Abeer was her name.

[Skidmore]

Abeer was the 14-year old girl that a was brutally raped and murdered by several US soldiers. Hadeel was her little sister, and Fakhriya and Qassim were her mother and father. They were murdered in cold blood by the same troops. It really bothers me, and I've been guilty of this too, that we tend to refer to them as "the Iraqi girl" or the "14-year-old Iraqi girl" or "the Iraqi family." Let us learn their names. God knows, the press will not talk about them by name, nor with they even allow this young girl her adolescence, referring to her in terms that imply she was an adult.

Abeer, Hadeel, Fakhriya and Qassim. Remember their names, and demand justice for them. Hold those in power accountable while we do the other two.

[LeftHander]

1. k&r

[Philosoraptor]

2. I'll never forget Abeer and her family, and the way they died.

And I'll never forget that they didn't even have to die.

[banjoterror]

47. I probably will...

Forget about them I mean. Too many disrespectfully murdered innocents to keep track. Not that the perps shouldn't... well not that justice shouldn't be meted out in whatever form is most appropriate (i.e. in the IRAQI courts, or in an alley somewhere not in the form of a military tribunal.)

[DoYouEverWonder]

3. This is the only picture of her

that I can find.

The M$M refuses to give her a name or a face.

[Recursion]

16. Born 2/18/92, according to the ID card...

...in Maahmudiya.

(And I still can't make out the last two lines of the card, or figure out what "lakab: itnaay" means.)

We never gave this girl a chance. She was born after Desert Storm, which means the first 11 years of her life were under a crippling sanctions regime that would have kept her from getting enough food or medicine. Then we plunged her into a chaotic civil war because the despot ruling her country wasn't as pliant as the despots surrounding him. And then, 4 evil, evil people we sent to her country (or is it more than 4 now?) raped her and killed her and her family.

This won't go away quickly, no matter what punishment the criminals get. Some sins linger and cause harm for generations to come.

[Mir]

23. Yeah I can read Arabic too

It's even more sad to be able to see it in that respect. I don't see "lakab." Are you talking about the word itself, or "the lakab" which is an Arabic naming tradition (pardon me if you already know this) in that a person's lakab is usually a quality that they have. So sad.

[Recursion]

26. Lakab is the 3rd line of the form

أللكب
(only with that stretched out ك they like in the east)

Didn't know that "lakab" is the nickname (for lack of a better term); I learned from Moroccans and there can be a world of difference in the dialects. Any idea on what "itnaay" would mean as the response to that? (or can you read the handwriting better than me?)

[Mir]

28. Okay I see.

Yeah the lakab line says al-Janaabi. As for itnayy, I'm really not positive about with this root - I'm assuming it is a' t n - though it may be from the Semitic root pertaining to 'to give' or 'to offer.' I could be off there, but I'm sure about al-Janaabi.

[Recursion]

29. *oh*... that's al-j, not it-

I was reading it as ط; thanks. I always screw up handwritten stuff.

[democrank]

4. Thanks, Skidmore.

Abeer was her name. Hope the press gets on this shameful story....after they finish with Mel Gibson.

[gademocrat7]

5. May Abeer and her family rest now in peace.

Shame on the media for not not reporting accurately on Abeer's death. What a tragedy.

[zippy890]

6. thanks

Abeer was her name

[Skidmore]

7. Self-kick, because this is important and I can't self-recommend.

[brer cat]

37. allow me to do that for you. thanks, skidmore..important post n/t

[RaleighNCDUer]

8. Really. And all this time, from viewing CNN, I thought her name

was "The Female".

[uppityperson]

24. to hell with CNN and "the female"

[sevenleagueboots]

9. There are images of the vermin that did this.........

and their names.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-08-07-iraqi-case_x.htm

[ChickMagic]

10. Thank you Skidmore

Abeer, I will never forget you. K&R

[PleadTheFirst]

11. K&R

For Abeer, Hadeel, Fakhriya and Qassim.

[Buns_of_Fire]

12. RIP, Abeer, Hadeel, Fakhriya, and Qassim.

You all deserved so much better than this. I'm sorry. :cry:

[Philosoraptor]

13. Abeer, Hadeel, Fakhriya and Qassim.

[Felinity]

14. Please explain

"The case already has increased demands for changes in an agreement that exempts U.S. soldiers from prosecution in Iraqi courts, and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has demanded an independent investigation."

Iraq is a sovereign nation. It has a democratically elected government.

Why does it not have unilateral authority to determine jurisdiction on all civil offenses committed within its borders?

[Hekate]

48. Bcs this isn't a "civil offense;" it's a war crime by an occupying army

And to our shame, the occupying army in question is ours.

Further than that, you surely know that Iraq is a sovereign nation in name only.

Wherever we post our military even in peacetime, the US government makes a point of shielding military personnel from local jurisdiction whenever possible, utilizing US military law instead.

