'How the US army protects its trucks – by paying the Taliban

Insurance, security or extortion? The US is spending millions of dollars in Afghanistan to ensure its supply convoys get through – and it's the Taliban who profit'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/13/us-...

Insurance, security or extortion? The US is spending millions of dollars in Afghanistan to ensure its supply convoys get through – and it's the Taliban who profit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/13/us-...

No one should miss this video:

http://xrl.us/bf29mb

Look to the end ( 10 min.)

( I'm glad I'm im filled with the Holy Spirit so I can learn the truth directly from God and his son Jesus Christ.)

Ohio authorities to whom Rifqa has been returned from Florida where she fled to safety, are even punishing frightened Rifqa – not allowing her to use the internet or use the phone! And deliberately isolating this young girl from her friends and those who are deeply concerned about her safety and want to help her.

Why are Ohio authorities acting as if America is an Islamic country???

British police and the organizations in Britain who help victims such as Rifqa Bary, would be deeply shocked at American authorities' shocking treatment of Rifqa.

http://WWW.GUARDIAN.CO.UK
Ending the silence on 'honour killing'
I wish I could get involved with the support groups and help but you know, I'm just a coward.”

Having first walked out of an abusive marriage at the age of 17 and then from a hostile family who had had a meeting to discuss whether or not she should die, Zena does not lack courage but she is still very scared.
She has every reason to be. Her Bangladeshi-born mother had suggested that Zena might be allowed to poison herself rather than be murdered for bringing shame on the family.

“I'm sorry to be so cloak-and-dagger but you never know what they might be capable of, I know there are plenty of young men who would love to play bounty hunter just for a bit of kudos in the community.”

Police estimate at least 12 are dying each year in the UK but others will be hidden – forced suicides and murders made to look like suicide are widely believed to take place undetected. Women aged 16-24 from Pakistani, Indian and Bangladeshi backgrounds are three times more likely to kill themselves than the national average for that age and it is impossible to tell what pressures some must have been under.

When it opened its helpline in April 2008, Karma Nirvana received 4,000 calls in the first year and is now taking 300 calls a month from people under threat of honour-based violence, often linked to forced marriage.

After the government's forced marriage unit was set up in April last year, it received 5,000 calls and rescued 400 victims in the first six months.

They also face being hunted down, said Detective Chief Inspector Gerry Campbell of the Metropolitan police. “It's not uncommon to have bounty hunters out hunting down young people who have left forced marriages or fled from a family where they are at risk. It's rare for [one person] to take unilateral action, it's all done in consultation and there is logistical support and collusion in the extended community,” he said.

…Banaz Mahmod, who made contact with police five times to say she thought her life was in danger but always drew back from pressing charges. Banaz, 19, a Kurd, was murdered by family members at her home in Mitcham, Surrey, in 2006.

She had been raped and beaten by the older man she had been forced to marry, and had left him. Her elder sister, Bekhal, had also left home to escape their father's violence and the extended family was beginning to regard Mahmod Mahmod as a man who had lost control of his daughters. The shame became so unbearable that he held a meeting to discuss killing his daughter and her new boyfriend.

“I'm confident that no victim will ever be turned away in London and that officers know that to do nothing is not an option.

“Honour is about a collection of practices used by the family to control behaviour, to prevent perceived shame, but there's no honour in murder, rape, or kidnapping and with 25% of the [cases] we are seeing involving a person under 18: this is a child abuse issue too. The simple message is: If you do this you will be caught and brought to justice.

The behaviour of women seen to have dishonoured their families can be as harmless as wearing make-up or talking to boys. One suspected murder is believed to have been caused by a girl having a love song dedicated to her on a community radio show.

Diana Nammi, who runs the Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation in London: For someone to be killed for their make-up or clothes or having a boyfriend or for refusing to accept a forced marriage is so brutal and unacceptable.

In Pakistan the practice of honour killing – called karo-kari – sees more than 10,000 women die each year.

For Zena, she has her life but does not have her freedom. “When I first ran away I would go to the library and read loads of spy books to pick up tips. You have to teach yourself how to best keep hidden,” she said. “My life is about keeping a very low profile now and about looking over my shoulder, but at least I know I am alive and I grieve for those poor girls who are not.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/oct/25/h...