Today Juan Cole tells me, among other tidbits, that reported rapes are up in Iraq. The keyword is reported.
When Saddam’s sons and his thugs raped women no one tracked the numbers.
Luckily, local theocrats have some good advice that will improve the situation for potential victims of sexual violation:
“These incidents of abuse just prove what we have been saying for so long,” said Sheikh Salah Muzidin, an imam at a central mosque in Baghdad. “That it is the Islamic duty of women to stay in their homes, looking after their children and husbands rather than searching for work – especially with the current lack of security in the country.
There is a long road ahead. Mr. Cole seems to think the situation is hopeless, or at least that’s my initial impression. I’m going to have to follow the man more closely, now that we’ve been introduced.