohol, which is legal in Iraq but forbidden under Islamic law, also have been targets of violence in the area.
Hanaa Edwar, head of the Iraqi Al-Amal Association, an NGO in Baghdad, suggests this was not only a heinous crime but also a challenge to the government’s already weak ability to set and uphold the law. “The militias try to replace the rule of the law,” she said. “The armed groups are trying to replace the security forces. This is a horrible thing for the country.”
Across Baghdad, militias operate as local authorities both alongside official forces and independent of the government’s reach. On the city’s streets and highways, bearded militia members in irregular uniforms and black SUVs travel in convoys mixed in with Iraqi soldiers driving Humvees. They move throughout the city.
Historically, militias have had a contentious and sometimes hostile relationship with the Baghdad government—battling against it in some areas while sharing power in others. But in Iraq’s latest war against the ferocious Sunni jihadists known by the acronym ISIS, or Islamic State, hostilities among Shia gunmen and the government have given way to alliances of necessity.
The government has promised to investigate, but Hanaa Edwar doesn’t believe it. This is a country at war. Atrocities have become common, and the government’s ability and willingness to bring justice in the courts is rare. The police are investigating? “They always say this,” she says. “It’s just: blah blah blah. After they say this, it’s forgotten.”
*****
Readers: This is a horrible, sick and sad story. I wouldn’t go as far to say the men “love them.” If they did they wouldn’t have killed them. It’s more like they used them, and when they were done, they killed them, tossing them aside like trash to be forgotten.
What is the solution? Blog me.
The next few days are very full so I HOPE you don’t mind that I will not be commenting much. As always, your comments are appreciated. Thanks for being here.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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July 17th, 2014 at 10:30 am
Yeah Al, where’s the aliens when you need them? Let them eat these rotten men.
July 17th, 2014 at 4:37 pm
These are the kind of men who have been give leave to kill women so they do. In America the atmosphere is the same. Only they can’t kill them so they deprive them of healthcare, food, income equality, and hope.
America murders its women with a different weapon.
July 17th, 2014 at 4:40 pm
Someone needs to kill them. If it’s Al or aliens it’s fine with me.
July 17th, 2014 at 9:00 pm
Wow Lea. You’re right. I never heard it articulated that way before.
July 17th, 2014 at 9:11 pm
That’s just sickening, can Madeleine lend a hand … I’m sure she’d love to sort this one out … Luv, ZL
July 17th, 2014 at 10:39 pm
We could be heading towards WWIII. Rumors abound that Putin is in such a precarious position that he needs a war to save his life and control over his country.
It seems that other events are spiraling towards helping him get his wish. Israel has invaded the Gaza Strip. Putin has been suppling the Palestinians with weapons that will give them much more fire power than they had in 2009, when Israel invaded and cut the strip in half by seizing control of the Gaza port.
Israeli tanks have reached Abu Holeh, if Israeli forces go from there to the sea they can split Gaza as they did during the 2009 ground operation,
A Boeing 777 Malaysian passenger jet carrying 295 people was shot down by a missile over the Eastern Ukraine. It will come out that the separatists(a movement started and supported by Russia to divide the Ukraine and have part of it, eastern Ukraine, be incorporated into Russia) shot down the Malaysian passenger jet with a missile fired by a Buk launcher.
The Buk, also known by its Nato codename of Sa-11 Gadfly, is a Russian-made, medium-range surface-to-air missile system designed to defend against high-performance aircraft and cruise missiles.
———————————————–
Also known as SA-11 Gadfly (or newer SA-17 Grizzly)
Russian-made, mobile, medium range system
Weapons: Four surface-to-air missiles
Missile speed (max): Mach 3
Target altitude (max): 22,000 metres (72,000ft)
——————————————–
Putin obviously was aware that the passenger jet would be shot down. Less that 24 hours earlier Wednesday at 1600 hours GMT Russia shot down a Su-25 military jet.
More and more heavy military equipment has moved from Russian stockpiles to the separatists across the border and to the arabs fighting Israel. Putin is clearly looking to start a major conflict with the United States if he feels that Europe (NATO) will be too gutless to support the US.
