There isn’t much I can add to the numerous comments regarding the “brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating” of CBS News correspondent Lara Logan by a large group of men in Tahrir square in the moments after it was announced Hosni Mubarek had resigned.
Some of the comments around the net have been insightful, others horrid. We only can hope that Ms. Logan has a speedy physical and psychological recovery.
Yes, it’s absolutely true that rape and gang rape could happen anywhere, and have happened with shocking frequency particularly in war zones. Whether it was Soviet troops in the aftermath of the conquest of Germany, or various African troops in the conquest of tribal villages, the use of rape as a means of exerting political power has been all too common and worthy of condemnation and action. Ms. Logan’s native South Africa has a particularly notorious problem of rape being used as a means of societal revenge.
There is no single racial, ethnic, religious or political group which uniquely owns such infamy.
But we also cannot ignore that while it could happen anywhere, it did happen in Tahrir Square at a moment of national celebration in the open and in a public place, directed at someone who must have been viewed as a symbol of the West.
This is a fact those who glamorize the “Arab Street” have yet to deal with.
Update: Howard Kurtz:
“But the sexual assault and beating that Logan endured underscores that the Middle East remains a particularly dangerous place for women. And it is hard to imagine that this was some random attack, that members of the mob didn’t realize that she was an American television correspondent.”
Update No. 2: The NY Post is reporting that the crowd shouted “Jew, Jew” as the men attacked Logan:
“60 Minutes” correspondent Lara Logan was repeatedly sexually assaulted by thugs yelling, “Jew! Jew!” as she covered the chaotic fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo’s main square Friday, CBS and sources said yesterday…
A network source told The Post that her attackers were screaming, “Jew! Jew!” during the assault. And the day before, Logan had told Esquire.com that Egyptian soldiers hassling her and her crew had accused them of “being Israeli spies.” Logan is not Jewish.
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Comments
Horrible as the act was, and is, this is another example of the blinders that the MSM has relating to sending female reporters into such a situation. Only men should have been sent; not because of the potential for violence, but rather because Islam teaches, as fundamentalists now preach it, that women are not to appear in public without proper covering, without a male family member, without a specific purpose approved by the imams. Therefore, sending female reporters, especially ones who are dressed in Western attire, and are acting in a manner that Muslims find offensive, would be considered, by men under the current teachings, to be guilty of provoking the assault.
Why on earth would anyone not see this, considering that women are being executed by hanging or stoning for being raped?! Egypt is no different than most Muslim countries; however, the blind Leftists who somehow delude themselves that their female reporters will be respected, don't recognize this.
I pray for her recovery, and that she will be able to survive and thrive after this horrifying assault. I also pray that these delusional Leftists who run the state-controlled media today will get a clue. Females are considered sub-human chattel under Islam. That is not "intolerant hate speech" – it is truth. Fact. There are numerous examples to substantiate my assertion.
(BTW – I wonder if those who assaulted Anderson Cooper did so because he was a reporter, or because they believed he is gay. Yet another example of Muslim intolerance for the West and Western culture – we consider gays as acceptable in our society, which is anathema to Islam.)
"There is no single racial, ethnic, religious or political group which uniquely owns such infamy."
True, but only a few of them seem to cheer it on. Or prosecute the victim.
If I remember correctly our downed female pilots in Iraq were sexually abused by the Iraqis. I also have it on good authority that various Arab groups contracted to our bases in the ME had to have single protected sleeping quarters for the men. The protection included pig fencing and bobwire. They were getting so many men with rear end injuries from being raped they had to do it.
Islamics are known for rape from Scandinavia to Africa. It should be no surprise they are raping women whenever they get the chance.
Ms. Logan was brutally attacked. Anderson Cooper was attacked. Brian Williams and Katy Couric feared for their safety and returned to the U.S.
Strange that they sought refuge in the land of the latently violent tea-baggers. The mainstream media's crystal ball was finally right … they finally found their violent mob protesting for liberty.
