[Ninong]

The New & Improved Afghanistan:

Journalism student, 23, is sentenced to death for downloading a report on women's rights and distributing it to other students and faculty. The report stated that Muslim fundamentalists who claimed the Koran justified the oppression of women had misrepresented the views of the prophet.

He was sentenced to death in a religious court by these same Muslim fundamentalists. He was not allowed any legal representation of any kind. His sentence was confirmed by our dear friends and allies in the Karzai government.

This reminds me of the big mess a year or so ago when the Afghan courts sentenced a guy to death because he had converted from Islam to Christianity. Only after enough outraged Americans embarrassed the Bush administration into doing something about it did Condi Rice finally tell Karzai it wasn't going to happen. I think the guy and his family ended up in the U.K.

This is obviously what the Afghan authorities fear will happen again. They are demanding the immediate execution of this 23-year-old college journalism student before "foreigners" can put pressure on the puppet regime in Kabul. They're tired of us trying to tell them how to run their country.

You can read all about this sorry mess here.

A journalist in northern Afghanistan, Sayed Parwez Kaambakhsh, has been sentenced to death for blasphemy in a summary trial in which he had no legal representation and no opportunity to defend himself.

Sentencing took place in a closed session of the lower court of Balkh region on January 22.

“It was about four pm when guards brought me into a room where there were three judges and an attorney sitting behind their desks. There was no one else,” Kambakhsh told IWPR.

“The death sentence had already been written. I wanted to say something, but they would not let me speak.

“They too said nothing. They just handed me a piece of paper on which it was written that I had been sentenced to death. Then armed guards came and took me out of the room, and brought me back to the prison.”

[Ninong]

“In Afghanistan, America, our 25 NATO allies and 15 partner nations are helping the Afghan people defend their freedom and rebuild their country. Thanks to the courage of these military and civilian personnel, a nation that was once a safe haven for al-Qaida is now a young democracy where boys and girls are going to school, new roads and hospitals are being built, and people are looking to the future with new hope." -- George W. Bush, State of the Union address, January 28, 2008.

"...where boys and girls are going to school, new roads and hospitals are being built, and people are looking to the future with new hope."

Hmmm... Bush forgot to say that violence killed 147 students and teachers, and closed 590 schools in the last year in Afghanistan. The level of violence in Afghanistan in 2007 set a new record. Our own military leaders are predicting that suicide bombings, clashes and kidnappings will increase in 2008.

USAID, the government's aid arm, has built or refurbished 680 schools in Afghanistan since 2001. Still, Education Minister Mohammad Hanif told The Associated Press last week there is a shortage of qualified teachers — and schools themselves.

Out of the country's 9,400 "schools," only 40 percent are actual buildings. Sixty percent of classes are held in tents or the open air.

But there's an even more worrying trend: The number of students and teachers killed in Taliban attacks tripled in the past year, to 147, Hanif said, while the number of students out of class because of security has hit 300,000 since March 2007, compared with 200,000 in the previous 12 months. The number of schools closed has risen from 350 to 590.

That bad news might only grow worse. The Kabul-based security company that surveys conditions for international aid organizations in Afghanistan said in a report this month that 2007 will be seen as the year the Taliban seriously rejoined the fight.

"In simple terms, the consensus amongst informed individuals at the end of 2007 seems to be that Afghanistan is at the beginning of a war, not the end of one."

More than 6,500 people — mostly militants — died in insurgent violence last year, the highest since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion, according to an AP count based on official figures. Insurgents detonated some 140 suicide attacks, a record level.

"All the suicide attacks happen against (international forces), but the attacks actually kill Afghan civilians," said Kabul taxi driver Saboor Amiri, 40. "If they can't provide security for themselves, how can they provide security for the civilians? ... Yes, we appreciate that they kicked out the Taliban, but now it's time for these forces to leave." Here.

P.S. -- As usual, Bush completely misrepresented what's really happening in Iraq and Afghanistan in his State of the Union address.

[Ninong]

"The Afghan Parliament has withdrawn its initial support for the judgment."

Our puppet government in Kabul may be about to cave in to international pressure and not execute that 23-year-old journalism student who downloaded all that blasphemous crap about human rights and democracy and stuff like that.

Looks like the infidels, especially those limey infidels, are getting through to the stone age cretins who administer the so-called religious courts in the new & improved Afghanistan. Even Condi has expressed "concern." Right now the conviction is being appealed and if the appeal fails (as expected), Condi will have to tell Hamid Karzai to pardon the dude and ship him off to London.

