Dear editor,

I received a reaction from a (well known) Iraqi woman, whose name I can't reveal, to your article:

Rise of Extremism, Islamic Law Threaten Iraqi Women by Chris Shumway
http://newstandardnews.net/content/?items=1600

"What threatens the Iraqi women now is not wearing the scarf or the hijab as much as it is the fear of being arrested, killed in blasts, shootings, or on the hands of criminal gangs.
The fear of her husband, her son, brother, father...etc being killed or arrested. There is an army of newly widowed women, with many children to feed or take care of, mothers of handicapped children with no money to provide medical care, women are living in refugees camps, with families and children to take care of.
women are in jails, humiliated, abused, with no future. women are unemployed. many are working as house servants. I agree that for a women to put the scarf against her will is unacceptable, but this is (luxury) problem when your life, your chidren , your house, and your existance is threatened. and by way the majority of Iraqi women put the scarf even before the invation and the occupation. It is true that they are more now, for safty reasons, or political reasons, but let us not forget the real problem, the real injustice.
I think that this is part of blackening the image of Islam, which in turn serves the war against terrorism. Let us look at the real problem, the occupation, and the crimes against the Iraqi people (including women) it is committing, which much bigger and more dangerous on women than the scarf.
Best.
xxxx"

In october, days before the assault on Fallujah, the OWFI released the following dubious statement:

Communiqué of the Organization of Women¹s Freedom in Iraq on:
Criminal acts committed by Islamists during the month of Ramadan against Women in Iraq and the Rejection and Resistance of Women against Islamic Terrorism.
Terrorist acts against women in Iraq by Islamic groups have increased dramatically in recent months and reached an unprecedented level under the rubric of "observing sanctities during Ramadan." A fascist Islamic group called "Mujahideen Shura Group²" has warned that it will kill any women who are seen on street unveiled whether by themselves or with a male companion!
In the northern city of Mosul, Christian women are targets of a killing, kidnapping and rape campaign. One such barbaric crime took place in this city where two women were kidnapped and raped by multiple men and then were sold as female slaves to another group of men. They were again raped repeatedly for four days before they managed to escape!
In the city of Falluja, at the Mujahideen congress held on October 20,2004, the Islamic criminal Abdulla al-Janabi and Falluja¹s Shura Council gave a fatwa (religious decree) that Mujahideen fighters should rape girls at age 10 before they are raped by Americans!
Scores of university girls have been beaten up, often severely, for wearing jeans or for not wearing hijab (Islamic veil). Women who go to hair dressing salons are frequently attacked by Islamists and their hair is cut in a public display of shaming.
Thousands of leaflets are distributed across the country everyday warning women against going out unveiled, putting on make up, shaking hands or mixing with men. More than 1000 female university students have taken leave of their studies to protect themselves against the terrorism of Islamists.
They kidnap women in the name of "resistance" and only release them after receiving thousands of dollars in ransom for each woman! They kidnap Iraqi and foreign women alike. Margaret Hassan, a British woman known for her help and service to the Iraqi people for over three decades was taken hostage by an Islamic terrorist groups asking for millions of dollars in ransom, otherwise she will be killed like other foreigners.
Today, with the absence of any form of state in Iraq, the terrorist Islamists are seeking to implement their medieval laws through fear and horror. They have come to Iraq with slogans and banners holding signs of swords dripping blood. They are striving to Islamicize Iraqi society through terror. Everyday they are killing Christians, university academics and lecturers, secular personalities, youth, children and any other creature moving on the ground!
This is the benefit of the liberation that the US government has brought to the Iraqi masses. The only true benefit has come to the Islamic terrorist groups, which are free to attack, and kill women!
Women in Iraq and the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq expose these forces, which try to delude people by posing as ³resistance² to the US occupiers. The Islamic movement has made it clear that even if the US forces are expelled or withdraw from Iraq , they will declare Jihad against any secular government! They want to establish a Caliphate (Islamic government) where women are will be set back by 1400 years! The Islamic terrorists have come with their bayonets directed at women in Iraq.
We must stand up to the groups of Islamic terrorism in Iraq. There is no other alternative.
The Organization of Women¹s Freedom in Iraq announces a local and international campaign against Islamic terrorism. OWFI strongly opposes and fights against this terrorism. We call on the masses and all women from north to south to join our campaign and stand up against the barbarism of misogynist Islamists. We calls on all progressives, liberationists and defenders of women¹s rights and human rights, including civil rights and children¹s rights, to support the Organizations of Women¹s Freedom in Iraq in its struggle against political Islam.
Today the movement for women¹s rights and a civil society in Iraq stands up to oppose and end Islamic terrorism and the US occupation of Iraq. As long as the occupation continues, Islamic terrorism against the society will flourish and grow. Support the secular women¹s movement!
Join our campaign against Islamic terrorism in Iraq!

Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq
October 25,2004
Al- Fardawse Square Area ­ Al Za¹im Street ­ Next to Al Saadoun Private Hospital
Tel no. 011 964 17 170953- Iraq- yanar2002@hotmail.com
0044 789 00 65933- nadia64uk@yahoo.com
www.equalityiniraq.com





In response to these allegations against the resistance by the 'Organisation of Women's Freedom in Iraq', Tahrir Swift, Arab Madia Watch's director ( www.arabmediawatch.com ), based in the UK, wrote the following reaction, that was published on the website of IDAO (Iraqi Democrats Against Occupation - www.idao.org )

As US occupation forces intesify their attack on the people of Falluja and other areas of Iraq, a pattern is now emerging in Britain to undermine the democratic opposition to the US-led occupation. The main thrust of the campaign is to depict the resistance as being anti-women and terrorist in nature, using for this purpose unelected Iraqi trade union and women umbrella organisations. IDAO is pleased to publish a response by Ms. Tahrir Swift to such allegations by 'Organisation of Women's Freedom in Iraq (OWFI).

(Letter of Tahrir Swift)

Forgive me for this unsolicited email. Someone forwarded your email about Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq to me. First of all, I think it is always sensible to know where a group of women attached to political party are coming from. The Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq, are part of the Iraqi Worker's Communist Party, which is similar to the one in Iran. I find it ironic that their views are very similar to that of the Iraqi Communist Party (their arch rival) on this issue. I also detect a sense of looking down at one's own identity on the part of OWFI.

I have little doubt that many of the OWFI women are well meaning and do some good work in Iraq. However they are known to reduce women issues to domestic violence and the veil in their speeches that I have heard. I find their sense of timing absolutely appalling as the people of Fallujah are being bombed by the Americans day in day out. And are awaiting a Sharon type war crime in front of the whole silent shameful world.

I probably would not like it in Fallujah, I might not event like the Fallujans! But do they deserve to be slaughtered? Do their children deserve to be mutilated by the American bombs?

Yes, Fallujans are well known to be conservative and more so now when civil society is falling apart and the occupation is failing to live up to its duties under international law. Who am I to take up the moral high grounds and pass Judgment on them?

"Mujahideen Shura Group" in Fallujah, this is a group I have never heard of, could they not be 'one man and his dog' common criminals? OWFI does not tell us what makes them think that they belong to the resistance! I find it interesting that OWFI fails to mention that the committee of Islamic Scholars has issued a Fatwa in the wake of the Abu Ghraib scandal that women sexually abused in detention are victims who deserve our care and sympathy. This is unprecedented in Islamic countries.

"Killing/ Kidnapping/ selling into slavery in Mousel":
Is this new? Has it not been taking place since the invasion and the dissolving of the police force? Why is OWFI attributing this to 'Islamists'? What they cite is consistent with HRW report of June 2003. Indeed, I believe OWFI themselves criticized the occupation for failing to protect women in one of their statements and denounced such criminal acts.

"Today, with the absence of any form of state in Iraq, the terrorist Islamists are seeking to implement their medieval laws through fear and horror" Whose fault is that?

