City of Widows 3999906031

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HAIFA ZANGA fl

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1958, when Haifa Zangana was just eight years

old, Iraqis flooded the streets in celebration of their

newfound, hard-won freedom from British colonial rule,

which had begun

Zangana then came

of

societies in the Middle in

in

1917.

age

in

one

of the

East— until

it

most open

was shut down

the 1970s by the tyrannical, yet secular, Ba'ath

Party. Joining in

armed struggle against Saddam

Hussein, Zangana

was captured, imprisoned, and

tortured as a young

woman. She was released from

Abu Ghraib

months

after six

of detention,

and has

lived in exile ever since.

In City of Widows: An Iraqi Woman's Account of War and Resistance, Zangana tells the story of her

country, from the early twentieth century through

the

US-UK invasion and

the current occupation. She

brings to light a sense of Iraq as a society mainly of secularists

who have been

denied, through years

of sanctions, war,

and occupation, a system within

which

country according to their

to build the

own

values. She points to the long history of political activism and social participation of Iraqi the fact that they have been of their of the

gender

in

among

the Middle East. She indicts

have swooped

in

since the 2003 invasion, promoting

feminism that

is

irrelevant to Iraqi

today. Finally, she writes about

populated by bereaved

have are

many

nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) who

a colonial

city

women, and

the most liberated

lost their loved

still

liberate

Baghdad today as a

women and

children

who

ones and their land, but who

emboldened by the native themselves

women

to create

an

in

i

CITY OF

WIDOWS

Digitized by the Internet Archive in

2012

http://archive.org/details/cityofwidowsiraqOOzang

CITY OF WIDOWS An Iraqi Woman's Account of

War and Resistance

Haifa Zangana

SEVEN STORIES PRESS new york london mefbaurne toronto

Copyright

ements of Iraq (Princeton. NJ: Princeton Uni-

versity Press, [978), 393. 15

The

first

Alliance School for Jewish girls was

Iranian andjewish Schools in Iraq, 16.

17

In 1914. there

were 600

2nd

girls

and foreign

schools. See

Nationalist

Movement in

Iraq,

Including [assoun.

Asma

2nd

ed.

cd.

forty-

See Fadhel al-Barak.

in public schools, 2.663 girls

and 8,020 boys

(Baghdad: Center for Arab Unity Studies, 198s),

al-Zahawi (al-Zahawi's

sister),

Nouma

Sultan

and wives of Prime Minister Nouri al-Saeed and

in private,

85. (In Arabic.)

Hamouda, Hassiba

Jaffar al-Askari.

It

Jaafar,

Paulina

faced protests from

promoting education and emplopnent rights

women.

18.

Sami Rafael

19.

Among the contributors were

Bati, Iraqi Journalism, Rafael Bati's Writings, vol.

Saiegh, Yousif Ghanema,

20.

December 1864 with

in 1893.

Wamidh Omar Nadhmi, 1920: Political, ideological and Social Roots ofArab

conservatives, especially after publishing Eayla, a journal

for

in

opened

(Baghdad: Al dar Arabiya, 1985). 29. (In Arabic.)

and 378 boys

religious,

I

Baghdad

Alliance School for Jewish boys was established in

first

three pupils, while the

Shooting

at

famous poets and

and Anwer

1

(Baghdad: Al-Adib. 1985). (In Arabic.)

journalists such as al-Zahawi, al-Rusafi,

Selma

Soul.

demonstrators by the police took place in 1936, 1941, and 1948. See Hanna Batatu, The

Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements oj'Iraq (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1978), S4S 21

S57 and 467, for table of uprisings, coups, and revolutions

In 1949, after the suppression

and two

Political

in Iraq since the British occupation.

of al-Wathbah. Fahd, the leader and founder of the Communist

Bureau members were executed

in public.

Party,

22.

Hanna

Batatu, The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements ofIraq (Princeton, NJ: Princeton Uni-

versity Press, 1978), 30, 34. 23.

The number of state college students increased from 99 in 1921 22, to 1,2.18 in 1940 41, to 8,568 in 1958- 59, and the number of state secondary school students grew from 229, to 13,969, to 73,911 in the

same years. See Layla Zaidan, Women Solve Their Problems (Baghdad: League

Women's

24

Ibid.

25.

Hanna

for the

Defense of

Rights, 1958), 29. (In Arabic.)

