Will the rape of Sabrine trigger a full blown Iraq civil war?

[sabra]

and the US is stuck in the middle of this...

http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/post/1537/Rape_of_Sabrine_Will_Haunt_Maliki

Rape of Sabrine Will Haunt Maliki
Swift Absolution of Alleged Rapists Only Stokes Sectarian Tension



Iraq watchers are waiting to see how much blood will be spilled in the name of Sabrine, the 20-year-old Sunni woman who alleges she was raped this past weekend after being detained by Iraqi police.

...

However, since Sabrine has taken a public stand to speak out about her experience, and Maliki's actions give the impression of cover-up, this incident has the potential to take Iraq from that "brink" of civil war that everyone likes to discuss, and turn it up to full-time sectarian brutality.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/21/world/middleeast/21iraq.html?_r=2&hp=&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin

<snip>

Almost immediately, Shiite leaders lined up to condemn the woman, calling her charges propaganda aimed at undermining the new security campaign. Sunni politicians offered the woman their support. Whatever the truth of the accusation, though, it played to sectarian fears on both sides.

...

That was also the first response of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, who issued a statement soon after the woman appeared on television on Monday, promising a full investigation and the most severe punishment for anyone involved.

Only hours later, however, Mr. Maliki reversed himself. His office released a second statement after midnight, that one calling the woman a liar and a wanted criminal and going on to praise the officers involved.


...

A nurse who said she treated the woman after the attack said that she saw signs of sexual and physical assault. The woman, according to the nurse, could identify one of her attackers because he was not wearing a mask, as were the others, and could identify a second attacker by a mark on his genitals.

The nurse would speak only on the condition of anonymity because she feared that Shiite militiamen would kill her for speaking out. The nurse said she was also wanted by the authorities, who believed the clinic she works at was used by insurgents.

Iraqi gov't "outs" the accuser! AKA a death warant... :-(

http://www.aswataliraq.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=37858&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

Medical report says al-Janabi's claims groundless - spokesman

Baghdad, Feb 21, (VOI) – A medical report by the U.S.-run (Ibn Sina) hospital in Baghdad proved that claims by an Iraqi woman who said she was raped by Iraqi soldiers and officers were groundless, Iraqi security spokesman said on Wednesday.
"Sabrin al-Janabi is married with a man whose name is Qais and she does not have any identification papers", Brigadier Qassem Atta said in a news conference in Baghdad.

"The woman has two names: the registered name is Zaynab Abbas al-Jemeli and a pseudonym that is Sabrin", Atta added.
"The house, where the woman was arrested is located in the district of al-Amil, has a hole that leads to an adjacent house, where forces found a small hospital for treating injured gunmen", the Brigader noted.

"Interrogation lasted for only 15 minutes", the official stated, noting that these claims aim at hindering the ongoing (Rule of law) security plan.
He underlined the plan will continue, highlighting that it realized important and significant success.

[RaleighNCDUer]

1. If she doesn't have any identification papers, how do they know

her "registered name" as well as her alias?

Just asking.

[gratuitous]

2. I don't think anyone could have predicted that . . .

Ah hell, you know what? It's just not funny anymore. What our country has done to the world, and what our country's leaders have done to our national honor and prestige will take decades to repair.

We're in the slow slog phase of ousting these bloodthirsty ideologues from power. They know that as soon as they lose their greedy grip on the controls, they're all done for, careers over and jail time looming. They won't go quietly, they won't go peacefully. They know that they deserve to spend the end of their lives in misery and humiliation, and they'll put off that time for as long as they can.

We have made a good beginning with the election of 2006, but the work just gets harder and the lifting just gets heavier from here, and will continue for a goodly while. A lot of powerful forces are heavily invested in the power structure currently constituted, and we're going to have to counter not just the criminals but the ancillary beneficiaries of their criminal activity as well.

[IWantAChange]

3. Is there such a thing as truth or facts anymore??

If we here in America cannot trust our leaders to be honest with us how on Earth could anyone in Iraq trust anything coming out of either the militants or Maliki's administration as being the truth. Get our troops out of there now.

[The Magistrate]

4. This Is Indeed, Sir, The Sort Of Thing That Becomes A Cause Celebre

People like small, individualized incidents to root their massive angers in, and like them sexually charged if possible....

[sabra]

7. I won't be surprised if a new militant group emerges with the name

the "brigade of Sabrine"

[Beelzebud]

5. Iraq already IS in a full blown civil war...

[mntleo2]

6. Of Course They Besmirch The Woman!

...as men will do. It does not seem to occur to them: Why else would any woman want to say she was raped and make it public which will follow her for the rest of her life, if it did not happen? Oh. Oh. I see, this is because she "wants attention" or is "trying to stir up trouble" just for kicks. Many times men who run the show, never seems to ask, for whom would she make the most trouble in a male dominated world ~ her rapists who will probably get off scot free, or will it be the lifelong marks on herself?

Sabrin, I feel for you and I will pray you will find peace. While I have doubts this will happen, I hope you show these men to be the monsters they are! Blast their pictures all over the world!

Cat In Seattle

[acmavm]

8. It's always interesting to hear anything that comes out of Iraq.`

You always know the US and Iraqi authorities are lying (no matter what it is) so you automatically have to give the credibility factor to the other side.

Hope they feel tough picking on a woman.

Oh wait, that's one of the things that they do best over there.

[sabra]

9. It looks like it's already begun...

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/02/21/ap/world/mainD8NE6NE00.shtml

Top Sunni Official Fired Over Rape Case

(AP) Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Wednesday fired a top Sunni official who had called for an international investigation into the rape allegations leveled by a Sunni Arab woman against three members of the Shiite-dominated security forces.

<snip>

The speed with which the officers were exonerated outraged many Sunnis at a time when sectarian tensions are high.

"A succession of past governments that ruled Iraq destroyed their enemies and rivals within days or months. But the governments that ruled in the past four years are killing the Iraqi people," Sunni lawmaker Abdul-Nasser al-Janabi told Al-Jazeera television late Tuesday .

In a statement posted on the Web, a major Sunni insurgent group _ the Islamic Army in Iraq _ declared "we will not sleep or be satisfied until we avenge you and every free woman who was stripped of her virtue and dignity." The authenticity of the statement could not be confirmed.