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Iraqi Women Fight to Be Heard

On April 5, 2003, Vivian Salim's husband, her two young sons and her little daughter were killed by U.S. forces as they were fleeing in their car when intense fighting took place in their neighbourhood. They were trying to escape to a safer place.

The U.S. military never acknowledged their terrible mistake, never offered Salim any help and never apologised to her for her loss.

Now, three years later, Vivian Salim is part of a delegation of six other Iraqi women, who have been invited by the women's peace group CODEPINK to come to the United States to tell their stories and push for an end to the occupation of their country. The other delegates are doctors, engineers, journalists and humanitarian aid workers. One delegate, Anwar kadhim Jwad, is also a widow whose husband and children were killed by U.S. soldiers at an unmarked roadblock.

But when Vivian Salim traveled across the long and dangerous desert road from Baghdad to Amman, Jordan on February 2 to obtain a two-week visa from the U.S. Embassy, her visa application was rejected. The consular officer told her that she failed to show convincing evidence that she would return to Iraq. When the CODEPINK staff called the state department to object, they were told that Salim did not have "sufficient family ties that would compel her to return." Anwar Kadhim Jawad, the other delegate whose family was killed by U.S. soldiers, was also rejected for lack of sufficient family ties.

Read more about the tragic story of these women here (The Tyee.ca)

posted by Annamarie at 9:50 PM