Batatu, The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq (Princeton,

N

J:

Princeton Uni-

versity Press, 1978), 34. 26.

Aminah ar-Rahhal was

a law student

them she

Christians and Jews. Like

who

Rahhal encouraged her to buy a car and drive

women. See Saniha Amin

Baghdad,

lived in

in

started wearing a long coat

an area where the majority were

and a

Baghdad, a rare

in

Her brother Husain

hat.

act,

Zaki, Memoir ofan IraqiWoman Doctor (London:

except

ar-

among European

Dar al-Hikma, 2005),

172.

(In Arabic.) 27.

Ali al-Wardi, Social Aspects ofIraqi Modern History (Baghdad, 1977).

28.

Among its members were

Naziha al-Dilami, Rose Khadduri, Victoria Nouman, Afifa al-Bustani, Aminah ar-Rahhal, and Nadhima Wahbi, most of these members of the Communist Party.

29.

Souad Khairy

30.

Twenty-nine Asian and African countries representing over half the world's population, most of

Iraqi

Women's Struggle and Offerings (Stockholm: All-Tryck, 1998),

which were newly independent, sent delegates to 18-24, I955-

and

this

The conference was organized by Egypt,

Pakistan, with the stated aims to

to oppose colonialism imperialistic nation.

6.

(In Arabic.)

conference in Bandung, Indonesia, April

Indonesia, Burma, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), India,

promote Afro-Asian economic and

and neocolonialism by the United

and

cultural cooperation,

States, the Soviet

Chinese prime minister Zhou Enlai attended to quiet

Union, and any other

fears

of some anticom-

A ten-point "declaration on promotion of world

munist delegates concerning China's intentions.

peace and cooperation," incorporating the principles of the United Nations Charter and Jawaharal Nehru's principles was adopted unanimously. 31.

Edith and E.

Penrose,

F.

Iraq: International Relations

and National Development (Boulder,

CO: Westview

Press, 1978), 214.

"The

July 14th 1958 Revolution in Iraq," http:

32.

Shakir Hanish,

33.

Ibid.

34.

Nazik led a secluded

35.

M

36.

Nazik al-Malaika, Modern

.

in

life

www.iraqcp.org 00307iishE.htm.

Egypt until her death in June 2007; Lamiah

lives in

the United States.

Badawi, An Anthology ofModern Arabic Verse (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1970) Poetry in Translation 19

,

18.

(2003). "Iraqi Poetry Today," guest editor, Saadi

Simawe. 37 38.

Translated by Sara Marsden, Ur 2

Baghdad

3

(1982), 136.

divided into two parts by the Tigris River that flows through the center of the

is

eastern part called al-Karkh and the western part al-Risafa.

mer resided for a year 39.

Ahmed

in

1968 with Saddam Hussein

while Ali Saleh al-Sa'di later broke with the Ba'ath party in 1964, citing

40.

K. Aburish,

Qasim was

radical

Arab

moment

and

sixties

in

(i.e.,

Ba'ath leaders.

and

in the 1970s, has said that the

that "the relationship

"communist") was useful to

as lieutenant,

link to the

CIA, and

in the

rid

of Qasim, the

"terrorist" label

as a cover to justify establishing contacts

overthrow the

City of Widows: Notes

CIA's role

coup against

between the Americans and the Ba'ath Party

time was very close indeed." To get

"The plans

its

nationalist party in exile.

who worked with Saddam "substantial,"

that

the

Bre-

in al-Karkh.

is

Hassan al-Bakr led the second Ba'ath coup

formed another

city;

The fortified Green Zone where

Iraqi leader, led

of the

at

fifties

with the exiled

by William Lakeland who was stationed

at the

Baghdad embassy as an attache, represented one of the most elaborate

history of the Middle East," said K. Aburish,

CIA operations in the

SaMam Hussein: The Politics ofRevenge (London: Blooms-

bury, 2001), 55. 41.

The Ba'athist ideology combines elements of Arab nationalism, anti-imperialism and socialism. Saddam Hussein joined the party in 1957 and remained loyal to its ideas throughout his life.

42.

Sa'ad Jawad, Iraq and the Kurdish Question 1958-1970 (London: Ithaca Press, 1981) 227.

43.

Saddam had until 1979 shared power for eleven years with General Ahmed Hassan

,

itary Ba'athist, as his deputy,

complex dynamics.