It's great that this democracy stuff is being so well accepted in the countries we have taken over.

[Ninong]

Afghan Gov't Urged to Support Sentence

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Conservative clerics and elders demanded Thursday that the Afghan government not interfere with a controversial death sentence handed down to a young journalist convicted of insulting Islam for distributing a report questioning polygamy.

Sayed Parwez Kaambakhsh, 23, was sentenced to death on Jan. 22 by a three-judge panel in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif for handing out a report he printed off the Internet to fellow journalism students at Balkh University.

The article questioned why men can have four wives but women cannot have multiple husbands.

Kaambakhsh has appealed his conviction.

More than 100 tribal and religious leaders convened Wednesday in Gardez, the capital of the conservative eastern province of Paktia, and demanded that the government support the sentence.

"Kaambakhsh made the Afghan people very upset. It was against the clerics and Islam. He has humiliated Islam," Khaliq Daad, head of the Islamic council of Paktia, said Thursday. "We want the Afghan president to support the court's decision."

Here.

P.S. -- That's what theocracy looks like in action. That's what happens when religious fanatics demand that the laws of the land conform to their particular religious beliefs.

Condi Rice has said that she will discuss this case with Hamid Karzai. She has to tell him to pardon the dude. Period. Just like she told him to ship that other guy off to London after the Afghan courts condemned him to death for becoming a Christian.

[Ninong]

This incident, and many other similar incidents in both Afghanistan and Iraq, prove that George Bush's claim that he is spreading "freedom and democracy" in the Middle East is a lot of baloney.

[Ninong]

Freedom & Democracy in the New & Improved Iraq!

Violations of 'Islamic teachings' take deadly toll on Iraqi women

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The images in the Basra police file are nauseating: Page after page of women killed in brutal fashion -- some strangled to death, their faces disfigured; others beheaded. All bear signs of torture.

The women are killed, police say, because they failed to wear a headscarf or because they ignored other "rules" that secretive fundamentalist groups want to enforce.

"Fear, fear is always there," says 30-year-old Safana, an artist and university professor. "We don't know who to be afraid of. Maybe it's a friend or a student you teach. There is no break, no security. I don't know who to be afraid of."

Her fear is justified. Iraq's second-largest city, Basra, is a stronghold of conservative Shia groups. As many as 133 women were killed in Basra last year -- 79 for violation of "Islamic teachings" and 47 for so-called honor killings, according to IRIN, the news branch of the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Here.

[Ninong]

Women's lives worse than ever

Grinding poverty and the escalating war is driving an increasing number of Afghan families to sell their daughters into forced marriages.

Girls as young as six are being married into a life of slavery and rape, often by multiple members of their new relatives. Banned from seeing their own parents or siblings, they are also prohibited from going to school. With little recognition of the illegality of the situation or any effective recourse, many of the victims are driven to self-immolation – burning themselves to death – or severe self-harm.

Six years after the US and Britain "freed" Afghan women from the oppressive Taliban regime, a new report proves that life is just as bad for most, and worse in some cases.

Here.

P.S. -- Is that the wonderful progress Bush was talking about in his State of the Union address?

[okcalla]

I'm curious... from most of your posts you seem to be against ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING... what exactly are you FOR? your against liberating a people from a government that is nothing but a hate mongering oppressive torturing machine. Saying how many people have died like it never happened before we went over. but then you post stuff about how horrible their current government is. i think a long look at the long term is in order here. things always get worse before it gets better. Cleaning out Iraq/afghanistan is a lot like cleaning out a closet. First everything comes out making a larger mess than before so that things may be sorted and gone through then put back in it's rightful place. this takes time and depending on what is found it is not always a pleasant process. These are a people that have lived under oppression so long fear is all they know. until they realize they need to stand up and speak out i hate to say it as it has become cliche but the terrorists will continue to dominate. if you disagree i would love to hear how you would solve the dilemma. Oh and i need an exact time table...

[Ninong]

Which of the stories in this thread are you willing to defend as excusable behavior?

[okcalla]

I didn't say any of it these stories were excusable. However it does in fact justify our being there attempting to free a people of their oppressors. Granted some of our guys do some pretty messed up stuff. Remember THEY ARE PUNISHED for it. as for your question i dont remember saying that i was ok or even hinted at being ok with them. so back to my questions

what exactly are you for?

how would you solve the problem(s)?

and what is your time table?

