Hillary: Iraqi Women Better Off Under Saddam

NewsMax ^ | 2/27/04 | Limbacher

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

Sen. Hillary Clinton said this week that Iraqi women were better off under Saddam Hussein, arguing that when the brutal dictator ran the country women were at least assured the right to participate in Iraq's public life.

In comments that went unreported by the mainstream press, the former first lady told the Brookings Institution on Wednesday that since Saddam's removal from power, Iraq's post war governing councils had engaged in "pullbacks in the rights [women] were given under Saddam Hussein."

Sen. Clinton noted that while Saddam had been "an equal opportunity oppressor," women were at least assured certain constitutional guarantees.

While ignoring reports about the brutal dictator's rape rooms and other forms of persecution that were routine for women under his regime, Sen. Clinton insisted: "On paper, women had rights."

And for Iraqi women, those paper promises translated into real benefits, she claimed.

"They went to school; they participated in the professions, they participated in the government and business and, as long as they stayed out of [Saddam's] way, they had considerable freedom of movement," Clinton insisted.

But since Saddam's removal, the plight of Iraq's women has taken a significant turn for the worse, she contended.

"Now, what we see happening in Iraq is the governing council attempting to shift large parts of civl law into religious jurisdiction," Sen. Clinton explained, saying the loss of Saddam's guarantees amounted to a "horrific mistake" for women.

During her trip to Iraq last November, Clinton said Iraqi women told her personally how they felt less safe since the U.S. deposed Saddam.

"Women tell me they can't leave their homes, they can't go about their daily business. And there is a concerted effort to burn schools that are educating girls [and] to intimidate aid workers who are women," the leading Democrat complained.

The former first lady called on President Bush to issue a statement that the U.S. "will not become the vehicle by which women's rights in Iraq are turned back."

A full transcript of Sen. Clinton's remarks is available on the Brookings Institution Web site at: http://www.brook.edu/dybdocroot/comm/events/20040225.pdf. Her remarks on the worsening plight of Iraqi women can be found on pages 36, 37, and 38.

[Jackie-O]

Katrin Michael
Dr. Katrin Michael is a Chaldean (Christian) from Northern Iraq; she joined the Kurdish-based Iraqi resistance movement in 1982 to fight against Saddam Hussein’s regime. A victim of chemical bombings by Saddam’s forces, she fled Iraq in 1988. She has been living in the United States since 1997, where she is a leading advocate on behalf of Iraqis persecuted by Saddam’s regime. Following is an op-ed she wrote in Newsday on March 13, 2003.

ONLY SADDAM'S REMOVAL CAN FREE WOMEN

As an Iraqi woman who wages peace and has fought in war, I am compelled to support a U.S.-led action to remove Saddam Hussein. After 26 years of resistance against Hussein, I have come to the conclusion that only forces from outside Iraq can bring an end to the nightmare of his rule.

The stories of Hussein's brutality are all true. Ethnic cleansing, summary imprisonment and execution, torture and rape are all part of the nightmare. I know this from personal experience.

My father founded an Iraqi peace movement, a crime for which he was murdered. At the age of 14, I was arrested by the regime merely because I joined the Iraqi Women's League. I was not the only young girl arrested for such a trivial offense.

Later, I joined the Kurdish resistance, even though I was, in their eyes, a mere woman and a Christian. I traveled in disguise to Baghdad and around the country to organize the opposition to Hussein. But when I was injured in one of his chemical bombardments against hundreds of Kurdish villages in 1987 and 1988, I was forced to flee to a refugee camp in Southern Turkey, where I stayed until I recovered and finally reached freedom in the United States in 1997. I continue to suffer to this day from lung, nerve and eye damage caused by these weapons.

No one in Iraq is immune from Hussein's brutality - not even the closest members of his family. He even executed two of his own sons-in-law in 1996. But women are especially targeted as part of his broader policies of intimidation. A commonly used form of torture is to bring in a detainee's female relative, preferably his wife, daughter or mother, and gang rape her in front of him. Members of the Iraqi opposition in exile receive videotapes of their female relatives in Iraq being raped.

Women who criticize or merely offend Hussein are accused of being prostitutes and regularly beheaded in public. His son, Uday, often leads these beheadings. They occur in Baghdad, as well as in smaller villages throughout Iraq. The heads of the executed women are hung on the doors of their houses for all to see.

I am saddened when I see people who sincerely care for the fate of the Iraqi people resist the American-led effort to remove Hussein and restore hope for the Iraqis. We cannot do it alone. Iraqis had their closest brush with freedom in 1991, during Operation Desert Storm. I regret, as do most Iraqis, that the United States and its allies allowed Hussein to quash this resistance and remain in power. Those who care about peace and justice for the Iraqis should not make the same mistake again.

Hussein will never leave power willingly. He will never give up his weapons or allow the Iraqi people to live in freedom.

http://www.womenforiraq.org/drkatrin.php

[FR_addict]

Her trip was last November and she is just now telling us what the Iraqi women told her? She says whatever she thinks will give her a political push.

However, I am worried about the religious nuts In Iraq taking away the rights of women, but to say that women were better off under a brutal dictator who gassed the Kurds, killed their husbands, and sons, raped their daughters is absurd. Also these same women seem to be willing victims of the religious nuts in Iraq. You don't see them fighting against the oppression. I guess the women are true Moslems and are content with their lives. It reminds me of battered women in the US who stay with their batterer husbands.

There are two main Muslim sects in Iraq, the Sunnis and the Shiites. The Shiites are the more fundamentalist Moslems. It doesn't help that the majority of the population is Shiite.