I don't know the details, but DU has a lot of vets who can speak to this issue if they want to chime in. I do, however, recall cases that crop up from time to time, such as the rape of an Okinawan schoolgirl several years ago -- a lot of ill feelings were stirred up by that one, and IIRC it was quite a sensation when a couple of our soldiers actually got tried in an Okinawan court of law.

Hekate

[yellerpup]

15. Remember their names

Abeer, Hadeel, Fakhriya and Qassim. Never forget their sacrifice.

[spooky3]

17. May the Iraqi people know that Americans are outraged

about this brutal, heinous crime against a poor innocent child and her family.

[me b zola]

31. What about a memorial website?

More people would learn their names, be able to pay their respects. It would also show that we know, and are ashamed of what happened to them.

[BeHereNow]

41. See my reply to you below!

I think a web site is a GREAT idea.
BHN

[spooky3]

45. I do too.

[lonestarnot]

18. Abeer, Hadeel, Qassim, Fakhriya

[robinlynne]

19. Thank-you.

[TacticalPeek]

20. Amen, and thanks.

:patriot:

[Disturbed]

21. "Why does Iraq not have unilateral authority ?"

The US Govt. has decreed that Iraq does not. The US Govt. forced Iraq to accept 100s of Laws fashioned by the US Govt. Occupation.

Full Sovereignty?

"Throughout the spring, as hundreds died in the spiraling conflict, as Regime bosses applied their hardcore "anti-terrorist" tortures to innocent bystanders raked up in their occupation nets, as Regime mouthpieces prated endlessly of "liberation" and "sovereignty," Bush viceroy Paul Bremer was quietly signing a series of edicts that will give the United States effective control over the military, ministries -- and money -- of any Iraqi government, for years to come, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Bremer has placed U.S.-appointed "commissions" made up of Americans and local puppets throughout Iraqi government agencies; the ministers supposedly in charge weren't even told of the edicts. These boards "will serve multiyear terms and have significant authority to run criminal investigations, award contracts, direct troops and subpoena citizens," the Journal reports. Any new Iraqi government "will have little control over its armed forces, lack the ability to make or change laws and be unable to make major decisions within specific ministries without tacit U.S. approval, say U.S. officials.


Earlier Bremer edicts laid the Iraqi economy wide open to ruthless exploitation by Bush-approved foreign "investors"; dominance of such key sectors as banking, communications -- and energy -- is already well advanced. The latest dictates aim to ensure that this organized looting goes on, no matter what kind of makeshift "interim government" the United Nations manage to piece together. Bush's plans to build a Saddamite fortress embassy in Baghdad and 14 permanent military bases around the country are designed to provide the knee-breaking "security" for these lucrative arrangements."



http://context.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2004/05/21/120.html

[uppityperson]

22. Thank you Skidmore, been using their names a lot. They were people.

Abeer was not "a woman", "a girl", "the female", but a person with hopes, dreams, fears. Thank you for posting this for Abeer, her little sister Hadeel, her mama Fakhriya and her papa Qassim.

All murdered by our military in an insane situation made by our government.

I wonder if she looked out this window as she was raped and murdered?

[Judi Lynn]

25. It's unexpected to see a U.S. news organization actually took the time

to publish that photograph.

It's downright decent to remind people that a family of real human beings lived there, or tried to, at least.

[uppityperson]

27. This picture gets to me, not totally graphic, but enough

I wonder if CNN has banned my email address yet, writing them regularily about Abeer having a name as opposed to "an Iraqi Woman" or the more recently dehumanizing "the female"

[BeHereNow]

30. And she is OUR child, each and every one of us.

Abeer is my daughter; as a mother, I can
not see her in any other way.

I try to imagine myself in her mother's situation,
powerless to help my child as she
was being brutalized and murdered, and I feel panic and fear
that penetrates to the deepest place in my soul.

I will not rest until justice is done.
As surely as if Abeer had been my daughter,
I will not rest until justice is served.
We must not let this atrocity fade into another
forgotten news story.
Abeer is our daughter, she belongs to all of us
and we must rage against what has been
done to our child.
BHN

[me b zola]

32. Thank you, BHN.

I feel the same way. When I see Abeer's pic as a younger child I see my two grand daughters. This just rips at the soul.

[BeHereNow]

38. I hear you- she haunts me too. The savage cruelty of what they did to her

Is too horrible for the human heart to comprehend.
She was a child, just a child who cried and pleaded
with her attackers who told her to "Shut up."

How could they?
How COULD they have done such a thing to a child
who was crying and pleading with them for mercy?

I want them to get the death penalty, each and every one of them.
I certainly will not tolerate the military turning them
loose on our streets.
I am going to follow every moment of this case.
I will not be able to forget this crime
and I will not let anyone else forget it either.

Let's promise right here and now-
WE will not let her memory fade.
WE will not allow the story to be forgotten.
And we will not let these "soldiers" escape justice
because of the first two scenarios.

The military is probably hoping this will all
fade from the public mind, but we will prove them
wrong, you and me girl.