"They kidnap women in the name of "resistance" and only release them after receiving thousands of dollars in ransom for each woman!" I have little doubt that there are mafia gangs operating in the name of the resistance, are they the real resistance? Whose fault is it that women and young girls are vulnerable to kidnapping? If the centre of London is to fall into lawlessness, would women be any safer? I was living in Brixton in the summer of 1984, the police lost control of the place for several hours due to the riots, there were rapes, car theft, looting and murder that night and I am pretty sure they were not carried out by Islamists!.

"Everyday they are killing Christians, university academics and lecturers, secular personalities, youth, children and any other creature moving on the ground"!
Wow! What proof has OWFI got that those who are killing academics are Islamists? The reports I have read in British newspapers and websites actually point to professional killing that never seems to miss or botch the assassinations (one bullet is enough). I think OWFI needs to know what is going on in the world before they start pointing fingers as they feel like it. Many of the scientists and academics killed were those pursued by the Americans who demanded that they leave Iraq before the war.

I have met a Syrian who is married to an Iraqi Christian at the ESF (15/17 Oct 2004) he had just left Iraq. He told me that all his in laws believe that the Mossad is behind all the attacks on their churches and all the killings. Remember the Americans attempted to blame Al Sadr supporters for such crimes. But while the borders are porous and the occupiers are failing even to protect their own back side it is not possible to ascertain with certainty who is behind them. Christians are not the only victims, the Shia were slaughtered at Najaf, at Kadumyia and Karabla. The Sunnis have been slaughtered with bombings and their mosques have been desecrated. It is obvious for the people that as the occupation is going from bad to worse, it would suit the Americans if Iraq is to unravel. The Syrian man, also said that there are Christians amongst the Iraqi fighters. I would also like to remind you that the first attack on a holy place in Iraq's modern history took place in 1950, when Mossad attacked the Baghdad Synagogue.

This is a highly irresponsible claim by the OWFI.

"In the city of Falluja, at the Mujahideen congress held on October 20,2004, the Islamic criminal Abdulla al-Janabi and Falluja's Shura Council gave a fatwa (religious decree) that Mujahideen fighters should rape girls at age 10 before they are raped by Americans!" If OWFI has incontrovertible evidence that this man did issue this Fatwa, then he should be exposed and reported to the Committee of Islamic Scholars. Many mosque Imams have been arrested for criticizing the occupation recently, surely Allawi can arrest a man who issuing such an un- Islamic and criminal incitement.

Women in Iraq and the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq expose these forces, which try to delude people by posing as "resistance" to the US occupiers.
The Islamic movement has made it clear that even if the US forces are expelled or withdraw from Iraq , they will declare Jihad against any secular government!

Now this is really revealing, OWFI here is trying to find an excuse for not calling for the immediate withdrawal of the American troops (how very ICP!). Who is the 'Islamic movement' exactly? Allawi's allies in the interim government? Allawi and occupation opponents in Iraqi cities up and down the country?

I am puzzled by what seems to be a blatant attempt to smear the resistance by a group who claims to be opposed to the illegal occupation.

I find it very interesting that OWFI makes no mention of women suffering as a result of the occupation and continuous war on Iraqi cities. They make no mention of Iraqi women prisoners/ wives and families of those detained unlawfully. They make no mention of the plight of women 'servicing' the occupation forces.
More importantly, they make no mention of the current dire health situation as conceded by the health ministry. No mention either of the misuse of women issues by the US and their stooges in order to discredit the resistance and /or bomb them! When and where women cause was advanced by bombs?

This, by no means indicates that I am not worried by fired up individuals enforcing their own rules on women in universities. But, who is allowing them to do so? I sent a message of solidarity to Christian women students protesting about the enforcement of the scarf at the university of Mousel, in which I reminded them that young Muslim women in France are being forced to take off their head scarves before entering their schools in France. I reminded them of the brave pragmatic stand these young women took.

Tahrir Swift




I really hope you can publish this reaction. Because these thoughts reflect another Iraqi point of view. It's important for your audience to know.

Best regards.
Dirk Adriaensens
On behalf of the organising committee of BRussells Tribunal ( www.brusselstribunal.org )


Courtesy of Dirk Adriaensens