[God luvs America]

I checked out the document and can't find any of the relevant info they are talking about on pages 36/37/38...

[RightField]

"Women tell me they can't leave their homes . . .

When did they tell her? Does she mean women are calling her office? Sending her emails? Or did they talk to her when she was there over Thanksgiving? If so, why is she just now reporting?

I don't believe it.

[BaBaStooey]

Sen. Hillary Clinton said this week that Iraqi women were better off under Saddam Hussein


????

Looks like her pantsuit isn't the only thing that's crusty....her mind is falling to pieces as well...

[RightField]

uh oh ... I should have read the whole thread. Post #55, especially ... duh

[Gritty]

If this article is true, it should chill the bones of every American who loves liberty, truth and Consitutional freedoms.

Hillary may well become President. If she really thinks this, her views are not that different from Saddam's and her mindset bodes very ill for the future of our Republic!

[alrea]

Saddam: "U.S. women better off when Hillary was President."

[Kaslin]

Like all democRats, left-wingers, liberals etc that "woman" is delusional

[Alberta's Child]

He knows that if one were held tomorrow, the shi'ite fundamentalists would have sha'ria law next week, and then it's back to the good old 8th century.

This is something the U.S. should have thought about before March of 2003.

At the very least, it exposes the utter fraud of this administration's sanctimonious proclamations about "paving the way for democracy in this world."

[LN2Campy]

Who knows -- if the mullahs take over and start stoning women that dare to show an ankle in public, then the argument can be made. One can acknowledge this possibility and still be of the opinion that removing Saddam was a good thing to do.

[arasina]

Wonder why THIS didn't happen under Saddam, Hillary?

Wednesday, February 18, 2004

The 2nd. half spoke today.

This morning, there was a meeting and a public conference for Iraqi women in Al-Firdows Square. The crowd was actually small, something around 150 ladies from different ages, jobs, political trends and ethnic groups, but all came for one reason (women rights in the new, free, democratic Iraq) Anyway, the reporters and journalists were almost more in number than the women who held the meeting.

The speeches made there focused on the demand that the Iraqi women must have their appropriate representation in the coming national council and in the local administrative councils in every city in Iraq, and that representation should be no less than 40% of the seats in each council, relying on the fact that women make up about 60% of the population in Iraq. This demand was also supported by Mrs.Ssongol (GC member) who also showed her complete refusal to the 137 announcement stating that suspending that announcement is not enough and that they will work hard in the council to cancel it with another official announcement. She also said that a suggestion was made to the Iraqi ministers that every minister should assign at least one female assistant. Yet, one of the groups who attended the meeting (women freedom in Iraq) insisted that women should have 60% of the seats and that they would not accept the 40%. This one also had tough criticizing attitude towards the GC, the Islamic fanatics, and the CPA.

Dr. Mahdy Al-Hafidh (the minister of planning) was also there today and made a speech in which he declared his total support to the Iraqi women demands.

Among the groups that attended this meeting, there were:
- The sports teaching college for girls.
- The economy and administration institute.
- Neenawa’s plains women association.
- Kurdistan libertarian women movement.
- The modern Iraqi woman movement.
- The independent Iraqi women aggregation.

That’s what I could record from the signs, but I think that there were others that I didn’t mention.

The groups who organized the meeting passed papers among the audience to have their signatures to support omitting the 137 announcement from the Iraqi law. AYS and I gladly gave our signatures.

At the beginning, I was disappointed by the small crowd, as it was smaller than I expected, but later I had my hope back…I mean this is the first time that Iraqi women go out to the streets to demand their rights with no fear and have the support for their demands from senior officials. Their voice is now clearly heard, and I believe that in a democratic, free Iraq, women (once they have such determination) will no longer be ignored or deprived from their social or political rights.

SOURCE: IRAQ THE MODEL.BLOGSPOT.COM

P.S. psssst! Hillary! This newfound freedom for Iraqi women happened because of the leadership and courage of President George W. Bush.

[FR_addict]

I checked out the document and can't find any of the relevant info they are talking about on pages 36/37/38...

You're right. I can't find anything either. I did a search on the word 'woman" and "women", nothing in the whole article. I don't know where NewsMax got their story.

[fightin kentuckian]

... as long as they stayed out of [Saddam's] way, they had considerable freedom of movement," Clinton insisted


Not suprising, this is how the Clintons have operated and will contunue to do so. As long as you don't have a political agenda that opposes hers you'll be OK. In other words, Stay outta my way! OR ELSE!

[Diva Betsy Ross]

You forgot to say that she is evil and manipulative as well. Perhaps she is the soul mate to Sadam?

[hattend]

Page 19.

[oldironsides]

Liberals do get it. This is why they are out there undermining the war on terror in the media.

[cyncooper]

I checked out the document and can't find any of the relevant info they are talking about on pages 36/37/38...

I am checking it out, too, and don't see it either.

Notice those three pages cover Q & A and are almost unreadable as one must struggle through all the "you know"s in the transcript.

I've gone back to the beginning and started reading. I see she whined the Bush administration has not sent a letter to Clinton thanking him for the military they inherited. I am not kidding.

[Peach]

As a rapist's wife, Hillary knows better than most that Iraqi women were NOT better off under Saddam. He and his sons raped and murdered women and children and killed their men.

But this does sound JUST like Hillary to defend a dictator. She should know.

The left never met a dictator they didn't like.

[cyncooper]

I realize one can realize a possibility.

Duh

The assertion presented in the article is that women *are* worse off.

Get it?