It

has

weekly ahram.org.eg

al-

Bakr, a mil-

few centers of power and

and foes of the Ba'ath era

to treat

it

as a sin-

2004 701

On-line,

July

29,

2004,

re84.htm.

"De-Ba'athification committee purges Iraqi universities of publications of the Ba'ath regime," Aasharq al-Awsat,

46.

for friends

El-Gawhary, "The right to reintegrate," Al-Ahram Weekly

Karim http:

45.

become common

a

by Saddam.

gle thirty- five-year rule

44.

and with a Ba'ath party leadership that had

January 4, 2006. (In Arabic.)

Yousif Salman Yousif was born in Baghdad

He was known

in 1901.

internationally as Fahad.

hanged with members of the ICP politburo by the monarchy on February

publicly

14,

He was

1949, fol-

lowing the ICP strike lor higher wages at Haditha Petroleum pumping station, a strike that had culminated 47.

in a

march on Baghdad

Hamid Majid Moussa,

Council for being of Shi'a

imposed by 48.

The

in 1948.

the general secretary of the origin, in

C P was selected as a member of the Governing strict sectarian

and ethnic quota system

Paul Bremer.

Sth Conference of the Iraqi

Women's League

under the slogan, "A Peaceful and Democratic dren's Happiness."

occupation, http: 49.

I

accordance with the

It

Iraq

(I

WL) was held in

Baghdad on

the Guarantee for

is

Women's

was attended by ninety eight delegates, none of

July

24-25, 2005,

Equality

whom

and Chil-

addressed the

www.iraqiwomenlcaguc.org womcn-conf-2006.html.

"Writings of comrade Fahad, on March

8,

international

women's

day," AlQa'eda,

August 9-11. 1944

Translated from Arabic by Peter Philips. 50. Si.

Ibid.

On

June

i,

owned company,

[972, a state

established to take over 52.

Helen Chapin Metz. ed 1988). http.

53.

54.

Iraq:

facilities.

A

Women within

S. al-

Khayat. The

University of Keele, 198s), 8s

The

Iraqi

the Iraqi

By 197S,

Position

of Iraqi

Bureau of Statistics reported that

of those

in the

cians, 15

percent of accountants, and

education profession,

in Iraq Prior to the Fall

Company

for Oil Operations (I COO),

was

remaining foreign interests were nationalized.

DC:

31

IS

the Family:

in 1976.

With

GPO for the Library of Congress,

Particular Reference to

Married

Women (PhD

women constituted approximately 38. s percent

percent of the medical profession, 25 percent of lab techni-

percent of civil servants. See

Human

Rights Watch, Background

ofthe Saddam Hussein Government, briefing paper,

G. R. Popal, " Impact of sanctions on the population of Iraq."

November 2003.

Eastern Mediterranean Healthjournal 6,

no.4

2000), 79 1-95-

who appeared on Iraqi TV calling for all political oppoHe was rewarded by the regime, which appointed him as Iraq's

Including Aziz el-Haj, the general secretary,

nents to follow the Ba'ath.

ambassador to United Nations Educational, Paris, 57.

all

Country Study (Washington,

diss.,

(July 56.

.,

PC

countrystudies.us iraq.

on Women's Status 55.

I

and would

later side

with the

Scientific

and Cultural Organization

(UNESCO)

in

US -led invasion of Iraq.

Mundher al-Adhami, an Iraqi academic, had met Khalid briefly in London in 1965: "Despair about ICP was growing among us along with recognizing the sterility of the Soviet experiment. That

the

brief meeting in

khalid with his 58.

Not much

London

intellect,

has been written about the

itself,

CL activity in exile, even though some of the members are now who had moved

to

London

in the late

continue his studies, writes with an eye to the legacy of Khalid: "In a quickly curtailed

to Iraq late in 1968.

Sami

hopes for revolutionary ideals and even for the ICP

record of their testimonies. Mundher,

elderly, necessitating a sixties to

my

revived

energy and modesty exuded strength, optimism and commitment."

I

met old

friends

who were working with

Mohammed Ali. The)' soon fell in the struggle.

