What Do You Think?
Nisreen Mansour al Forgani gave an interview to CNN and after watching it I don't know if I believe her or not. Oh, I believe she killed a bunch of Libyan rebels and I believe she is really sorry for it. I even believe she was raped by her commanders. I guess my wondering is whether she was really forced to be a part of this all female brigade or if she wanted to be. I also wonder if she was not so attractive if her story would still interest everyone. In case you have not heard the story, Nisreen is 19 and was captured by Libyan rebels. After she was captured she told her tale which she says starts with the divorce of her parents when she was younger to being forcibly taken away from her cancer battling mother to serve in the all female forces. She says that she was ordered to shoot rebel prisoners.
It was while she was an executioner that a gun battle erupted in the building she was using and during the battle tried to escape by jumping from a second story window and hurting her leg. Rebels captured her and brought her to the hospital where now she has gained worldwide fame. The rebels are going to put her on trial, but because of her fame, I wonder if anything will happen to her or should happen to her. Do you think anything should? Would your answer be different if this was a 19 year old guy or a 40 year old guy?
If she shot prisoners then none of the other details matter at all until the sentencing phase of the trial.
ReplyDeleteJust an observation that strikes me...those ladies have the same, penciled eyebrows.
ReplyDeleteI'm torn about this.
ReplyDeleteOn one hand I do know that rape is used in certain countries as a systematic means to control and force women into things that they wouldn't normally do such as being spies or executioners like this lady and that other sociopolitical issues factor in however, I'm sure people say a lot of things when they are caught and are going to be brough to justice, so I don't know.
I do know she won't get a fair trial in Libya. If she is a war criminal, then she should be tried at the Hague like the rest of them.
@Patty, you're right...I predict that Michael K on Dlisted.com is going to fall madly in love with those brows o' glory...
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, if it were the girl to her left (right side of the lower pic), nobody would give a rat's ass. Cuz she's just not so cute.
They look like the Kardashian sisters.
ReplyDelete@ Rose - that was darn funny! lol
ReplyDeleteRose made me snort
ReplyDeleteI think their eyebrows are atrocious.
ReplyDeleteOh, and apparently so do y'all!
ReplyDeleteLol, I think it's obvious which looks like which.
ReplyDeleteBut do they also whine through their nose like the K-asses
ReplyDeleteThanks for the laugh Rose!
ReplyDeleteShe's lucky they are giving her a trial. If Shi'ite law is the rule.
ReplyDeleteLots of children were forcibly turned into soldiers in other African nations. There's a documented history of it in places like Rawanda and Liberia. I don't know why it would be so hard to believe it in Libya too.
ReplyDeleteIf it's true, that since a fairly young age, she was trained and forced to be a "child soldier", I think she should be treated just as the other "child soldiers" were.
I'm about consistency.
I think in a lot of those places, it has been reported that the forced soldiers were kept in line with drugs - has she said anything about drugs?
ReplyDeleteActually, I don't care if she was forced into it or volunteered, how old she is, or what gender, putting a low-ranking soldier on trial for following orders isn't really fair, is it?
ReplyDeleteI think all of us here are far too priviledged, relatively speaking, to draw too many conclusions about this, especially from a CNN report. We are very, very lucky that we don't have to be forced into the position so many people in other countries face every day.
ReplyDeleteAnd rape as a weapon in war has been going on for a very long time and is very widespread.
Fawn, the Nazi regime proved once and for all that "I was just following orders" is never a valid excuse.
ReplyDeleteAnd obviously her case is only controversial because of her looks and the fact that she's female.
"I think all of us here are far too priviledged, relatively speaking, to draw too many conclusions about this, especially from a CNN report. We are very, very lucky that we don't have to be forced into the position so many people in other countries face every day."
ReplyDeleteThis. I think it's arrogant to even imagine what we'd do in this situation. Most of us have NO idea what it's like to be this young woman.
Co-sign with Jen. I thank my lucky stars every day that I have the freedoms and privileges that I do.
ReplyDeleteHold up, if we're "too privileged" to draw conclusions about this, then it should be left to people who are not? Like her fellow Libyans? Way to pass the buck!
ReplyDeleteThe question's a fair one: if she was not an attractive woman would anyone care if she was tried, convicted, and executed for killing helpless prisoners? (No.) Here's another question: why would you automatically believe her story? She's in a desperate situation now that her side's losing and desperate people say desperate things. Libya's had female forces for a long time - did they all get raped into service? Maybe. But maybe not. With the US having financed this little adventure in "rebel" promotion, it's NOT arrogant to ask these questions, and insist on answers.
I agree with Amartel and Jen. It is not out of place for us to ask questions and seek answers, especially considering we have sent so much American money to both sides of that equation. But, as Jen said, it is so hard for us to relate to most of the events all over the African continent, including Libya. We haven't lived under a dictator who definitely had the power to force families to put their children in the military.
ReplyDeleteWe live in a culture where freedom of choice is an ingrained national value, they have the opposite. The rank and file soldiers should be given the chance to testify, and possibly fair punishments, but the real trials should be focused on the decision makers and commanders, not the soldiers who accepted their lot in life (for whatever reason) and followed orders.
Evidently they're all about consistency too, considering the brows o' glory. The one on the right, although tough enough, has that Lauren Hutton kind of beauty thing going on. Nice earrings on the one on the left. I guess she's wearing her picture ID??
ReplyDeleteI think this type of thing was covered in the book Political Ponerology. We all have our own limits.
I agree with Jen.
ReplyDelete