If the Russian stock market begins to crash because investors start taking their money out of Russia. The Russian Mafia will be very upset with Putin and all bets are off as to how desperate Putin will be to hold on to his tenuous control of Russia and even his very life.
WWIII would be a small price for this desperate creep to pay to stay alive. This is shaping up to be the poker game of the Century for Obama. Unfortunately, he has his bank (racist white men) betting against him.
They better wake up before this thing gets out of hand. They will not come out of this well if a national emergency has to be declared. Obama will most certainly play hard ball.
If a war breaks out on his watch. He will not sell out like the other presidents before him. He will hold the super rich accountable. They may have to give up way more than they bargained for.
But that will hardly help those of us caught in a war. Many will die and millions more will wish they were dead because if WWII starts it will be more terrifying than anything imaginable.
Nukes will hit the US.
July 17th, 2014 at 10:40 pm
Israel just began a ground invasion of gaza, seems like a busy day in
the world. I guess I can see the point of the world not needing us to be the worlds police, everything seems tranquil enough.
July 17th, 2014 at 10:44 pm
Well, to the promised land they returned, and there still, the gentile hates and haunts them. Hate- that is all this is about. Hate of the Jew, the everlasting other.
The one human creature who must not stand up for itself, the only one who must bear aggression, brace, and keep still. Oh I wish we could speak of that attitude as an outdated prejudice. That frothing ignorant bias, but alas, it is still very much alive.
So many lies, such blindness to context and facts are in play, such monstrous application of double standards and hollow appall. When the Jew is concerned, humanity notwithstanding all its splendid progress, is still deep in the venomous slush of the 7th century.
July 17th, 2014 at 10:46 pm
Buddhists living with Hindus = No Problem
Hindus living with Christians = No Problem
Christians living with Shintos = No Problem
Shintos living with Confucians = No Problem
Confucians living with Baha’is = No Problem
Baha’is living with Jews = No Problem
Jews living with Atheists = No Problem
Atheists living with Buddhists = No Problem
Buddhists living with Sikhs = No Problem
Sikhs living with Hindus = No Problem
Hindus living with Baha’is = No Problem
Baha’is living with Christians = No Problem
Christians living with Jews = No Problem
Jews living with Buddhists = No Problem
Buddhists living with Shintos = No Problem
Shintos living with Atheists = No Problem
Atheists living with Confucians = No Problem
Confucians living with Hindus = No Problem
Hindus Living with Jews = No Problem
Muslims living with Hindus = Problem
Muslims living with Buddhists = Problem
Muslims living with Christians = Problem
Muslims living with Jews = Problem
Muslims living with Sikhs = Problem
Muslims living with Baha’is = Problem
Muslims living with Shintos = Problem
Muslims living with Atheists = Problem
Muslims living with Muslims = Big problem
July 18th, 2014 at 1:19 am
Mike,TM#6, You may be surprised, but I doubt it. The US knows that the plane was brought down by Russian trained military experts operating those Buks on Ukrainian soil.
July 18th, 2014 at 1:22 am
You’d think they’d have more to worry about than killing a few women. Like ISIS.
July 18th, 2014 at 1:23 am
Michelle, how many innocent Palestinians have Israeli soldiers killed so far DM? How many children ?
July 18th, 2014 at 1:25 am
Those sick misogynistic bastards, murder 25 women and label them prostitutes so that their fellow cult religion men will look the other way. et they don’t slaughter the men who use them?
July 18th, 2014 at 1:28 am
The cowards can burt into a room full of women and murder them, but when on the battle field the gutless wonders disrobe and run away as civilians.
Iraqi men like most arab men are good at talking bad, and torturing women, not so good at fighting other men.
Ask Israel how easy it is to kick their sorry asses.
July 18th, 2014 at 1:30 am
Those bastards are in their slaughtering women and its Ramadan. I guess it doesn’t matter unless they are using their cult religion to force others especially women to remain in it.
