Iraq rape may fuel violence
U.S. military takes up investigation
By Robert H. Reid, Associated Press
Article Launched: 02/22/2007 11:48:04 AM EST
Thursday, February 22
BAGHDAD, Iraq — The U.S. military on Wednesday weighed into the politically explosive case of a Sunni woman allegedly raped last weekend by three Iraqi policemen, announcing its own investigation after the Shiite-run government dismissed her allegations as false.
The announcement, made to reporters by the chief military spokesman, appeared aimed at containing the growing political storm. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's exoneration of the three officers after an investigation lasting less than a day has enflamed Sunni-Shiite tensions over a case that strikes at the heart of Iraqi attitudes toward protection of women.
Al-Maliki, a Shiite, stoked the political flames further Wednesday by firing a top Sunni official who called for an international investigation into the woman's allegations, which were broadcast Monday by satellite television stations across the Middle East.
Rape is considered not only an assault on the victim but a grave offense against her entire family and community. The allegations harkened back to the dark years of Saddam Hussein's rule, when wives and daughters were raped in front of their husbands and fathers to exact confessions from the
men.
Al-Maliki insists the charge was fabricated by Sunni politicians and extremists to discredit the police and the ongoing security crackdown in Baghdad. He announced a "reward" for the officers who were implicated.
Regardless of the truth, many Sunnis considered the government's speed in clearing the policemen as an insult to their community. Al-Maliki announced an investigation Monday evening and cleared the officers the following morning.
With the issue threatening to spiral out of control, the U.S. military announced Wednesday that Gen. David Petraeus, the new top U.S. commander in Iraq, had ordered his own investigation, appointing an American officer to begin collecting evidence.
"Once the Iraqi government makes a decision on how they are going to move forward, there is an investigating judicial process established and they need this information from us, we will make that readily available to them," chief military spokesman Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell said.
The 20-year-old woman told Arabic language television stations that she was detained Sunday by Iraqi police at her west Baghdad home and accused of aiding Sunni insurgents.
She was then taken to a police garrison where she was raped by the three policemen before American soldiers arrived and took her away, she said. The government and Sunni Arab politicians have released her name, but The Associated Press has decided not to publish it.
Caldwell confirmed that "an Iraqi woman" was brought to the U.S.-run hospital Sunday evening and released the following morning but refused to give further details or talk about her treatment.
However, the prime minister's office e-mailed news organizations what it said was a U.S. medical report indicating no signs of rape.
The one-page English language form indicated blood and other tests had been performed and included a handwritten note in English stating "no lacerations" or "obvious bruising." The word rape was not used.
Iraqi women rarely report rape because of shame and fear of public scorn. Victims even risk death at the hands of male relatives seeking to purge the family's honor. Some officials, including Sunnis, discounted the woman's claim simply because she came forward publicly.
"What has been said about the woman's rape seems like a fantasy," said Aida Osayran, a Sunni lawmaker and member of parliament's Human Rights Committee. "It is certain that what she says is improper because it is not in our customs and traditions."
Meanwhile, Iraqi officials sought to discredit the claim by casting dispersions on the woman's character.
Brig. Gen. Qassim Moussawi, spokesman for the Baghdad security operations, said the woman had been in an "urfi" marriage, a common-law relationship that is not legally recognized in most Arab countries, and that she knew her husband only by his first name.
Moussawi said the woman was detained in a house which was not hers and that clothing found there was traced to a man whose body was found nearby. He did not elaborate.
Such comments did little to calm the outrage among many Sunnis, who have little confidence in the Shiite-led police forces.
In Mosul, a few hundred Sunni students staged a rare, half-hour rally at the local university campus to demand the government reopen the investigation. Participants by and large accepted the woman's account.
Similar sentiments echoed across the Arab world, especially in Sunni countries deeply suspicious of Iraq's Shiite-led government. Television stations in Egypt and the Persian Gulf have reported extensively on the case since Monday.
Columnist Issa al-Enezi wrote in Kuwait's Al-Siyassah newspaper than "instead of ordering a serious investigation," al-Maliki "rewards the perpetrators alleging the girl was making up the story to foil the security plan."
"Rewarding criminals is encouraging them. It is denying justice and instigating infighting among Muslims. May God help Iraqis put up with their extremist government," al-Enezi wrote.
Al-Maliki's office gave no reason for dismissing prominent cleric Ahmed Abdul-Ghafour al-Samaraie as chairman of the Sunni Endowments, a government agency that takes care of Sunni mosques and shrines.
On Monday, al-Samaraie said the rape allegations proved the failure of U.S. and Iraqi security forces to protect Baghdad's citizens. He called the allegations "a horrific crime" and called for an international investigation "into this crime."
Following his dismissal, al-Samaraie, speaking from Amman in neighboring Jordan, said al-Maliki lacked the authority to fire him and repeated his criticisms about the rape case.
"We will continue to speak with courage, and we will not fear anyone but God," al-Samaraie said. "I am not concerned about a job because the honor of Iraqi women is a thousand times more valuable than government jobs."
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