23 June 2010

Around The World Hijab (Style?): Iraq

I've been putting off doing this post for a quite a while now because searching for photos to do with Iraqis is quite, um, traumatic, shall we say.. Especially when it comes to the photos graphically depicting how some of the 'hero' soldiers treat Iraqi women (and men..). Before I go off on a looong tangent in which I'll get people telling me that not all soldiers are the same and that I'm making generalized sweeping statements about the good Americans, I'll press on..
First, I kinda like this photo. The women are wearing traditional Iraqi overhead abayas on the right and the two on the left are wearing galabiyas:
Hmm, no doubt this next cliche photo was put together but one of the invading countries.. it makes it out as though women have been liberated and can suddenly vote. Reality check: Iraqi women were given the right to vote in 1980 - no thanks to any foreign troops that is.
Peering curiously:

Looking bored..

Ahh, more fruits of The Big Liberation Plan.. Keep them occupied with second hand American weapons and then sell their oil to the highest bidder (BP, who else?!)

And my actual favorite photo of all time (no sarcasm on this one lol) - taken in an Iraqi university of an Iraqi soldier.. There's something about it that I really like:

And finally:
Who's she pointing at, I wonder..

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I really dont see what you like about that university pic.

Maybe reminds you of your own time at university, or something.

Indonesian Prince

Anonymous said...

Oh, and did you hear about the recent $1 Trillion worth of minerals that were found in Afghanistan?

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=19728

I wonder what they'll do with that.

Indonesian Prince

StylishMuslimah said...

No, it doesn't remind me of my university lol. I just like the photo. As for the Afgan money, well it will probs go towards getting bp out of it's mess, isn't that what these wars are all about?!

Maryam said...

Thanx for posting these pictures sister. I like them.

Farnnay said...

isnt it funny that even as hijabis, we all have so many different styles. not one person wears hijab the same. :)

Arn sweetrider said...

i love the last one. you can see the fighting spirit is soooo deep inside them. women with weapon? nothing weird.

Anonymous said...

Only thing better than a Muslim woman in a burqa with a machine gun is a Muslim woman in a burqa that's been trained at Shaolin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMJ_b9uV1Lo&NR=1

Indonesian Prince

NeverEver said...

also in the first picture, the girl to the far left is just ADORABLE mashaAllah :-D

NeverEver said...

I think i like the university pick because in that moment of time, that soldier is NOT ogling those relatively scantily clad women alhamdulillah

StylishMuslimah said...

NeverEver: That so makes sense! You should be a psychologist haha

Anonymous said...

I LOVE LOVE LOVE your blog!!
I will defenitely visit again.
Keep up the good job, mashaAllah!

Renee said...

I like the first photo. The ones with the water containers on their heads. They all look so happy! I also like the picture of the women factory workers. They look happy about something too! (One thing that was evident about Iraqis that I learned from Desert Storm - they generally like to have their pictures taken.)

Reality Check: Women in the US won the right to vote in 1920. 1979 was the Convention of the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women that was adopted by the United Nations. This made it law, by any member of the UN that all those nations citizens (regardless of gender, ethniticity, property rights ect) had the right to vote. So consequently, member nations who did not have woman's sufferage in place prior to this convention; put it in place shortly after. But sufferage in general was a misnomer in Iraq until Saddam was removed, because just like in most communist countries; at any given "election" there was only one person on the ticket. So yes, the election of the Iraqi interm government was a huge change in the political life of the Iraqi people.

As for the weapons in the photos these women have - they are Soviet made. Most of the military hardware Iraq had / (apparently still has) came from the Soviets. Some of it came from France (just post WWII) and some of it from China. Everything with the exception of hand carried weapons was destroyed in either Desert Storm or the most recent invasion.

As for the picture of the soldier in the university. I like that picture too. I'm guessing he's probably looking at the journalist(s) taking the photos.