July 18th, 2014 at 1:31 am
Husna#12, you are a special kind of piece of shit. Militants all over the globe committing heinous crimes, and you condemn Israel for protecting themselves
July 18th, 2014 at 1:32 am
Wow, bursting in & shooting unarmed women….real brave guys, real brave. How about you take your hate out on other armed men?
I hear ISIS are looking for a good fight so instead of being cowards & picking on women, go out & engage the ISIS fighters. The deaths on either side is no loss to the world. Just leave the women & children alone.
July 18th, 2014 at 1:33 am
I am glad America, Britain, and The Netherlands are mostly secular, multicultural societies. One dimensional people want to control every aspect of society.
July 18th, 2014 at 1:38 am
Let me get this straight the bastards are opposed to Prostitution but in favor of murder.
I’m with you Zen Lill#5, Let Madaline, beam up as many of the bastards as her ship can hold.
July 18th, 2014 at 1:41 am
Michelle, where do you find this stuff? Lunatics killing unarmed women, how brave they are.
July 18th, 2014 at 1:48 am
Michelle, the cowards even lie about the number of women killed. I live the apartment complex where it happened. I knew several of the women.
The cowards killed 29 women and 2 men. My friends were not prostitutes. They were women determined not to allow men to say who they could be alone with.
They were women who refused to be forced into a marriage with old ugly men they had never met.
The apartment was a place like anywhere in the world where men and women go to be together on a date. It was horrible. They were murdered for wanting to date and then labeled prostitutes.
This religion we are forced to join is sick, sick, sick.
July 18th, 2014 at 1:51 am
How can one be so intolerant to kill people in cold blood and still claim that their ideology is the ‘religion of peace’.
It is only religion that lets people become mindless murderers but still believe that they are saints.
July 18th, 2014 at 1:54 am
I think the nutbars who kill in the name of Islam are the same type of people that would have killed in the name Facism, Communism, Christianity ect. Just sick individuals looking for a cause to kill for.
July 18th, 2014 at 6:10 am
Heaven help us all
July 18th, 2014 at 7:23 am
The grizzly shoot down was posted on Facebook by a Russians yesterday…all the summary was inferred in that post as well … Seems that Russian Americans want to divorce themselves not necessarily from their own people but certainly from Putin and his actions. And the know its a throwing down of the gauntlet to the US and Europe…yes a busy day in the world to say the least…
And while Obama may get resistance from the GOP regarding hard ball…(& I do not condone war) Putin May leave our Pres no other choice but to take SOME action.
I send out my more positive intention for it all and gaza as well …
I doubt Malaysia air will stay in business either, any alien want to fill in what happened to the missing plane? Or did I miss something in the few days I miss here and there?
Wishing everyone peace on this tumultuous world day …
Luv, Zen Lill
July 18th, 2014 at 9:12 am
Obama Humiliates Muslim Guests at White House Ramadan Event, Endorses Israel’s Gaza Assault and NSA Surveillance
http://www.alternet.org/world/obama-humiliates-muslim-white-house-guests-endorsing-israels-gaza-assault-defending-nsa
July 18th, 2014 at 9:52 am
Michelle: What has happened to those 29 women in Baghdad is very tragic, not being any reason for Iraqi sponsored Shia militants to carry out this particularly heinous and criminal slaughter. These woman were not soldiers, nor any other type of threat. I agree with Lea #2 today. The GOP is trying to remove women’s reproductive and contraceptive rights, might it be due to the fact that it violates Christian doctrine? The GOP wants that Christian vote.
Very much like a Jihad against women here in the US.
July 18th, 2014 at 10:27 am
[…] for your sisters? We have a big enough battle with the men trying to control us. Did you see what Lea wrote? If it isn’t time for women to get on board and start supporting women, how bad does […]
July 19th, 2014 at 7:22 am
Smoking while pregnant is just as harmful to a fetus, if not more so. If anyone is serious about protecting fetuses from this type of harm, they would be working to get smoking included in any bills like this.
Every woman who smokes while pregnant should be arrested, based on the logic behind this bill.
But that won’t happen because 1.) that would piss off the cigarette Industry whose pocket these republicans are in and 2.) this is not a bill to protect a fetus, it is a bill to harass women.