Posted by Jed Lewison on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 3:24 AM Pacific

One hundred years

Last month, a 17-year-old Iraqi girl was hacked to death by her father because she fell in love with a British soldier:

Rand Abdel-Qader was stamped upon, suffocated and stabbed by her father, then given an unceremonious burial to emphasise her disgrace. Police released her father without charge two hours after his arrest.

"Not much can be done when we have an honour killing case," said Sergeant Ali Jabbar of Basra police.

In the past year, 47 young women have been murdered in similar honor killings in Basra alone. In addition, at least 15 women per month are killed for breaking Islamic dress codes.

Violence against women is rampant, rising every day with the power of the militias. Beheadings, rapes, beatings, suicides through self-immolation, genital mutilation, trafficking and child abuse masquerading as marriage of girls as young as nine are all on the increase.

Du'a Khalil Aswad, 17, from Nineveh, was executed by stoning in front of mob of 2,000 men for falling in love with a boy outside her Yazidi tribe. Mobile phone images of her broken body transmitted on the internet led to sectarian violence, international outrage and calls for reform. Her father, Khalil Aswad, speaking one year after her death in April last year, has revealed that none of those responsible had been prosecuted and his family remained "outcasts" in their own tribe.

I don't think we should be in Iraq. But we're there now. What does it say about our priorities that this brutality continues?

One hundred years

Last month, a 17-year-old Iraqi girl was hacked to death by her father because she fell in love with a British soldier:

Rand Abdel-Qader was stamped upon, suffocated and stabbed by her father, then given an unceremonious burial to emphasise her disgrace. Police released her father without charge two hours after his arrest.

"Not much can be done when we have an honour killing case," said Sergeant Ali Jabbar of Basra police.

In the past year, 47 young women have been murdered in similar honor killings in Basra alone. In addition, at least 15 women per month are killed for breaking Islamic dress codes.

Violence against women is rampant, rising every day with the power of the militias. Beheadings, rapes, beatings, suicides through self-immolation, genital mutilation, trafficking and child abuse masquerading as marriage of girls as young as nine are all on the increase.

Du'a Khalil Aswad, 17, from Nineveh, was executed by stoning in front of mob of 2,000 men for falling in love with a boy outside her Yazidi tribe. Mobile phone images of her broken body transmitted on the internet led to sectarian violence, international outrage and calls for reform. Her father, Khalil Aswad, speaking one year after her death in April last year, has revealed that none of those responsible had been prosecuted and his family remained "outcasts" in their own tribe.

I don't think we should be in Iraq. But we're there now. What does it say about our priorities that this brutality continues?

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