"Saddam's Wars Scar a Generation of Women"

[GreenPartyVoter]

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - When Saddam Hussein's regime executed Nawal's brother, it also destroyed her future.

For more than 20 years, Nawal was shunned by potential suitors, fearful that any association with her family would put them in danger.

Now 40, Nawal falls into a less obvious group of Saddam's victims - the daughters, sisters and widows of men who ran afoul of the ousted regime and who are trapped in a deeply traditional society that considers women over 30 as unmarriageable.

"Do I look like an old woman?" Nawal wondered with a shy smile. "I feel inside that I'm still young, but it's very sensitive and difficult to be 40 and not married in Iraq."

http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20040718/D83TARS00.html