Posted on 11/17/2004 11:16:30 PM PST by DeepInEnemyTerritory
As the song goes, “baby, it’s a wild world”. For some that could be somewhat of an underestimation. We live in much more demanding, uncertain and violent times and humankind has never been more vulnerable to the forbidding dangers than it is faced with today. Time and again our ears ring with reports of yet another terrorist attack or yet another kidnapping or beheading and every single time our hearts are left a little sombre.
Yet, I cannot deny that I find myself left quite overwhelmed when there are reports of such tragedies bestowed upon our children. I cannot comprehend the force behind a murderer of a child and will never be able to grasp what makes someone kill such an innocent. Beslan struck a deep cord in the world’s heart. Watching images of little half naked and bony people being carried out was astounding and the one image that will always remain in my mind was of a big, strong, stocky built soldier, tears intensely rolling down his face, holding the limp tiny body of a dead child in his arms. The world watched and wept with him…
Alas, such tragedies are a sign of the times. It is a sign that the world is evermore demanding and evermore in need of care and attention and thus we should be focused on how our world is evolving and exactly which direction we are willing to allow our future to go. It is a warning that if we are not vigilant, these new forms of child abuses, which use our children as pawns in the name of some high divine right, will be evermore commonplace. This cannot and must not be tolerated at any cost!
Children look to us for love and protection. There are many NGO’s and charities world-wide such as The NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children), which is the UK's leading charity specialising in child protection and the prevention of cruelty to children, (http://anon.groovy.speedera.net/anon.groovy/clients/) who have recently been pushing for an amendment to outlaw smacking children. Although the attempt was defeated, a government-backed compromise amendment outlawing “smacks which leave marks or cause mental harm” has been passed, despite The NSPCC’s opposition to this, as they had campaigned for a complete ban. In any event their government took note to the issue and acted accordingly.
However this is most certainly a far cry from life across the other side of the world. For four months now, tucked away in the corner of some dark cold cell the weeping tears of a young 13-year-old girl, Jila Izadi and that of her 15-year-old brother Backtyar Izadi can be heard echoing in a Marivaan prison, western Iran. After giving both children a strong dose of lashes for apparently, and I emphasise this word, apparently, the charge of having sexual relations with one another; which I hasten to add both children have denied, and now, Jila, having been impregnated as a result, gave birth in prison, thus the Islamic Republic have seen it a worthy punishment to sentence the poor young girl to death by stoning.
Just to put such a concept into writing makes it seem almost fictitious or just too medieval to be true; akin to tales of the dark ages, stories of witch hunts, of poor defenceless women who were burned at the stake, such as Joan of Ark, who today would be your average, young, single working women, just trying to make a decent living in a mans world. But those are days of old. Stoning is an age-old punishment and was once practiced in some parts of the world, but who would ever have thought that today, in this new millennium there are still people on the planet who are governed under such uncivilized and brutal laws. According to the Islamic Republic’s penal code the stones are a specifically chosen size. They cannot be too large that they may cause instant death and, not too small that they may only do minimum damage, but they must be large enough to cause a slow and painful death.
The Islamic Republic of Iran, where stoning is prescribed for certain offences, which particularly targets women, does not widely publicize such irrational punishments and in Jila’s case the countries state run news agency has denied her sentencing stating that she would only be facing time in prison. There is an irony in this cruel punishment. Even though the practice is applied to both men and women, because it is usually a punishment implemented in regards to offences like adultery, women are not only susceptible to be blamed and accused for social misbehavior offences, stoning also requires burying a woman deeper than a man. Therefore, it is more usual that stoning will be implemented against women than against men.
However, regardless of how they wish to mask their so-called judicial system the Islamic Republic has a lot to be held accountable for. One cannot take this regimes line of reasoning for its actions seriously and neither should it be accepted. There is no sanity in a person or establishment that dictates the murder of a child for apparently a “moral sin”. Abuse, rape and exploitation of women and children in Iran will continue to be veiled behind their bloodstained Islamic shrouds as long as these monstrous mullahs stay in power. Their irrational and medieval ideologies are incompatible with today’s civilised world, a world that withholds principles such as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child; the UN Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women; the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Time and again they are in violation of these rules as illustrated in the October 2004 report the CSRI (Committee in Support of Referendum in Iran) recently released (http://www.referendum-iran.org/Docs/CSRI/HR-October-2004.pdf ).
Jilla and her brother’s condemnation follow the horrific death of 16-year-old Atabeh Rajabi, who was executed on August 15, 2004, for “engaging in acts incompatible with chastity”. (http://freerepublic.info/focus/f-bloggers/1196962/posts). The court that falsely claimed that she was 22-years-old did not provide Atabeh with defence attorneys although according to their own penal codes every one should be represented. During an appearance in court Atabeh bravely defied the adjudicator who sat in judgement of her and in doing so the bloodthirsty mad judge with clearly severe mental disorders, sentenced her to death by hanging and personally volunteered to help with the noose with his own obliging hands…with the devils own hands. The word “lunatic” springs to mind.