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by okcalla

Granted some of our guys do some pretty messed up stuff. Remember THEY ARE PUNISHED for it.

Excuse me? What are you talking about? There is not a single story in this thread that concerns anything whatsoever that any of "our guys" did or did not do.

Did you even bother to read any of the posts in this thread? Obviously not. If you post a comment to a thread, it would help if your comments had something to do with the topic of the thread you are posting to.

[okcalla]

I you read my comment it wasn't strictly relating to this thread. Rather a group of them in a generalized context. you bash bush for being in there to stop this sort of inhumane treatment but then when a story of it comes out you bash him again as if he did nothing to stop it. damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. so again i ask...

what exactly are you for?

how would you solve the problem(s)?

and what is your time table?

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by okcalla

I you read my comment it wasn't strictly relating to this thread.

Why would you post a comment unrelated to the thread?

you bash bush for being in there to stop this sort of inhumane treatment but then when a story of it comes out you bash him again as if he did nothing to stop it. damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. so again i ask...

You are obviously confused again, nowhere in this thread is there any mention of President Bush.

and what is your time table?

I have no clue what you're talking about here? Timetable for what? If you're asking about Afghanistan, I have made myself very clear on that point in previous posts in this forum over the past several years. We should never have abandoned Afghanistan before finishing the job there. If you're talking about Iraq, we should never have gone there in the first place.

However, the topic of this thread has nothing to do with our military actions in either of those two countries. The stories in this thread all concern human rights abuses perpetrated by the religious fundamentalist wingnuts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

[okcalla]

Originally Posted by Ninong

“Why would you post a comment unrelated to the thread?

As i read through your posts it became very clear most of them were a direct attack on republicans rather than post a new thread which could be construed as bashing you i elected to simply post to a thread it just happened to be this one as it included most of what i am talking about.

Originally Posted by Ninong

“
Hmmm... Bush forgot to say that violence killed 147 students and teachers, and closed 590 schools in the last year in Afghanistan. The level of violence in Afghanistan in 2007 set a new record. Our own military leaders are predicting that suicide bombings, clashes and kidnappings will increase in 2008.


P.S. -- As usual, Bush completely misrepresented what's really happening in Iraq and Afghanistan in his State of the Union address.

thats 2 in the second story alone i could probably find more...

my asking for a time table is simply an equivalent crack on democrats.

[Ninong]

That's not Bush-bashing, that's a statement of fact.

Bush said: "...where boys and girls are going to school, new roads and hospitals are being built, and people are looking to the future with new hope."

He forgot to say that violence killed 147 students and teachers, and closed 590 schools in the last year in Afghanistan. The level of violence in Afghanistan in 2007 set a new record. Our own military leaders are predicting that suicide bombings, clashes and kidnappings will increase in 2008.

USAID, the government's aid arm, has built or refurbished 680 schools in Afghanistan since 2001. Still, Education Minister Mohammad Hanif told The Associated Press last week there is a shortage of qualified teachers — and schools themselves.

Out of the country's 9,400 "schools," only 40 percent are actual buildings. Sixty percent of classes are held in tents or the open air.

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by okcalla

my asking for a time table is simply an equivalent crack on democrats.

There are quite a few Republicans who are in favor of withdrawing our troops from Iraq as soon as possible.

[okcalla]

sure id like to see our troops come home but first i want to know first and foremost no one from over there poses any risk to me and mine and secondly we leave that country in better shape than we entered. The impression i take from your threads is that you think the violence only happens because of us. like it never happened before we arrived. it takes time to do these things build buildings that is. so if an open air classroom is the best we can do for them for now then so be it. why vest the money into a building that will no sooner be built than blown up? put in the temporary clean out the threat then focus on the permanent structures. besides why should they complain about having a tent for a classroom? what did they have that was so great before we gave them the tent?

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by okcalla

sure id like to see our troops come home but first i want to know first and foremost no one from over there poses any risk to me and mine and secondly we leave that country in better shape than we entered.

Assuming you're talking about Afghanistan, I couldn't have said it better myself. In fact, I have said exactly that many times in this forum.

We sent troops to Afghanistan to destroy al-Qaida. Al-Qaida in Afghanistan attacked us on 9/11. Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 and there was no al-Qaida in Iraq until after we invaded Iraq.