I'm having trouble with the notion that gang-raping/beating a famous woman during a public celebration in full view of authorities and the world media "could happen anywhere".
Did anyone watch CBS Evening News last night to see if there was any further coverage of the story?
I assume not.
This terse statement is all that is posted on their website, and it says, in pertinent part:
"There will be no further comment from CBS News and correspondent Logan and her family respectfully request privacy at this time."
One certainly has to respect her concerns, and for reasons beyond the most obvious, including the fact that no reporter should want to become a part of the story.
But the fact is that they all were.
I really have to wonder . . . is this an "easy way out" for CBS News?
. . . CBS chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan was covering the jubilation in Tahrir Square for a "60 Minutes" story when she and her team and their security were surrounded by a dangerous element amidst the celebration. It was a mob of more than 200 people whipped into frenzy" on the 11th — the day Mubarak fell?
Who constituted this "dangerous element" this "mob of more than 200" who perpetrated the attack? Was it largely composed of the members of an organization? Were any of them arrested by members of the military? Were any of them known to any CBS employees?
Obviously, several people at CBS know a whole lot more than is contained in that brief statement!
And, because CBS News appears to be refusing to do anything more on it, is anyone at any of the other networks going to attempt to follow up on the story, including by seeking interviews with CBS News employees who were at the scene?
If they don't, are they dropping the ball?
What is the Administration's official position? Has State demanded that the Egyptian Army, which is now in charge, seek the arrest of the perpetrators of this crime?
Firstly: I hope the lady gets the help she'll need to recover. There's a reason such assault is used as a weapon– it's incredibly powerful.
"Harassment" is so bad that a group started a "text in reports" thing to map them.
40% of those women surveyed were sexually assaulted.
Quote:
Al Jazeera adds:
Many Egyptian women have stories, usually branded as "shameful" and "embarrassing", of public harassment and even outright sexual assault in public.
…In October 2006, Wael Abbas, a human rights activist, captured video images of throngs of men pulling scarves off veiled women and ganging up on two or three women at a time in downtown Cairo.
One picture even showed a group of girls taking sanctuary in a downtown store, crowds of men waiting at the door as a number of police officers seemed unable to contain the pandemonium.
This SHOULD HAVE been an obvious risk–I guess the optics were just too good, or something.
Blanking morons that assume folks are like them in their cultural assumptions while denying human nature….
Professor, I just saw your update from the NY Post!
Was CBS actually going to be covering that up with their brief statement as well?
If not, then why was no mention of it not included in their "final" statement?
What other possible reasons might they have had for saying "no further comment" from CBS News?
And, one has to wonder, where's Katie on all of this official network silence?
Professor Jacobson said, "Logan is not Jewish."
Are you sure about that, Professor?
The "Arab Street" operates by the one-drop rule.
Rape: Nothing to do with Islam?
Fjordman – A blog about Islam, Scandinavian affairs and global politics
The Norwegian Government – Covering Up Immigrant Rapes
Fjordman – A blog about Islam, Scandinavian affairs and global politics
"A common punishment for girls who rebel, in the worst case, is the so-called "tournante" – gang rape. Samira Bellil was the first to describe this phenomena in her book "Dans l'enfer des tournantes" (in gang-rape hell). She had been the victim of three gang rapes before she found the courage, after psychotherapeutic treatment, to tell her story."
"Dans l'enfer des tournantes" (in gang-rape hell)
Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer discusses an often hidden aspect of jihad: rape.
Jihad Watch
I've seen this story for a few days now, and it is indeed horrifying, but I haven't seen any details of what exactly the attack was. I'm not interested for any ghoulish or perverted reason, I'm just trying to figure out the level of violation that occurred. If she was manhandled and groped by a crowd of men, that's horrible. If she was actually raped by someone in the midst of a crowd of people who did nothing to stop it, that's horrifying. If she was repeatedly raped by more than one man taking turns in the middle of a crowd who cheered the animals on, that's an unimaginably horrific testament to a level of degradation in a culture that would allow such a thing to occur.
