Nietzsche

I was looking over some of the news articles by Giuliana Sgrena, an Italian journalist who was held captive for a month by Iraqi insurgents. Interestingly enough, 35 minutes after her release she was nearly killed by U.S. troops as she was trying to exit Iraq. There are some theories that this was “accidentally on-purpose,” as she found some pretty controversial stuff — you can read about a woman who spent time in Abu Ghraib here, and there are other stories in the Il Manifesto, an Italian newspaper. This particular story about prisoner abuse brought to mind a quote from the (in)famous Nietzsche, Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And when you look long into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you.

Not much to add to that, and thanks to Nafisi, who put that poignant and timeless quote into her book.

Baghdad Burning

Now that I have my new Bloglines account set up, I can get the feed for my newest favorite blog, Baghdad Burning, a blog written by an Iraqi woman about the current situation there. Since I am currently reading Reading Lolita in Tehran, an amazing book about an English Lit professor whose study of 19th century American novels was considered “revolutionary” in Iran after the ayatollahs gained power in the 1980’s, the allegations that radical Shias who came into power during the last elections may make Iraq another Iran is downright chilling. It seems counterproductive that our administration may do such a thing, but actually, what most people do not know is that, in general, women’s rights are not considered “human rights” by U.S. policymakers, which is why there was no protest regarding the Taliban regime before 9/11 (although press made it seem that saving women was one of the reasons for destroying the regime, there were other — primarily geo-political reasons — that are far more plausible). This means that, were the Iraqi clerics who came “democratically” to power to bring stability to the country, even at the expense of women’s rights, it is totally possible that the U.S. may leave it at that. I mean, who can justify staying in Iraq longer than necessary? The protesters want the U.S. out of there right now (yesterday, really), and so does everyone else who has taken a hard look at the U.S. deficit. Would there really be the political pressure to stay in Iraq for the sake of women who do not want to wear the chador or for girls who don’t wish to be married at the age of 9? Or will this be left to “the Iraqis themselves” to iron oPost Options ut what is often considered either a cultural or a religious problem? Who could justify spending billions of more dollars — or for our troops to continue getting killed on foreign soil — for human rights violations that the U.S. certainly has never cared about before?

This is what struck me about Nafisi’s novel: I am working hard to help children who have been sold into slavery and prostitution. But, in Iran, even today, men can have “temporary marriages” that are as short as ten minutes (in addition to four wives) and men can also marry a girl as young as nine years old. What I work against every day is legal there. If we turn yet another country into a duplication of that — well, this is what I think about it : And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea. (Mark 9:42, The Bible)