Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Gay Men and Women to be Executed in Iraq

So, for the last six years, we have poured out in Iraq our national treasure, including the tax dollars of gay men and women, their families, and their friends for what? It would seem that we have done so to assist the Iraqi government execute Iraqi gay men and women. Reports say that 128 gay persons are awaiting execution in Iraq for the "crime" of homosexuality and that Iraq intends to start these executions in "batches of 20" starting in this next week.

Activists are calling on the government of the United Kingdom, international human rights groups, and the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva to intervene. The report says that Amnesty International has called on the Iraqi government to make public all information about each of the detained individuals.

Our State Department's human rights functions are housed in the Office of the Under Secretary for Democracy and Global Affairs. At the moment, the position is unfilled, but this is a list of telephone numbers of employees at that department. Maybe we should let them know about what's going on under America's watch in Iraq:

Under Secretary
Under Secretary Vacant 7250 202-647-6240
Personal Assistant (vacant) 7250 202-647-6704
Executive Assistant Eva Weigold Schultz 7250 202-647-7609
Senior Adviser vacant 7253 202-647-4096
Senior Advisor Cathy Blank 7253 202-647-2990
Senior Advisor Lisa Sherman 7250 202-647-7196
Special Assistant Kate Friedrich 7253 202-647-1190
Senior Advisor Sam Patten 7253 202-647-9108
Special Assistant Daniel Rochberg 7250 202-647-1038
Special Assistant Carl Schonander 7253 202-647-8703
Special Assistant Kelley Currie B-864 202-647-9804
Special Assistant Jeannette Windon B-864 202-647-9810
Staff Assistant Laurie Mitchell 7250 202-647-8877
Staff Assistant Agnes Liptak 7250 202-647-6205
Intern Justin Sosne 7253 202-647-1189

Update: Here's the link to the story from UK Gay News. Here's the link to the the Iraqi LGBT Blog. The story is on both web sites.

Update: Please don't forget what happened in Iran four years ago. The blood of those boys still cries to me from their graves.

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