Tag Archive for "Iraq War"

Posts Tagged Iraq War

Take 2 minutes today for LaVena Johnson

And sign this petition. Tomorrow is the three-year anniversary of LaVena Johnson’s death (on July 19), which was ruled a suicide but was, in all likelihood, a rape and murder.
Phillip Barron has been working incredibly hard to bring attention to her case. And you may have read about LaVena recently on Feministing, or from Cara, Megan at Jezebel, Gina at What About Our Daughters, and Kate at Broadsheet,.
Retired Army Col. Ann Wright explains what we all want investigated:

From the day their daughter’s body was returned to them, the parents had grave suspicions about the Army’s investigation into Lavena’s death and the characterization of her ...

By Samhita • 15 years ago

The war on terror: US soldiers look at women in Iraq through x-ray for “security”

Is this some kind of comic book? A woman in Iraq protested by holding up a naked picture of a woman in front of her while dressed in hijab. She was making a statement against the US soldier use of x-ray machines to look under female clothing to ensure they are not strapped with explosives.

Jaberi explained that she was protesting her treatment while going through the various security checkpoints on the way to her job at the Iraqi parliament building.

It was the scan that Jaberi particularly objected to, because, she said, guards are essentially able to see a woman naked as she stands in the scanning booth. The picture she displayed actually looks like a naked female alien, ...

Is this some kind of comic book? A woman in Iraq protested by holding up a naked picture of a woman in front of her while dressed in hijab. She was making a statement against the US ...

By Ann • 15 years ago

The military’s disingenuous talking points on women’s rights

Last month the NY Times reported that the Defense Department fed talking points to former generals who appeared on cable news. Now the DoD has released a lot of those talking points to the public. Alyssa Rosenberg went through the documents, and found that a number of them instruct the generals to trumpet all the awesome stuff the U.S. military is doing for women in Iraq and Afghanistan — painting people like Donald Rumsfeld as some sort of savior for downtrodden women all over the world, and conveniently downplaying things like sexual assault by U.S. soldiers.
The talking points actually included this awful story:

Except for this one, from September 23, 2004: “Sally’s children were taken ...

By celina • 16 years ago

Coco Fusco: A Field Guide for Female Interrogators

From a recent performance at The Whitney Biennial. Photo by Eduardo Aparicio.
Coco Fusco is a New York-based interdisciplinary artist and writer. She is the author of English is Broken Here: Notes on Cultural Fusion in the Americas, and editor of Corpus Delecti: Performance Art of the Americas, and Only Skin Deep: Changing Visions of the American Self (with Brian Wallis). Her work on military interrogation was selected for the 2008 Whitney Biennial.
“In the guise of a CIA manual, Coco Fusco’s provocative A Field Guide for Female Interrogators offers an unflinching look at women’s role in the military and at America’s use of torture in the War on Terror”– (from the book’s back cover copy).
Here’s Coco…

By Ann • 16 years ago

Piestewa Peak officially named

Last week the U.S. Board on Geographic Names voted to to rename Squaw Peak in Arizona for Lori Piestewa, the Hopi woman who was killed in combat in Iraq in March 2003. Cecelia notes that because the word “squaw” has long been used to denigrate Native women, the name change to honor Piestewa is especially welcome.
From a Rolling Stone profile of Piestewa:

The attack made Jessica Lynch famous. U.S. Special Forces later plucked her from an Iraqi hospital and rushed her to safety, and the media seized on the daring rescue to create a tale of American heroism and valor. But the real story of what happened in Nasiriyah that day — and the clear warning it ...

Last week the U.S. Board on Geographic Names voted to to rename Squaw Peak in Arizona for Lori Piestewa, the Hopi woman who was killed in combat in Iraq in March 2003. Cecelia notes that ...

By Ann • 16 years ago

Another military contractor rape

Karen Houppert reports for The Nation about the rape of a paramedic working for defense contractor KBR in Iraq. The details of both the incident and the response are truly nauseating. This is shameful stuff. (Trigger warning — more below the jump.)

By celina • 16 years ago

Allison Kilkenny: Political Blogger

Allison Kilkenny describes herself as “a political humorist, a fancy way of saying writer, who makes shitty world news funny.” She is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post, The Beast, Alternet.org’s Wiretap Magazine, and Timothy McSweeney’s. Her work has appeared on The Nation and SIRIUS radio.
Here’s Allison Kilkenny…

By Samhita • 16 years ago

Quick Hit: Youth blog on violence.

Please, if you have a chance check out the Youth Blog-a-thon hosted by YO! and Wiretap Magazine. It is some of the dopest, fiercest youth writing and the topic this month is violence, both in Iraq and in our everyday lives. Support youth voices and go give them some Feministing style love!

Please, if you have a chance check out the Youth Blog-a-thon hosted by YO! and Wiretap Magazine. It is some of the dopest, fiercest youth writing and the topic this month is violence, both ...