To My Little Sister
iMuslim cries for Abeer al-Janabi.
Abeer; your name means fragrance.
Breathe deep the fragrance of Paradise, little one;
with your mother,
and your father,
and your baby girl.
Perhaps what is most frightening is the fact that this is certainly not an isolated incident; it would be foolish for anyone to think that this was the only such incident simply because it was the only one that got attention from the media. Riverbend wrote about this and other American atrocities back in 2006.
Rape is a taboo subject in Iraq. Families don’t report rapes here, they avenge them. We’ve been hearing whisperings about rapes in American-controlled prisons and during sieges of towns like Haditha and Samarra for the last three years. The naiveté of Americans who can’t believe their ‘heroes’ are committing such atrocities is ridiculous. Who ever heard of an occupying army committing rape??? You raped the country, why not the people?
For a long time, Riverbend’s blog was one of the most touching personal accounts of post-war life in Iraq. With no new postings since April, one worries that perhaps she herself has become just another statistic in the increasing Iraqi bodycount.
May Allah protect all the Muslimeen, grant Paradise to the fallen, and grant victory to the defenders of the Muslim lands.
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