Let 'em die. The more I hear from Iraq, the more I think a bloodbath would be a good thing. Let them kill each other off. They don't deserve our help, or our money, or our troops' lives. Fuck em.

Is there anything a son can do to merit an honor killing? If his son had an inappropriate crush on an unmarried woman, and spoke to her, would he be killed as well? Because presumably, the object of the crush in my example would be killed.

I have no illusions about the nature of Saddam's regime but from what I understand during his rule women had pretty much equal rights in Iraq. What might have happened if something like this had happened in his time. Also it sounds like this is just a wife/child abuser hiding behind his religion. We have those here too.

But rumor has it that not only is he continuing to receive a paycheck, but he has been given money by a local politician to "disappear" to Jordan for a few weeks till this whole thing blows over.

Right now Jordan is trying to crack down on this tribal practice. They just charged a man with premeditated murder this week:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/5772773.html

AMMAN, Jordan — A man who is suspected of drowning his 22-year-old sister for having an extramarital affair was charged Monday with premeditated murder, a judicial official said.

I wonder if he'll be convicted. We'll see.

This horror reminds us how fundamentally different our values are from those of many Iraqis. How does our continued presence in Iraq solve what is simply cultural tradition? Honor killings are an extension of honor codes. In many regions of the world, the only security that is guaranteed is that accrued by familial relations and connections. In these hardscrabble areas of the world, any affront that hurts one member of the family is addressed as an affront to the entire extended family. The family then acts as gatekeepers to ward off anything that might threaten the only thing of value, their name and social standing. Without them, these people have almost nothing. The only thing that surprises me is that the mother is trying to get a divorce on the grounds of murder. I wish her luck.

to my knowledge, although feuding is common in these cultures there is no sexual indiscretion that merits an honour killing for a man. If he actually runs off with and marries a woman from an unknown family he may be shot or killed in the retaliatory conflict. Several other people may be, too. Illicit love affairs are major betrayals in a tribal society.

But in this environment they have placed all sexual responsibility on women, and they are the only ones who commit the offense, and by extension pay the price for it. I feel sorry for that girl. She may have harbored some fantasy that the soldier would rescue her and take her out of that household.

I am sure the man does not have any regrets. It's not just bravado.

may well be the left's only hope of understanding why we as liberals should realize this culture is opposed to everything we as liberals are supposed to stand for. Let's remember this story when we hear Tariq Ramadan lauded for proposing a "moratorium" on stoning women so a dialogue can open up. On what?

Several comments already posted seem to fall into an obvious trap, IMHO: Islam is NOT a monolith, just as Christianity and other world religions are not. Please, before you deplore Iraqi culture or Muslim culture or anything else, take a look at this site:

http://www.wluml.org/english/index.shtml

Women Living Under Muslim Law is sponsoring the Stop Stoning Women campaign Catherine Price's article mentioned.

The women who founded WLUML want people around the world to realize that today's legal structures (founded on the Koran and Islamic traditions) in Islamic countries and communities differ precisely because the context changes in each place. If the Koran were really the ONLY basis for such law, every country would have similar ones. (Those of us raised in the Judeo-Christian West can recognize the parallels, I think. Look at early American colonies defined by religion, or at Jewish communities living as states-within-a-state in medieval Europe.)

Liberals, feminists, and other do-gooders (and I count myself in this group) need to be careful and sensitive when trying to help those with other religious/cultural traditions. I think WLUML provides a way to help us understand these things that aren't familiar to those living in the West.

Well, well. Stomping a teenage girl to death, how very honorable. Fucking cowards. Calling that piece of shit an animal would be an insult to jackals, slugs and vampire bats everywhere.

I belong to an organization called Equality Now which works to curb honor killings and related atrocities (like infibulation) committed upon women throughout the world. They are definitely worth looking into if you want to help end this kind of abominable practice. Here is their web address: www.equalitynow.org

Whatever the justification: religion, tribal traditions, or something else, honor killings are an abomination. I don't want to understand a mindset where they are excusable in any way, shape, or form.

I think the point of "understanding" isn't condoning what happened. It's like trying to "understand" the mindset that led to 9/11 and not just going in and cracking heads, bringing civilization to the savages.

http://nothingbutred.wordpress.com/about/

Joss Whedon of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame set up this project as a reaction to the honor killing of Dua Khalil, which was covered in Broadsheet, here:

http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/2007/07/18/nothing_but_red/

think we can brainwash these guys, instead, into committing suicide to stave off the embarrassment they might feel if they were to continue living?

that would solve a lot of problems.

Under Saddam Hussein, bad as he was, women not only went about unveiled in the big cities, but they trained in large numbers for professional careers. Extreme Khomeini-style Shi'ism was repressed. By overthrowing an oppressive but secular Arab regime, this is what we got: in the south, self-appointed "religious police" persecute women for trying to live the way they'd lived for many years before.

I do think, though, that the sheer bloodthirstiness this woman was the target of was compounded by the fact that the object of her affection was not only a non-Muslim, but an occupier, a member of an army that had killed Iraqis in large numbers. This might be seen as treason even in a secular society, with a corresponding penalty.