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Global Viewpoint |
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 GLOBAL VIEWPOINTGLOBAL ECONOMIC VIEWPOINTEUROPEAN VIEWPOINTNOBEL LAUREATES PLUS
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10-29-2008 SOMALI ISLAMISTS WHO STONED WOMAN SHOULD BE INDICTED AND TRIED LIKE MILOSEVIC Ayaan Hirsi Ali is the author of "Infidel." By Ayaan Hirsi Ali NEW YORK — Wahhabi-inspired Islamic insurgents associated with the Islamic Courts Union who had been driven from Mogadishu in 2006 by Ethiopian and Somali government forces — with the blessing of the United States — now have shown up controlling the Somali town of Kismayu.Their first act of governance has been to impose shari'a. And as always, the first thing they've done under this elevated tribal law is to go out and find a woman to punish. In this case, a 23-year-old woman, whom witnesses have named as Asha Ibrahim Dhuhlow, was brutally stoned to death after being charged with adultery. She was put in a hole covering her body up to her head and repeatedly belted with stones until her last breath left her. Some in the West have argued that the Islamic Courts Union, which came close to "unifying" Somalia in 2006, is the best bet for stemming anarchy and restoring order in this sad, war-torn nation where I was born. This is as wrong-headed a notion as it was when it was said of the Taliban in Afghanistan after the chaos that enveloped that nation in the wake of Soviet withdrawal. From a woman's perspective especially, the only order that would be restored is the order of the Middle Ages, not of the 21st century. Indeed, my fear over the next decade is that a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and the Middle East as a whole as it achieves energy independence will inspire jihadists further and leave the whole region, including Somalia, in the control of the likes of the Islamic Courts Union. That is a terrifying prospect. The West, in particular, should not treat this stoning execution and others like it lightly. Those responsible for this crime against human rights should be indicted like Slobodan Milosevic by the International Criminal Court in the Hague, captured and brought to trial. © 2008 GLOBAL VIEWPOINT |
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