By ignoring these atrocities one is no better than the executioner himself. Child protection is everybody’s business. We take a pledge to do no harm and this pledge must be honoured. We are all responsible for Jilla and Backtyar. We all have a duty to help nurture the children of tomorrow. They are the ones with no voice for whom we must speak. The time has come for a call to action to the people of conscience. It is a sorry day for all of us when a child killer is allowed to be free and escape such inhumane crimes. We failed Atabeh. She is proof that there is no escape from death in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Let us not fail Jilla and Backhtyar. When members of a special committee for the defence of the children visited them, later reported that the children simply wept: “I want to live. I want to go home.” How can the world turn away from the words of such innocent little people? We cannot put a price on their heads. Every time a child dies, a little of the world dies with them. A 13-year–old child is going to be stoned to death! Jilla Izadi, our little red riding hood could not escape the clutches of the big bad wolf. Let us end this story with a happily ever after, so that 13-year-old Jilla may have the chance to save her baby, from a wild world
We should drop a few million on those who could use it, yup.
fyi
"I think it would be a good idea to start agressively supporting the young freedom fighters in Iran."
Yeah, we'll put the CIA on it. (Sarcasm off)
Why not? I'm not talking about sending our troops into Iran but maybe there is something we can to like funding their efforts.
Might work, siccing CIA on them...after, of course, Goss cleans out the assorted Burgesses and MacLeans and Ameses still within (let's hope he doesn't have to clean out any Philbys...but no bets on that, ok?).
to = do
Under new management, the CIA may just grow a pair, and start doing what they used to do: supporting a freedom movement with smuggled arms.
The problem with that story, is that no evidence was ever brought forward, and the judge in the case was never named. Iranian human rights activists do not know of the case.
This "Iran news" website is in America, not Iran, and has very doubtful stories.
I thought this "Iran Press" site appeared legit. I wouldn't have guessed it was a propaganda site - but I'm not saying you're wrong.
Ironic that a Muslim author would quote from that song, given who the author of the song is!
(Hint: Brit who converted to Islamofascism).
I wish I had more reliable sources of news from Iran. The Tehran Times does have an English language page - but often censored.
The following only a little page from Iran, but I very much trust the people concerned:
http://www.ngotc.org/ennews.asp
As Travis McGee is a former SEAL officer, I’m sure he needs no instruction in these matters from a former SWO, but in my opinion the damage done to the CIA over the decades since Watergate is so deep and fundamental, extending to the agency’s credibility overseas, that it will be difficult to repair in a short period of time.
I’m still not sure the agency has what it needs, which, IMO, is another Wild Bill Donovan. Not a bureaucrat, but a man who combines intelligence with real leadership and battlefield courage—you know, the kind of guy who doesn’t need a government job in the first place.
Donovan had a lot more to work with when he was setting up the OSS, because he was able to siphon off the cream of a very large crop. Today, even the right man might find it hard to get the people he needed…what am I saying? The CIA bureaucracy would never allow him to hire the people he needed, or train them properly. And if he somehow got past them, congress would cut him off at the knees.
The problems will not easily be surmounted. Right now, they’re still at the stage of, “Y’all stop sabotaging the President, hear?” There’s a long way to go, and very few signs that it will be possible to move in that direction.
Donovan, for all that he did right in creating the OSS, also saturated both OSS and subsequently the CIA as a result, with Communists.
During the war, he didn't think it mattered - but he was extremely shortsighted in that regard, and we are *still* paying for it.
Got a source on that?
FWIW, one of Truman's first acts (at the prodding of both the military and the commie slugs around him) was to disestablish the OSS.
When the CIA was established, some (I don't know how many) of the former OSS members joined. Seems like they could have screened out commies at that point.
(sorry for the late reply... busy w/DCM match) -
Try "OSS: A Secret History", by somebody or other I forget... also I've seen references to it in other books not specifically on the intelligence services. The one(s) on Kim Philby and on the theft of the atomic secrets mention it also.
What was really happening, was, we were fighting the Germans, and so were the Russians, so, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend", dep't. - and *all* of the secret services got infiltrated with Communists that way. But Donovan, I recall, was *specifically quoted* as saying he didn't care if they got Communists into the OSS. In fact, Donovan was all for recruiting Mafiosi and street thugs into OSS. Remember, the guy was a warrior and a cowboy, more than an intelligence operative - that, he left to people like Alan Dulles. The British thought of the Americans as basically schoolboy idiots when it came to intelligence during WW II. (They did change their mind toward the end when Donovan successfully got agents on the ground in Germany right under Hitler's nose...).
There is *a lot* of documentation of the leftist leanings of CIA personnel out there... unfortunately they did *not* weed out the leftists when CIA was formed - Wouldn't want to be accused of "McCarthyism", y'know...
Before 9/11 I would have been opposed to doing anything in foreign sovreign nations...even one as horrific as Iran...simply because I didn't want the U.S. to be the world's policing force.
Now, however, I think it's a matter of National Security that we help develop freedom abroad in any way we can. Sometimes militarily and sometimes by helping to fund, support and foster the development of freedom fighters against totalitarian regimes that stifle liberty and encourage terrorism.
How heart crushingly sad! I would love to support the young Freedom fighters in Iran. How would one go about doing so?
Although it is well-written, there is an element of B.S. to the whole story.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.