Sami under torture the left-wing

Khalid, including Rafi' al-Kubaisi

Raff in armed confrontation

We formed a Committee for the London, which led to

Russell Foundation in

The name of the committee and

my

Defense of the

Iraqi passport

and

Marshes, and

in the

Qasr al-Nihaya prison. That must have been the spur for me

in

politics.

visit

to re-engage with

Iraqi People,

working with

being withdrawn by the Iraqi embassy.

the link with the foundation are a continuation of Khalid's

work

A loose group formed within the Iraqi Student Association in the 70s, opposing the line of the leadership of the ICP collaborating with the Ba'ath. We constituted

following the Ba'ath coup of 1963.

ourselves in the Iraqi Revolutionary

Crouping as enlightened revolutionary Marxists and produced

a periodical entitled AlNaseer' [Partisan] using pen-names.

edited with the architect Talaat

of their

articles

al-

were republished

The

13 issues

of the magazine, which

I

Banna, apparently did have some intellectual influence, and a few

in

Arabic newspapers

like al-Raya in Beirut.

Palestinian groups, then gradually attached ourselves to a remaining

headed by Ibrahim Allawi and continuing armed

struggle.

This

is

We forged links with

group of Khalid's organization,

same group

the

that Haifa

Zan-

gana joined in Baghdad and Kurdistan. Abroad, and away from maneuvering with Syrian and Kurdish

we

contacts by the leaders,

The

link with the

pressed for a wider left-democratic front to oppose the Ba'ath regime.

reminder of the

naivety* Private correspondence, 59.

CL

March

An independent group of intellectuals in tisan),

proved with time a great disappointment, a mark of our 17,

2007

Britain that

supporting the revolutionary struggle in

Iraq,

was formed around the magazine al-Naseer (Par-

had by that time attached themselves to some of

the cadres that survived the purges and massacres but disintegrated in the 1980s.

60.

Amina Haider

al-Sadr,

(1938-80), also called Bint-al-Huda, was in her twenties

when she began

writing articles in alAdhwa, the Islamic magazine printed by the religious intellectuals of al-Najaf, Iraq, in 1959.

leader

She

w as r

also a novelist. In 1980, she

was executed. She was a cousin of the

religious

Muqtada al-Sadr.

61.

Souad Khayat,

62.

Joyce Battle, ed. Shaking Hands with Saddam Hussein: The U.S.

Iraqi

Women's Struggle and Offerings (Stockholm: All-Tryck, 1998), 123. (In Arabic.)

Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 82, February

Tilts

2$.

toward

Iraq,

1980- 1984, National Security

2003, http: www.gwu.edu -nsarchiv

NSAEBB NSAEBB82. 63.

Many of the manual jobs, ers,

to

64.

sometimes estimated

including ones in agriculture, were carried out by migrant Egyptian laborat

one

million.

Helen Chapin Metz,

ed..

"Paramilitary forces," in

the Library of Congress. 1988), http: 65.

More white-collar and professional

Karim Hamza, "Evaluating the

.org

en node

status

of

Iraqi

A Country Study.

women

in light

were

available

(Washington,

DC:

GPO for

countrystudies.us iraq 9$.htm.

of the Beijing platform for action"

Women [UNIFEM],

2004), http: www.iknowpolitics

35.

Helen Chapin Metz,

ed.. "Iraq,

education and welfare,"

GPO for the Library of Congress, 1988). http: 67

Iraq:

countrystudies.us iraq: http:

(United Nations Development Fund for

66.

positions

women.

in Iraq:

A

Country Study (Washington.

DC.

countrystudies.us iraq 45.htm.

"Persian Gulf War: set up of Iraq." Iraq Resource Information Site, http:

www.geocities.com

iraqinfo gulfwar setup.html.

City of Widows: Notes

157

68.

The sanctions included a full

embargo barring all imports from and exports

trade

to Iraq, except-

ing only medical supplies, foodstuffs, and other items of humanitarian need, as determined by the Security Council Sanctions Committee, which was also established by Resolution 661. 69.

UN

against Iraq

amount In

the

humanitarian coordinator of the Oil-for-Food Programme, said that sanctions

amount

to "genocide."

I

Siegal.

"Former

September

UN official says sanctions against Iraq www.news.cornell.edu chroni-

30, 1999. http:

talk.html.

lalliday

May 1996, 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl asked Madeleine UN. "We have heard that half a million children have died [as a

that

is

more children than died

responded,

"I

think that

is

a

in

I

And, you know,

liroshima.

we

very hard choice, but the price,

sanctions continued for nearly 71.

Mark

to genocide'," Cornell Chronicle,

99 9.30.99

cle

70.

