Iraqi Refugees Turn To Prostitution

Many Women In Syria Are Forced To Sell Their Bodies To Support Their Families

(CBS)  It's after midnight, and the action on the Jermana strip on the edge of Damascus is just picking up. CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer reports that this might seem an unlikely place to look for war refugees from Iraq, but inside — beyond the musicians and the floor show — they are there.

These refugees are selling the only thing they have left of any value: their bodies. In the clubs, the waiters act as dealmakers between clients and the Iraqi prostitutes.

This is the Arab world, where a woman's honor means everything. The fact that so many Iraqi women refugees are turning to prostitution is a mark of their desperation.

Suad fled the war Damascus two years ago with a son to support.

"For me, it is like being raped. There is no desire. It's something I have to do for the money," she says.

They need money because refugees aren't allowed to hold down legitimate jobs in Syria.

Some prostitutes — unwilling to be seen in clubs — work discreetly out of apartments in the cramped Iraqi refugee ghettos of Damascus.

They have no choice, explains May Barazi of the United Nations, because they've lost their husbands or fathers in the war.

Many women "are the only income providers to the family," Barazi says. "They had to become prostitutes."

Farah left her family behind in Baghdad and dreads the day they find out where she is and what she is doing.

"I would commit suicide if they found out, or my family would kill me. But there's no other solution. We are practically dead," she says.

The younger the flesh, the higher the price. Some of the Iraqi refugee prostitutes are still in their early teens.

"This isn't any life for a 15-year old. She should be playing. I'm sure she feels dead inside. Thee is nobody to help these girls," Farah says.

There is no one to help, but a growing stream of men from all over the Middle East is eager to prey on the most desperate refugees from the war.

[godofredo29]

I blame myself.

[skobru]

If you voted for Bush and his war and support it, you helped to create the Iraqi prostitutes. You helped to create all the dead, tortured and crippled. All those good moral people that voted for Bush and his war created these poor women... the widows and orphans with a sick insane war without good reason.

[kstrisha]

Quote:

If you voted for Bush and his war and support it, you helped to create the Iraqi prostitutes.

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How true.

[karlimhof]

I wonder if the neocon war planners took this into their consideration before pushing for this war. It is one of the many tragic bylines of the death and destruction unleashed by Bush & his neocon "strategic planners" ... We as Americans should feel deep shame for the actions of this unbalanced government.

[exusmcsgt]

"The fact that so many Iraqi women refugees are turning to prostitution is a mark of their desperation."

Possibly this is what Cheney was refering to when he spoke of our "terrific successes" in Iraq last week.......

[missmyhubby]

Hello--Iraqi government?? Where is all the money Dubya shipped over on big pallets and just let corrupt people have?? Let's give all the money to the militants and insurgents...no need to help the common Iraqi...oh please!

[bigwhtpony]

So what's the problem? Didn't I just read here that prostitution should be legalized? I could have sworn I just read that on Monday.

Besides, everyone knows it's all Bush, CHaney, and that Karl Rove's fault. Oh, and that Halliburtin, too....can't leave him out.

I wonder if it's painful for libs to go thru life as such morons!

[yo_marc]

If you voted for Bush and his war and support it, you helped to create the Iraqi prostitutes. You helped to create all the dead, tortured and crippled. All those good moral people that voted for Bush and his war created these poor women... the widows and orphans with a sick insane war without good reason.
Posted by skobru

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Okay... going with that: Who's to say those who did not vote for him wouldn't have blood on 'their' hands right now?

[bigwhtpony]

You can have my share, bigdarkie. There's a reason why all those jihadist's 72 virgins are still virgins! :)

[ginadowler]

The thought of what these poor women are being forced to do, risking everything just to feed themselves and thier children shames us all. Even if we didn't agree with the war, we collectivly caused this. The pain is not just in iraq, its spread like cancer
angelina

[agnim]

"Okay... going with that: Who's to say those who did not vote for him wouldn't have blood on 'their' hands right now?
Posted by yo_marc at 09:56 AM : Feb 08, 2007"

It is more intelligent and practical to go with WHAT IS that what might have been.

The destruction that we've allowed ourselves to be a part of in Iraq in this day and age is just ming bogglingly horrible.

Those unfortunate females have my sympathy. The men have failed them badly.

And why can't the Syrians open their society to their fellow Arabs. They are just as despicable to let those women surrender the most valuable thing they have -- their dignity.

[markparsec]

I find it rather ironic that we are focusing upon the Iraqi women that have turned to prostitution when hundreds of thousands of American women are turning to prostitution as we lose the war on drugs. I would also venture to guess that many Iraqi women had turned to prostitution during Hussein's reign. Their prostition is their choice, not America's fault.