by Ghost of John Brown
When I say in the title that this is a hideous evil, I am not making lite of the situation. What will be talked about in this post is horrible, terrifying and sickening. For that reason, I will start the primary point of this discussion below the fold. In the last couple of days, I have spent time looking into Islam. One of the stories that I came across is about a practice called Bacha Bazi, which is practiced primarily in Afghanistan. I will warn you, that if you are easily disturbed, please do not read any farther. However, this is a topic of vital importance.
Bacha Bazi is literally translated as "boy play". That means exactly what it sounds like. It is the practice of essentially using young boys as sexual slaves for the pleasure of powerful men. In the twisted logic of Islam culture in Afghanistan, women are not allowed to dance in front of men. Parties are often just with other men. So if a powerful warlord wants a little excitement, they have a young boy, aged 12-14 put on women's clothes and dance for them. After the party, the owners take the boys to sleep with them.
One of the most gripping, sad and disgusting videos that I have ever watched is the brilliantly produced documentary for Frontline. Below is the video, or you can go to their website by clicking here.
Over and over in the documentary, you hear men being asked "what does your wife think about this" only to hear an answer of "it doesn't matter what she thinks". Obviously, if you are not a grown, powerful man, you have no voice, say or worth in this culture. A woman's opinion does not matter. A boy is just another piece of property. It is clear by watching the actions of these men how suicide bombers are selected. Grown men don't mind having a young boy blow themselves to bits any more than they mind sodomizing that same boy - just a piece of property that serves the interests of the cowards that monopolize them.
As I am writing this, my own 13 year old son came in my office to talk to me about something. I had trouble holding back tears wondering what kind fo sick, demented person could let their own son be trained by a pedophile like the monsters shown on the video to dance for men who will rape and torture them. I just really can't imagine the depravity.
It frustrates me beyond belief that we have a president who wants to engage these people as reasonable. A President that talks glowingly of the Islamic religion. To be fair, it drove me bananas to hear President Bush say that Islam is a "peaceful religion". We don't see peaceful religions subjugate their women. We don't see peaceful religions hack off someone's head in the name of their religion like they did with Nick Berg. We don't see peaceful religions con young boys into strapping explosives on themselves and blowing up a group of innocent people.
Sadly, I have never heard of this being talked about within discussions with our partners in Afghanistan. Do a search of "Bacha Bazi" and "Congress", see if you find anything. See if you can find anything where the President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai has spoken out on the issue.
It is time that our leaders stand up and demand that the Afghanistan government put an end to this horrific practice.
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