UN assistant secretary-general and, from September 1997 to September

Denis Halliday, a former 1998, the

sewn more

years,

According to the Center for Economic and

ambassador to

the price worth is

it 5

"

I

mean,

Albright

worth

it."

The

of 2003.

"There had been

selectively as a

US

of sanctions].

think, the price

to the invasion

Social Rights.

was used

tion outside Iraq that the ration system

up

is

Albright. result

a great deal

of specula-

reward and punishment device by

The 1991 visit found no evidence for who were quite outspoken in their opposition

the Iraqi regime against various sections of the population this.

On

the contrary

was found

it

and 72

73.

I

Karim

I

al

'

Costs of Failure.

Iraq.

C

Center for

Economic

women

in light

of the Beijing platform for action,"

www.iknowpolitics.org/en node 3s

http:

An

Iraq:

Overview," Global

2006, http: www.globalresearch.ca index.php?context viewArticle&code

Ji,

Particle Id

}

1

2004.

N

women m

wwwiknowpolitics.org/en node

http:

ICI

light

of the Beijing platform for action."

3s

December

75.

Associated Tress

76.

Tim

77

why war.com news [999 01 07 usspiedo.html. Michael Wolff. "The Students of Moustanserya University: low

I

AL

6.

1

lam/a. "Evaluating the status of Iraqi

UNI MM.

with the functioning of the ration system." Peter

Azzawi, "Depleted Uranium Radioactive Contamination In

August

2006083 74.

satisfied

lussain, Sanctions Against

lam/a. "Evaluating the status of Iraqi

Souad N. Research.

I

November [997

FEM, 2004,

I

and Athar

ia/dar.

(

Social Rights.

Karim

UN

[arris

I

even people

and were

to the regime received the ration

Boone.

that

I

Sanctions

Werner. "U.S. Spied on Iraq Under

I

lurt Iraq Schools."

UN

Cover,

t

officials

Now

10. 1998.

Say,"

Mew

York Times. January

7

1009. http:

I

tion." CounterPunch,

78.

There has been in the

February 22. 2003, http:

a bitter conflict

Arab world, exemplified

Iraq. In 1989. the

www

Sanctions

I

)estroy Iraqi Educa-

counterpunch.org wolfifo2222003 html.

between Islamic and secular Arab nationalist and in

execution and suppression of Islamic groups

in

Left

movements

Egypt. Syria, and

Beirut-based Centre for Arab Unity Studies, headed by K. Haseab. convened a

seminar for pan-Arab religious dialogue, which resulted

in a

preparatory committee for the estab-

lishment of an Islamic (Arab) National Congress. This brought under one roof most of the intellectuals 79.

of the two trends, including Marxists and patriotic

For more details and thorough examination of the status of Iraqi see

Karim Hamza, " Evaluating the

UNIFEM. 2004, http: 80.

status

of Iraqi

liberals

women and the work of the GF W. I

women in light of the

wvwv.iknowpolitics.org en node

Beijing platform for action."

3$.

Nabil al-Nawwab, "Report on the Consultative Mission to the General Federation of Iraqi Project Proposal for the Social

Commission

tor

Development of the Women's

Western

Asia.

2000. (In Arabic.)

Sector."

Women:

United Nations Economic and

II.

1.

See Faiza

al-Arji's

account of her experience as an

US organizations in

ference hosted by a few

Iraqi

women activist at a "democracy in Iraq" cona\-Ar)'\, A Family in Baghdad. April 17 2005,

Jordan. Faiza

afamiIyinbaghdad.blogspot.com 2005 _04^l7_afamilyinbaghdad

http:

archive.htmL: 11137617

29099I23S3 2.

US Department of State, "Human Press

3.

The

Center

Briefing,

following

izations, part

March

Empire's Law, ed.

Jacqueline

S.

in Iraq: voices

work on US-funded

Feminists from Washington to Baghdad: Reconciliation, ed.

women

www.state.gov g

rls

of

Iraqi

rm 2003

women," Foreign

i8477.htm.

NGOs and women's organ-

Iraqi

"The Three Cyclops of Empire-building: Targeting the

titled

published in

and

http:

the development of my

is

of which was

Iraqi Society,"

rights

2003,

6,

Fabric of

Amy Bartholomew (Pluto Press, 2006) and "Colonial Women for a Free Iraq as a Case Study," in Barriers to

Ismael and William

W Haddad (University

Press of America,

2006). 4.

