Is This Honor?

In Basra Iraq, the term Honor Killing has become prevalent again. It is when a woman is murdered because she has caused dishonor to the family name. I remember a few years ago when the same kind of behavior occurred in a nearby city. The father murdered his daughter because she brought shame to the family. He skipped the country and I'm not sure if he was ever caught by the police. This kind of behavior according to the news report has become more prevalent since last year.

I'm not sure what is more unbelievable, that someone would actually want to kill someone because they had somehow dishonored their family name, or that it only costs $100 dollars to hire a hit man in Iraq, or that only 5 of 81 honor killings have been convicted this year in Iraq.

You've would have thought that with the removal of the Hussein regime that this kind of behavior would have been stemmed. Apparently not. It just goes to show you how much different our world is.

In the US, this kind of behaviour would have brought shame to the family, but in Iraq, this kind of behavior gets congratulated by the police for handing out religious justice.