I promise you.

BHN

[Tsiyu]

54. Your words

just hit me in the gut.

:cry:

"how COULD they have done such a thing to a child"


It's a very bad time to be a child of this world, isn't it?

[me b zola]

33. Abeer, Hadeel, Fakhriya, and Qassim

Yes, we have a responsibility to remember their names and demand justice for them.


Skidmore, what do you think about my suggestion in post #31?

[Skidmore]

39. That sounds like an excellent idea. A website and a letter campaign

to get their names out in the press. If we could start with KO & Dobbs maybe. KO is a good man and so is Dobbs. They have a sense of decency. Then see about maybe "the Nation", "Rolling Stone", and a few other publications. It needs to get out there and these men need to be harshly condemned.

BTW, I have no skills for web publishing. Any volunteers?

[me b zola]

53. Letter writing idea is great

I think that I will write to the Oregonian too. We might be able to get larger, national papers to write an OP-ED.

As for the web-page, I have zero skills or even knowledge. :D Perhaps we can enlist support & skills from other DUers. I'm not feeling too good today, so this wouldn't be the day for me to begin a thread on the subject--and I'm not to sure that a thread from me would bring the best response.

I agree, we need to get the word out. As BeHereNow has said, we can't let this get swept away like yesterday's news. Abeer, Hadeel, Fakhirya, and Qassim deserve to be known by name, a family just trying to live in the madness that bush* created in Iraq that died butal deaths at the hands of those sent their to "liberate" them.

[Critters2]

34. K&R

She was a human being, known and loved by others. Damn the men who did this!

[riverwalker]

35. Abeer, Hadeel, Qassim, Fakhriya

[Libby2]

36. Abeer, Hadeel, Fakhriya, and Qassim

We will never forget what they did to you.

[Joe Chi Minh]

40. Sometimes I'm lost in wonder at the profundity of the feelings

and thoughts of DUers; taking us to a deeper level.

[BeHereNow]

42. Me too, isn't it a shame that we're the minority in America?

I assure you, the average American heard a blip
about this crime and promptly forgot all about it.
The victim was brown and "boys will be boys"
is probably the most thought they gave it.

BHN

[Joe Chi Minh]

43. Perhaps, they're the just ones who always make their presence

known, the "loud mouths", BHN. But I wonder if they're really the majority. It would be nice to think there are at least as many who do feel for their fellow human beings. Maybe more.

[KoKo]

44. I'ts up to those of us who didn't know her to remember her! ABEER!

You didn't die for "nothing." There are so many of us working so that your little name and body that was defiled are NEVER FORGOTTEN!

RACHEL CORRIE...so Many...So MANY!!! But, the "defilement" of Abeer and the Mowing down of Rachel...well...how can one justify this? In the name of anything ...how can one justify this? And, we don't know the "names" of the countless others...we just know those stories...the others will wait until "Diaries of Ann Frank" can be written to EXPOSE THE ATROCITIES OF WAR!

[LibertyorDeath]

46. 14 years old Jesus H Christ cnn keeps calling her

a Woman.

They a lyings scum sucking propagandist pigs.

She was barely a teenager.

[Hekate]

49. This is short & to the point. DUers can send this to CNN et al every time

... the newsmodels refer to 14 year old Abeer as "the female" or "woman" and her mother, father, and 6 year old sister as "an Iraqi family."

DUers, we can have an effect on how this is reported in the future if we all make a point of writing to the viewer comment lines with this short piece every damn time they minimize, blur, and try to erase the names and ages of Abeer, Hadeel, Fakhriya, and Qassim.

Thank you, Skidmore, for putting this into words for us.

Hekate

[Skidmore]

50. kick for the morning

to remember Abeer, Hadeel, Fakhriya, and Qassim

[Withywindle]

51. kick again

for Fakhriya and Qassim, who were slaughtered trying to protect their child, as any loving parents would.

For Hadeel, a very young and innocent child, who I can only imagine was slaughtered just for being in the way.

For Abeer, also a young child, who was gang-raped and set on fire for being...what? Brown-skinned? Pretty? A citizen of an occupied country? Not invisible? Vulnerable? Daring to have a vagina in a land overriden by phallic weapons and the men professionally trained to dehumanize the "enemy" who wield them? All of the above?

In the "wrong place at the wrong time"? Oh no. I have heard this about too many friends of mine who were raped and/or murdered for "being in the wrong place at the wrong time." That very statement is a fatalism I do not accept. It was the KILLERS who were in the wrong place at the wrong time, meaning, on the earth right now.

[katinmn]

52. Abeer and her family suffered and died because Americans let

democracy die. Americans let Bush steal two elections.

We should not be in Iraq. We should not be turning soldiers into rapists and murderers while calling them "liberators."

[Withywindle]

55. Kick

Not that Lieberman vs. Lamont and all the other debates aren't important. they are. Abeer, Hadeel, Fahkriya, and Qassim are part of the reason why.