Secretary of State Colin

Powell,

L.

Remarks

to the National Foreign Policy Conference for Lead-

of NGOs, Washington, DC, October 26, 2001.

ers

6.

Andrew Natsios, Speaking on the last day of Interaction's three-day forum, June 9, 2003. Abby Stoddard, "With Us or Against Us? NGO Neutrality on the Line," Global Policy Forum

7

According to the group's 2002

5.

(December 2003) in

,

http:

www.globalpolicy.org ngos fund/ 2003 i200against.htm.

RS Form 990,

I

Free Iraq Foundation,

Inc.,

received

Si.

66 million

support for 2001, 99.97 percent of that figure coming from public funding sources. In 2000,

the group's income was Si million; for 1998 and 1999, $265,000 and S58o,000 respectively. "Iraq

Foundation," SourceWatch, http: 8.

Allawi

is

of Saddam.

9.

11.

12.

The group had been under CIA patronage since

the

Shadows: Can

http:

7wwwnewyorkercom/archive/2005 /oi/24/050i24fa

L.

Paul

Ibid.

Iyad

Hold

Allawi

&

1992. Jon Lee Anderson, "A

Together?"

Iraq

Bremer and Malcolm McConnell, My

Simon

York. 10.

www.sourcewatch.org index.php?title^ Iraq __ Foundation.

the head of the Iraqi National Accord, an exile organization dedicated to the overthrow

Year

in Iraq:

New

Yorker,

January

Man of

24,

2005,

_facti.

Fhe Struggle

to

Build a Future of Hope

(New

Schuster, 2006), 385.

Judy Van Rest

is

one of the Coalition Provisional Authority's

US Department of State, "U.S. Commitment to Women nator for International

Women's

Lindsey Brooks, "Iraqi

Women

2002," Washington

File,

Issues,

June 22, 2005, http:

Speak Out about

October

9,

in Iraq,"

2002,

http:

Life

political officers.

Office of the Senior Coordi-

www.state.gov g wi

rls

48464.htm.

under Saddam's Dictatorship, October 4,

www.usembassy.it file2002 _io

alia

a2i00906

.htm. 13.

The women's

Communist

organization of the

Party,

which was licensed to work publicly during

the establishment of the National Progressive Front, consisting of the dominant Ba'ath Party and the 14.

Communist

2002, 15.

Ibid.

http:

of 1973-79.

www.womensenews.org

dam

article.cfm

dyn

in

London with the

Hussein. There are no Iraqi

U.S. State

Department to

Women's eNews,

December

10.

2003, http:

discuss the future of Iraq, post-Sad-

women among the opposition

Jeevan Vasagar and Brian Whitaker, "Exiles Cited by 19,

Women,"

aid 1140 context archive.

Michael continued to lament the misfortune of women, saying, "The opposition leaders are

meeting today

16.

Parties

Jane Ciabattari, "Survivor of Attacks Speaks for Iraqi

leaders expected there."

PM are Backed by Iran," Guardian,

politics.guardian.co.uk foreignaffairs story O. ,898354,00. html.

City of Widows: Notes

February

17

"Women for a Free

Iraq

Campaign," Foundation for Defense of Democracies,

http:

wwwdefend-

democraq .org programs programs_show.htm?doc_id=i92i25&attrib_id=iOOi4. r

1

8.

See

my essay, "Colonial

Study," in Barriers

Feminists from Washington to Baghdad:

Women for a Free

and William

ed. Jacqueline S. Ismael

to Reconciliation,

Iraq as a

Case

W Haddad (University

Press of America, 2006). 19.

On

the

that a

same

Cited by

PM are

eignaffairs story

20.

FDD most

Tony

day,

Blair read a succession

war to remove Saddam was supported by

is

Backed by

of letters and e-mails from Iraqi exiles

February

Iran," Guardian.

19.

2003,

a think tank that claims to conduct "research

into action immediately after 9-11."

Kemp, and Jeanne

Kirkpatrick.