I'm not a Polyanna, I don't believe that American or Western human beings are any better or worse than those from other parts of the world, but I find it really, really hard to conceive of circumstances in this country where a woman could be dragged into the heart of a mob and raped repeatedly by the mob without someone, hell, many people in the mob itself, intervening to put a stop to it.
CBS now states that she was not raped. I think most of us assumed "brutal and sustained sexual assault" equals forcible penetration. 20 minutes of being pinched, taunted, clothes pulled at or off is horrible enough, but the CBS original statement was more provocative than necessary.
Lee, where did you see that "CBS now states that she was not raped."
The only quote to that effect I could find was made anonymously to the Wall Street Journal by a person "familiar with the matter", which is certainly vague enough to cover people who were not present. And he or she was not identified as being with CBS.
The separation and assault lasted for roughly 20 to 30 minutes, said a person familiar with the matter, who added that it was "not a rape." A CBS News spokesman declined to comment beyond the statement.
In the context of the Journal story, however, it seems pretty clear that the CBS spokesman was not commenting beyond their original statement, as that statement had been quoted at length in the two prior paragraphs of the WSJ story — i.e., the spokesman may not have been responsing at all to the quote by the anonymous person.
I certainly hope the anonymous quote is true, and, if so, that would certainly validate what you said about the original CBS statement . . . a huge overstatement.
According to one other story I read, CBS only issued their original statement (four days after the incident) because they found out that AP was on to the story of the assault, and was going to run with it.
I suspect over time that more of the back story regarding bad judgment by the CBS News crew will emerge. Maybe 20/20 hindsight is best, but it is pretty clear there was woefully inadequate security, particularly given the fact that this CBS News team had already experienced a few very tense "run-ins" during the time period.
@LukeHandCool – the quote was from the linked article. It was not Prof. Jacobson saying it; read the linked article.
@wasdave – you must not be keeping up with the news of teens in our country today, or the mysogyny of the Muslim society. Watch The Stoning of Soraya M and read about the aftermath of those arrested in Iran after the protests. You won't doubt a public raping of a Western female with (possibly) 200 men cheering. (I don't have links now, but can provide if needed.)
I read over at Patterico that it is "sexist" to hold the opinion that sending a woman in to report on a protest in Egypt is wrong. The person writing that is not a woman, but I am.
Yes, she had the guts to take on the assignment, but was it wise to send her? And to send her in without proper head covering and in Western attire? Being a member of the media made her a target, as reports of other media members being attacked, property damaged, Al Jazeera being shut down, etc. show. There are times when wisdom and prudence – dare I say it? moral judgement – need to be exercised. To some degree, the CBS news team is liable for her safety.
Like a war zone, this was a dangerous assignment. Mobs can get ugly. But that was not their perception – it was a celebration of democracy! – so therefore, it was "safe." To send a woman into a mob of reportedly 1 million+ mostly Muslim males – is that prudent or wise? I question the PC mentality that says "yeah, sure!"
Believing such PC garbage leads to what @Foxfier says, "Blanking morons that assume folks are like them in their cultural assumptions while denying human nature…." We assume that Egyptians hold the same values as Westerners. We are the fools, and Lara Logan is a victim of the PC riddled CBS, IMHO.
And, to top it off, if this was an act of anti-Semitism: that needs to be shouted loud and long to expose this hatred. Such hate needs to be exposed by the MSM, if true. Not holding my breath, though.
The NY Post's comment "Logan is not Jewish" is per se grotesque, just like when straight people are gaybashed, and people say, "But he's not gay"…
@DINORightMarie:
I know she isn't Jewish. Just getting a little dig in at the romanticized "Arab Street." But I'd bet it really is the one-drop rule with them.
@DINO. Reread what I wrote. I said "in this country", meaning in the US. Youth gangs are not a mob of hundreds of thousands, and what happens in Iran is immaterial to the statement I made.