OMiGawd ... this has to do it. We've spilled our National Blood and Treasure, involved ourselves in a "foreign entaglement" that's making the bones of George Washington do the perpetual hokey-pokey; executed the leader of a one-time supporter of our military-industrial complex in an ignominous sectarian lynching and split the country in a way not seen since Vietnam for this?
Fatima Ali was a 24-year-old divorcee with no high school diploma and no job. Shawket al-Rubae was a 34-year-old Shiite sheik with a pregnant wife who, he said, could not have sex with him.
Ali wanted someone to take care of her. Rubae wanted a companion.
They met one afternoon in May at the house he shares with his wife, in the room where he accepts visitors seeking his religious counsel. He had a proposal. Would Ali be his temporary wife? He would pay her 5,000 Iraqi dinars upfront -- about $4 -- in addition to her monthly expenses. About twice a week over the next eight months, he would summon her to a house he would rent.
The negotiations took an hour and ended with an unwritten agreement, the couple recalled. Thus began their "mutaa," or enjoyment marriage, a temporary union believed by Shiite Muslims to be sanctioned by Islamic law.
This woman can't make a living in any other way apparently because there are no jobs for her in Iraq. Now why do you all suppose that might be? Sectarian violence? A economy destroyed not by our troops marching into Baghdad but rather by the Armies of Bush Faithful who tried to turn Iraq into a Supply-side incubator complete with murals of Ronald Reagan, pork BBQ and Tequila Sunrises at the Al-Rashid before going home to work on the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign, aka Smearfest 2004?
There was once a commercial with a tag line of "You've come a long way, baby". Yes, we certainly have. Not.
I wonder who will clean up the icky stuff from the wingnut brain explosions over this. The Talibangelicals will have a fucking field day with this one. Heh. Indeed.