Kristol have served as advisers. See http:

politics.guardian.co.uk for-

free,

international terrorism— the

democratic nations." According to

(former editor of the Middle

East Labor

FDD "is one of the most influential and powerful of the Zionist lobbies which changed

name and sprung

Forbes, Jack

http:

and education on

and other

Jeffrey Blankfort, a Jewish, anti- Zionist activist in California

its

proof

o„898354,OO.html

serious security threat to the United States

Review), the

as

Jeevan Vasagar and Brian Whitaker, "Exiles

Iraqis.

wwwsourcewatch org

Randy Scheunemann,

a

Its

board of directors has included Steve

Newt Gingrich, James Woolsey Richard

Perle,

and

Bill

"Foundation for the Defense of Democracies," SourceWatch,

index.php?title

Foundation^for_the_Defense_of_Democracies. 20.

former Rumsfeld advisor who helped draft the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998,

authorizing S98 million in

US aid to Iraqi exile groups, was the founding president of the CommitNow he's helping former Soviet-bloc states win business there. "War

tee for the Liberation of Iraq.

www.sourcewatch.org index.php?title- War^profiteering.

profiteering," Source Watch, http 21.

US Department of State, "Iraqi Women Under Saddam's of International

22.

For profiles

Women's

ol the thirty Iraqi

A Quest for

Independent Women's Forum, ocratic Iraq."

August

16.

2004.

Schou, "Going to Bed with a http: 23.

24.

Population Silenced," Office

http:

Political,

Economic and

www.iwf.org iraq iraq

$3000,000

Price

Social Participation in a

detail. asp > Article

on Your Head,"

OC Weekly,

I

D

625,

Dem-

and Nick

February 24, 200s, .

Ibid

Foundation for the Defense o( democracies, "Success I

FDD

Women's

fifty

stories," http:

FDD__show.htm?doc_id=257042&attri

about

According to the reached over

26.

A

www.ocweekly.com news news going-to-bed-with-a-300000-price-on-your-head 19098

about 25.

Regime:

March 20, 2003, http: www.state.gov g wi rls i8877.htm. "women leaders," according to the Independent Women's Forum, see

Issues,

FDD Web

site,

wwwdefenddemocraq'.org

id-7615.

the campaign's media placements were estimated to have

million Americans.

Alliance for a Democratic Iraq, "Background History" http:

www.wafdi.org back-

ground.

27

The group remained

under occupation, with three members serving

active

as ministers in the

interim government (Nasreen Barwari, Mishkat el-Mounim, and Pascale Warda), and another serving as Iraq's representative to the United States 28.

Women's http:

29.

Alliance

for

www.wafdi.org

Ms. Ala Talabani, a

a

Democratic

Iraq,

(Rend al-Rahim Francke).

"US- Iraqi

Business

Sorority

Program,"

projects.

member of

cofounder of WFFI, then of the

Union of Kurdistan Party for example, was a Women's High Council in October 2003, then of the Iraqi

the Patriotic

Iraqi

Women's Network in 2004. Rend al-Rahim Francke, the executive director of the Iraq Foundation, moved on to cofound WFFI. Tanya Gilly manager of the Democracy Programs at the FDD, is

a

ers,

founding

member of WFFI and WAFDI. Zainab al-Suwaij,

are active in

more than

three

NGOs at a time.

Safiya Taleb al-Suhail,

and oth-

-

.

30.

"The

Iraqi

from

Iraq.

fice

women were

joined in the Oval Office by American soldiers that had just returned

They were eager

on behalf of the

to

thank the soldiers for their freedom and for their personal

"We

characterized her meeting with the president by saying,

sacri-

WAFDI.

Raz Rasool, the executive director of

Iraqi people." said

have met the brave soldiers.

She

Amer-

ican soldiers." 3

1

www. defend

Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. " Promoting Democracy Activists." http: democracy.org programs programs^showhtm?doc^id^3o8432&attrib_id^iooi4.

www.georgiabizupdate.com pdfwhite-house-women-0408.pdf (site discontinued)

32.

http:

33.

Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. "About the Foundation." http: wvvw.defenddemoc-

about_fdd about_fdd_list.htm?attrib^id^76l5.

racy.org 34.

Letter to Paul

WAFDI

Bremer from

and

its

affiliated group, the

WFFI.

lanuary 23. 2004.

which they demanded that the United States should address the growing threat

and

35.

religious

more

dom

in the greater

"We

aggressively.

parties

Middle East that

is

and

who

clerics

United States

fear that the

Formed

5.

women's

in

rights

seek to establish Islamic rule in

will fail in the

forward strategy of free-

a cornerstone of President Bush's presidency."

Women."

Jim Lobe. "Politics-US: Foe of 'Radical Feminism' to Train Iraqi

October 36.

freedom posed by Islamist

Iraq

to

Inter Press Service.

