05/19/2007: "Honor Killing"
It has taken a horrific event to bring my blog back on line. The blog looks somewhat different, at least for now, but as time permits, I'll get a little more style into the format. Meanwhile, the compelling reason for bringing Inside/Out back is the so-called "honor killing" recently in the news. I will not recommend that you watch the phone camera video of a pretty 17-year-old girl being beaten to death in a northern Iraq street by her relatives. The video is not for the faint of heart. Dua Khalil, a Kurd, was beaten and stoned in front of police officers because she was seen with a Sunni Muslim man. Her only sin was falling in love with someone from outside her faith. Or perhaps she became too westernized. Since she was killed on the 7th of April, honor killings have increased.
If you have read my blog before, you know my aversion to the war in Iraq and to the un-presidential fool who led us into it. To be sure, Bush's endless, illegal, lost war did not bring honor killing to Iraq. It's been a custom there for centuries. But we should stop and take a lesson from the tragedy of this young woman's death. This is a culture (or group of cultures, really) unimaginably different from ours in so many ways. These cultures have lived and fought side by side in that part of the world almost since the beginning of civilization. It is foolish and arrogant of America to believe that we can transplant our style of democracy (enfeebled and un-democratic as it is these days) into an area that only feels comfortable in a theocracy. The government that we have installed has not one woman in it. I have just read that some of Dua Khalil's relatives have been arrested, but her brutal death should be a signpost for us all. It's meaning is that we should leave before it is too late, because we will not change these people. There is little we can do there but sponsor more brutal deaths of our young men and women, and of innocent Iraqis.
I read your book Playing the Field. I am amazed at the marvelous pictures you present today on your blog. Wonderful to see you looking so lovely & in such innovative poses. Saw you early clips -- you are something special. Saw your clip with Pamela Anderson -- incredible. Will be checking your blog often -- you're an inspiration. Happy returns & thanks for sharing your thoughts ... agree we need to get out.
