About Le Anne Clausen Expertise I can answer questions about human rights work as a vocation, human rights as they pertain to the Middle East and/or Muslim world, particularly Palestine/Israel, Iraq, and Afghanistan. While in Iraq, I helped to investigate prisoner abuses, including those at Abu Ghraib. I can also answer questions on women's rights in the Middle East. I cannot give you legal advice.
Experience I was a human rights worker for four years in the Middle East, including Palestine, Israel, and Iraq. I also participated in a human rights delegation to Afghanistan in summer 2005. I have an MA in Christian-Muslim relations, with special study on women's issues; I also worked one year for an Arab women's grassroots human rights organization. I am currently working to build an interfaith peace-teams based human rights organization
Publications "Be the Healers" (considering next steps for addressing the Abu Ghraib scandal), July 2004 edition, "The Lutheran" magazine.
Also: www.christian-muslim.net; www.young-activist.blogspot.com; additional interviews and articles about me are available via Google search.
Question Thank you for the answer. What is Abu Ghraib scandal? Thats really sad that women were locked in their homes. Why did you have to come back to the U.S. and when do you plan on going back to Iraq? What do you do over there? Is it pretty? The pictures I have seen showed a lot of destruction, but that was awhile ago? How long do you think the war is going to last? Thank you so much for your time.
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Le Anne-
How long were you over there for and was it depressing? I imagine you'd have to be strong to be able to be over there. It makes me sad to hear rumors, or maybe even facts, that our troops are mistreating innocent people over there. Is it true that they are hurting the innocent people?
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I am not sure if this is really a question that you can answer, but I suppose I will give it a try. I was wonder why are we even at war? Is it because of the bombings? Is it for oil? I never watch the news or really keep up with things but now to graduate I have to write a 5 to 7 page paper on an arguementative topic and I have no idea where to even start. I have heard that a lot of the 9/11 things are a conspiracy. Like that it was set up or whatever. Is that true? If it is true why would they do that?
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Greetings Crystal,
Hmm...well, I can't really speak to whether there was a conspiracy behind 9/11, other than pointing you towards recent news articles on our current government administration ignoring the warnings something like this might happen; also that we made up our reasons for going into this war (the weapons of mass destruction, etc.). We did set up an incident which didn't actually happen, the Gulf of Tonkin incident, during the Viet Nam era to justify our military engagement in that war, and you may like to research that. We also made up stories during the 1991 Gulf War that Iraqi soldiers were ripping Kuwaiti babies out of incubators to justify our presence in that war. War is an extremely profitable venture for a country in general, and invading and occupying a country usually means that you can control their natural resources, or it can put your military bases and gunpower closer to other places you might like to control; in our case, our government would like to be closer to the Middle East and Asia. War also provides a common enemy to unite and focus a country against, to distract attention from controversies or disputes happening at home. Based on my experiences there, I believe these are the reasons we are currently engaged in this war.
Might I suggest you look at articles from The Nation, Sojourners, the Atlantic Monthly, (all magazines) and websites such as globalexchange.org, codepink.org, afsc.org, and cpt.org for more information? They will have useful articles and/or links, and suggestions for alternatives.
Good luck on your project!
peace,
Le Anne
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Greetings Crystal,
Thanks for your question. I really enjoyed my time in Iraq and especially the people there whom we met all over the country; I'd like to go back as soon as I'm able. We were treated very graciously from the time we arrived until the Abu Ghraib scandal, and even afterwards those who knew us still remained our friends. The most depressing things included how the people's trust was so thoroughly destroyed by our human rights abuses, and also how the status of women fell so far after the U.S. invasion and occupation. Many of my women friends who thought nothing of staying out late shopping or socializing before the war are now no longer working, and stay locked in their homes all day. It is true that Iraqi civilians are being harmed by our military, including women and children. The current rape/murder scandal in the press is not an unfamiliar incident to me. For more information, I would like to direct you to Christian Peacemaker Team's website and report archives at www.cpt.org, as well as their links to other Iraq-based human rights organizations. Hope this helps!
peace, Le Anne
Answer Hi Crystal, thanks for your question. The Abu Ghraib scandal was first publicized in the U.S. media in spring 2004, where Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison camp were being sexually mistreated as well as physically, and soldiers took souvenir photographs of this mistreatment. Our organization, Christian Peacemaker Teams, was investigating the very widespread abuses of Iraqi prisoners over the year previous to it hitting the news; we even sent reports of this to the media several months in advance, and the U.S. media were the only ones refusing to cover it. Meanwhile, journalists from all over the world were following up on the story long in advance. I'll refer you to the website archives for more information on the details, or Google News.
It is sad that the women are suffering so much now compared to before our invasion. I think that's something that never gets reported on. Civilian quality of life in general is far worse now than it ever was. You may like to look at Human Rights Watch www.hrw.org or Amnesty International www.amnestyusa.org for more details.
I loved Iraq; it is very beautiful as a country and as a people, who were very hospitable to us and I never left a home less than stuffed with food. It is also the ancient Mesopotamia, the Garden of Eden site and also the birthplace of Abraham, of Ninevah, and so rich with history throughout the centuries. I hope all that is not destroyed by this war. I left to go back to school; and I'd like to get back again as soon as I am able. I still have a few more years left to study.
It's hard to know how long this war is going to last. I think as long as we have troops over there and it is profitable for U.S. corporations for us to be there, there will be a war there. When we find more profitable and strategic places to invade, we'll leave there. It's not right, and so many civilians are hurt; this is why I will always be active in human rights, I guess. Peace to you and hope this is helpful. Do enjoy the recommended websites!