2004.

to protest language in the draft constitution that

makes Islam the

sole source for Iraqi

law. 37.

The

Women's Educational

Iraqi

Institute, a joint project

of the American Islamic Congress, the

Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, and the Independent Women's Forum, was also present.

Independent Women's Forum.

August

3,

"Iraqi

Women

Fighting to Save Rights in Draft Constitution."

2005, http: wvwviwf org iraq iraq_detail.asp?ArticleI D=~Q2.

Us and Make Freedom Win." "Wonder Land: Spirit of America:

38.

Spirit or* America. "Join

http:

39.

Daniel Henninger.

Here's a

Iraq," Opinionjournal. April 16.

2004.

www.spiritofamerica.net

Way You Can Help

site.

the Cause in

www.opinionjournal.com columnists dhenninger

http:

?id=ii0004958. 40.

"Whether

hands of patriarchal

in the

men or feminists."

Harvard professor

writes

"the ideas of western feminism essentially functioned to morally justify the attack eties

and

41.

Ahmed, soci-

to support the notion of comprehensive superiority of [the United States and] Europe."

Ghali Hassan. "Colonial Violence Against http:

Leila

on native

Women

in Iraq." Countercurrents.org.

May

31.

2004.

wvwv.countercurrents.org iraq-hassan3i0504.htm.

on October

Security Council Resolution 1325 was passed unanimously

addresses the impact of war on

women, and women's

31.

2000.

It specifically

contributions to conflict resolution and

sustainable peace. 42.

Dr. Raja al- Khuzai "I

want

met.

to thank

The

first

was one of the

my friend,

time

we

US administration's favorites.

met, she walked into the Oval Office

'My liberator,' and burst out in tears— (laughter)— and

so did

of the Press Secretary, "President, Mrs. Bush Mark Progress press release,

March

12,

In one of his speeches. Bush said.

Dr. Raja Khuzai. who's with us today. This

2004.

http:

.

I.

in

.

is

the third time

we have

the door opened up. She said,

.

(Applause.)"

White House Office

Global Women's

Human

Rights."

www.whitehouse.gov news releases 2004 03 20040312-

5.html. 43.

The

provisional

government of

served under the

US -led

Iraq

from

July

13.

2003. to June

Coalition Provisional Authority

breakdown included thirteen

Shi'ites, five

Sunni Arabs,

five

I.

The

Kurds

2004. was established by and

Council's ethnic and religious (also Sunnis).

one ethnic Turk,

and an Assyrian Christian.

City of Widows: Notes

161

44

They

are

www.washtimes.com national 20050203-1250i9-2769r.htm

45.

http:

46.

Remember

47.

Peter

Dahr

(site

discontinued).

www.rememberfallujah.org.

Fallujah, http:

November 8. 2005, from

Jamail, "Stories

com weblog 49.

Construction), Wijdan

Popham, "US Forces 'Used Chemical Weapons' During Assault on City of Fallujah,"

pendent,

48.

&

Narmin Othman (Environment), Bayan Dizayi (Housing Rights), and Faten Mahmoud (Women's Affairs).

(Human

Michael

Inde-

news.independent.co.uk world middle_east article32556o.ece.

http:

Fallujah," Dahrjamail's Weblog,

February

8,

2005. http:

dahrjamailiraq

archives dispatches OOOi96.php.

See " Fallujah Death Toll for

Week More Than

USA Today,

600,"

April

II,

2004.

http:

wwwusato-

day.com news world iraq 2004-04-n-fallujah-casualties_x.htm.

Mosque: Video Shows Marine Killing Wounded

"U.S. Probes Shooting at Fallujah

50.

MSNBC, November 16, 2004, http: 51.

Remember

52.

Edward

53.

Noah Fcldman, 'The Way

id

Iraqi,

6496898.

www.remembcrfallujah.org.

Fallujah, http:

Said,

www.msnbc.msn.com

"The Arab Condition," Al-Ahram

We

Now:

Live

Weekly,

May

22,

2003.

7-31-05; Foundering?"

New

York Times Magazine, July

31.

2004. 54.

WAFDI

is

represented today by

six

members

in

the National

Assembly (out of 70

women and

275 total representatives) 55.

Ninety

56.

Surah 24: Ayah

five

percent of Iraqis are Muslims.

means

57

Literally "hijab"

S