Posted on 04/27/2008 10:59:23 AM PDT by camerakid400
A teenage Iraqi girl who fell in love with a British soldier when he was in Basra was murdered by her father in an "honour killing", it was revealed today. Rand Abdel-Qader, 17, was suffocated and then hacked at with a knife after her family discovered she was friends with the 22-year-old soldier who she knew only as Paul.
The pair first met when Rand was working on an aid project for displaced families but it is thought the soldier is unaware of the girl's fate.
She was stamped on, suffocated and stabbed - leaving her with puncture wounds all over her body, including her face.
Her own mother, Leila Hussein, has spoken out about the crime, revealing how her husband called out that he was cleansing "his honour" as he carried out the murder.
She told the Observer he was arrested after the brutal murder but was released without charge two hours later because it was an "honour killing".
"He was released two hours later because it was an 'honour killing'. And unfortunately that is something to be proud of for any Iraqi man," she told the paper.
Rand claimed she was in love from the first moment she met the soldier, who had been working alongside her on an aid project where she was volunteering.
She immediately told her best friend she was dreaming they could have a future together.
Five months on, she was brutally killed and buried without the traditional mourning ceremony in a mark of her "impurity".
Her uncles are also said to have spat on her body because of the shame they felt she had brought on the family.
The fact her relationship with the British soldier she knew as Paul was entirely innocent was not enough to save her.
According to the Observer, she was seen conversing intimately with him and because he was a British "invader" and the enemy, this could not be tolerated.
The pair last saw each other in January but her father, Abdel Qader Ali did not learn of their friendship until two months later on March 16.
He was told by a friend that his daughter had been seen with the soldier and stormed home to confront her.
Ms Hussein described to the paper how he was in a complete rage and trembled as he asked Rand if the story was true, before starting to hit her repeatedly.
She said: "She started to cry, she was nervous. He got hold of her hair and started thumping her again and again.
"I screamed and called out for her two brothers so they could get their father away from her. But when he told them the reason, instead of saving her they helped end her life."
Qader Ali had used his own feet to press down on Rand's throat until she stopped breathing before cutting at her body with a knife, she said.
Sgt Ali Jabbar of Basra police said: "Not much can be done when we have an 'honour killing'. You are in a Muslim society and women should live under religious laws."
Ms Hussein has now divorced her husband and is in hiding under the care of a charity for fear of reprisals from his family for speaking out.
A charity spokeswoman said: "She has been threatened by her husband's family and is very scared."
The Ministry of Defence is thought to be trying to track down the soldier, who is believed to have no idea his friendship with Rand might have put her at risk.
There is no official policy on advising troops how to behave with Iraqi women when they are deployed to the country.
An MoD spokeswoman said: "They are not told: don't go and fall in love."
The murder is believed to be the first "honour killing" in the war-torn country involving a British soldier.
But there were 47 such killing of young women in Basra alone last year and just three convictions, according to the city's Security Committee.
Millions of them ARE already here (including some decidedly UN-invited ones lying in wait).
We should of just nuked the whole region from orbit.
and that is why we need to fight. Muslims measure of strength is to kill your own-women and children of course. real tough! This is a monstrosity. We ARE better than them and that is why we WILL defeat them.
I don't know where you get this "re-establish" stuff. Islam was was established after Christianity, and long after Judaism.
Poor little thing. I guess suffocating her wasn’t enough for the impotent ones. Taking her life wasn’t enough to make them feel like a man. They were threatened by her body and had to mutilate that as well.
Where the hell is the honor in that??
The sooner Americans wake up and learn THEIR beliefs and teachings (rather than making the deadly mistake of judging them by OURS), the safer we have a chance to be.
The real reason we are in Iraq is to establish a working front against these terrorists. We need to preemptively get to them before they get to us more than they already have. This war is only a piece in the puzzle, my friend. We still have much to change as far as domestic security, but this war is certainly not a mistake by any stretch of the logical and realistic imagination.
“What is wrong with these people!”
What is NOT wrong with these people? Isn’t it about time to ask, those politicians who continue to proclaim that Islam is a ROP, what they base their erroneous opinion on?
Isn’t it about time to realize that Islam and Western culture will NEVER be able to co-exist peaceably?
Ann Coulter is right. You first kill their leaders and then convert the rest to Christianity. Problem solved.
Bomb them into submission, sell the surviors into slavery. Salt the earth and take the oil.
There, I settled the Muslim problem...
How many of our best people have died trying to liberate these worthless turds?We should just annililate these scum and do the world a favor.
I don’t know where you get this “re-establish” stuff. Islam was was established after Christianity, and long after Judaism.
I realize that, but in looking at the total history, Ottoman Empire defeat and more, there was a moment in that much smaller, less populated world, when Islam was the majority in power. I just read a very lengthy, detailed article on this recently, shoulda copied it.
This will stop when the risk of killing is higher than the risk of not killing.
And we've quickly learned that that's as specious a program as the European powers taking up ‘the white man’s burden’ as Kipling advocated a century ago.
Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it.
Historically speaking we were never in Afghanistan, were were just arming them.
The real reason we are in Iraq is to establish a working front against these terrorists. We need to preemptively get to them before they get to us more than they already have. This war is only a piece in the puzzle, my friend. We still have much to change as far as domestic security, but this war is certainly not a mistake by any stretch of the logical and realistic imagination.
True THAT - you are so, so correct - I pray that many more Americans (voters) will learn, and “get it”. Our leaving and “staying out of it” is no longer a rational possibility and, rather than solving “the problem”, would assuredly create an accelerated opportunity for Iran to achieve their oft-stated goal. The shiites and Ahmedinejad are singularly commanded (by Allah) to hasten the “second coming” of their messiah the 12th Imam, which can only come about by creating a cataclysm of much magnitude that it requires the blood and annihilation of millions and millions of non-Muslims.
Sorry to be so lengthy because I sense you understand this already.
Bush's main problem is that he will not allow our forces to hit hard enough. In any past war including most the USA's wars, the military hit as hard and as often as it could. There is no holding back, there is no diplomacy, there is only force, because force is what wins and nothing else.
Bush has been a smart man, but not a man with the balls to end this thing tomorrow, which is what we as a nation are capable of and is what gives our nation the historical respect it has. The rest of the world is simply watching to see how long it will take for us to pull the trigger and every day we wait we lose more respect and more opportunity to show the world that we are not a nation to be messed with on any scale.
It's time we deploy our most deadly weapons one at a time, just like we did in WW2. If history is a teacher we not only should learn from its mistakes, but capitalize on its successes as well. No apologies, no whimpering for the undeserving losers; just be what we are and be it the best we can.
A tried and true solution. For sure, they will do this to us if we are not willing to first.
but this war is certainly not a mistake by any stretch of the logical and realistic imagination.
PS - the only part of this war that was a mistake is that it should have been done sooner AND should have been much better planned, strategized and more thoroughly executed in terms of might and manpower necessary. We live with those mistakes now which have needlessly prolonged the war and, tragically, cost many more lives than if it had been done right in the first place. However, we MUST deal with present reality and not undo the progress and good that has been bravely accomplished there (most of which is NEVER reported by the MSM to the public).
It is unlikely she ever had the chance to.
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.