Aye, Islam at its hypocritical finest.

The American peace dividend?

Blaming muslim prostitution on the US?

1) Doesn't explain why there are so many hookers in Dubai and Bahrain then - nothing to do with the war. Can anyone explain why these governments give these 'working girls' travel visas?

2) Iran's unemployment is at around 10% and inflation is at 12% - this partly explains why so many hookers in the Gulf states are Iranian.

3) Note the mother's complaint "..these men from the Gulf are seeing our daughters' naked bodies.."

'From the Gulf' is reference to the arabs flying into Damascus for some cheap weekend 'entertainment'- usually these guys are from Saudi, Qatar and Kuwait.

This was going on decades before the Iraq War - just ask any Scot who has worked out here in the Middle East.

4) Katherine Zoepf carefully forgets to mention the Syrian police's refusal to arrest those Gulf arabs for paying prostitutes for sex. They're not there to visit the holy sites are they?

Anyone wanting to know what the Saudis get up to in London then here's an excellent article in today's Times.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007...

Sorry that article's from the Telegraph.

#3 Angus Lindsay
What does Islam have to do with this?

I meant #1.

#5 Djookers:

I am in complete agreement with your comment. The connection is indisputable.

I would hope that those advocates of women's rights who regularly post on these fora will note the connection and condemn their respective government's complicity.

To Djookers- Yes, because Saddam was such a loving leader who wouldn't think of torturing or beating or gassing or killing his own countrymen and women. Hey! Let's blame Global Warming, increased crime in the UK, Putin's attitude, Indonesian tsunamis and everything else on the one country that decided to add some teeth to the MULTIPLE UN resolutions that Saddam ignored and mocked. You're right! We don't need a world that takes the UN seriously! We need a UN that can openly ignored and mocked so as to cause thier existence to be questionable at best. Yes, let's continue to ignore the UN's resoluntions, the many countries that supported the sanctions and single out the big mean USA as "the" reason for the conflict. I am glad to see our allies in the UK are/were with us but I sure would like to see people remember ALL of the facts that led to this mess instead of taking the myopic avenue of "blame the USA." All that does is demonstrate how insipid and vapid you really are.

None of this is knew - there were prono movies comiing out of palestinian refugee camps over 20 years ago...

Not is it the oldest profession in the world for nothing....

#10 Saddam was a despicable tyrant but your own president is a moron - even worse he is surrounded by morons. How could any right thinking individual or group of individuals enter a war without a thought to the aftermath. I believe Col, Tim Collins said "they knew how to win the war but they had no plans for how to win the peace".

Why didnt the Mother herself go into Prostitution and save her daughter from this ? excuse me but all over the World there is Poverty and Women who refuse to take this step ...So dont blame the Yanks or Us ...The Muslims have denied the fact that this has been going on long before the Iraq war ....They would have you believe their are No prostitution , No Junkies , No Alcholics , No Aids or HIV ...its seems a few in here beleive the Islamics lies ...What Plonkers ..

It was the mother's choice to take"her daughter to work at a nightclub along a highway known for prostitution"

No gun was put to her head, or to any family member.
Poverty does drive people to desperation, but it is personal choice as to how you solve it.
Hiba fled to Syria as her solution. She could have walked to the American embassy, she could have walked to an American hospital, but she chose instead to flee to the open arms of Syria.
This was her choice, she is responsible; this is a hard lesson she must learn from and move forward.
.

Hiba couild have fled to the Kurdish region, within her own country- the area is blossoming with opportunity, the schools are doing well, and there is much growth for jobs. She did not. Why?
I wonder if it is because of religion? Or is it based more in hatred?
Is her family an active Sunni who hates Israel, the west and America- in which case the family would not have done well in the Kurd region.

It was her choice to go to Syria, when she could have taken her family to "The Other Iraq and shared the dream."

One must also realize, the daughter must in some way be enjoying this new freedom of liberation from the hijab, or she would not be doing it so publicly.

Oh prostitution is not forbidden in Shia Islam. You're just meant to marry them for a few minutes first. If they're girls, that is.

#6. Hader, USA
See #12. boudica, Glasgow, who has saved me the trouble of responding to your question.

It wasn't American or British troops that drove them to Syria, according to Umm Hiba's own account:
"But that was before militias began threatening their Baghdad neighbourhood and Umm Hiba and her daughter fled to Syria last spring."

Terrorists, bent on preventing a free society, have tortured and killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. So they can't choose their own leaders or future. What kind of twisted logic it must take to only blame America or President Bush! Here's a novel idea...blame the terrorists!

#2 Guga

Guga said, in regard to a story about prostitution in the mid-east:

"The American peace dividend?"

Gooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaal!!!

Guga scores!!!!

For sure, there was no prostitution in the mid-east before the GI's arrived. Right! Nice one!! Way to go Guga, blaming prostitution in the mid-east on the US. Prostitution has only been the mid-east since about 2004 or 2005. Before that they didn't even know what it was.

That deal in the Bible about the "Whore of Babylon," means nothing. What did The Prodigal Son spend his money on? Let's see, what was Jezebel's profession?

#18 - check your sources. Jezebel was a queen, not a whore.

#19 Cassandra

Cassandra said:

"check your sources. Jezebel was a queen, not a whore."

I did. I believe there's more than one.

From Revelations:

"Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols."

That's the King James version. Others translations are even less flattering.

Here's another:

"That thou dost suffer the woman Jezebel, who is calling herself a prophetess, to teach, and to lead astray, my servants to commit whoredom, and idol-sacrifices to eat."

Lacks a certain nobility.

I enjoyed reading all the comments, those I agreed with and those I didn't. It's always nice to get stirred up when I read someone's post that I sit and drop my jaw at. It reminds me that I am still passionate about things in the news and that's a good thing (especially with all the *yawning* Paris Hilton coverage that has been on CNN, FNC and MSNBC these days...speaking of prostitutes, huh?).

As I was reading the mother's side of the story and she is watching her daughter dance on stage while perverted men dance around her, I thought, "NEVER in a million years!!!!--could I be that mother!!" I could not sit there and watch my little girl, no matter the age, take her clothes off and seduce men for money. I know that prostitutes have been around for centuries and there is nothing new about the profession, but even with that knowledge I could not encourage my daughter to work in a job like that to provide financially for our family. I was very disappointed by the fact that the story was written more in a light that wanted the reader to feel sorry for the mother then question how she could sit by (literally, conducting an interview in the audience) while her little girl is pole dancing.

If this were to happen along the Mexican/American border my only question would be, "Will it keep illegals out of America?" If so...hey, I am all for it!!! ha!!!! (okay, I am ready for the backlash from supporters of opening the borders to anyone and everyone who would like to turn our nation into a country that no longer resembles anything close to America...who can't take a joke)

Of course you agree with him, you are a team.

8. skeptic griggsy

Troll

9. thatscottishwoman 2

Silent yah street meat, yah never giv me a mowdiewark.

5. Djookers

How'U ya fanny