Horrifying Time Magazine Cover of Mutilated Woman

I was all set when I got home from work today to sit down at my desk and blog about an entirely different subject. But I sorted through my mail first—and made the mistake of looking at the cover of this week’s Time Magazine (August 9, 2010 issue).

First I saw her eyes. For a split second I thought of the famous National Geographic cover of the Afghan girl with the haunting eyes. Then I looked at the rest of her face. I almost retched. She had no nose. Her beautiful face was maimed. The photo made me sick to my stomach.

I knew right away it was some extremist Islamic group. Who else is so barbaric as to butcher a woman’s face? I flipped through the pages of the magazine to see what had happened to this young woman.

She was also from Afghanistan. She was married and lived with her in-laws. They abused her so badly she thought they would kill her. So she ran away to save her life.

As punishment for this crime, the Taliban regime ordered her nose and ears cut off. She’s 18years old!

I couldn’t read anymore I was so sickened. There was also another photo of her in the interior of the magazine but I couldn’t look at it. I did not read how she is doing now. I hope she escaped from Afghanistan. She looks like she needs medical attention badly (possible infection, breathing problems, pain issues?).

If not, it’s times like these that I wish I were filthy rich so I could call up Blackwater and hire them to snatch this woman (and her family—not the in-laws) and bring them to the U.S. (Or another safe location.) I’d also hire the best plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills to fix her face. I cannot image the psychological horror she has had to endure.

I also cannot image the sick bastards and their unfathomable depth of misogyny that comprise the Taliban and who dare to call themselves “holy men.” They are a perversion of God. They are demonic. They do not belong in the civilized world.

The Taliban needs a good old-fashioned plague heaped upon their heads. How about a swarm of locusts twenty miles wide and ten miles high eating them for breakfast? Works for me.

I also thought about the U.S. soldiers fighting in Afghanistan (and Iraq, too), who are risking their lives every day. I don’t believe in war. Benjamin Franklin said, “There is no bad peace and no good war.”

But I’d like to profoundly thank the U.S. soldiers for their heroic efforts in helping to make a difference for a better and safer country for the regular Afghan and Iraqi citizens.

I don’t pray much anymore. I started thinking of it as institutional begging. And also repetitive. (How many times can you pray for the same stuff? I’m pretty sure God heard me the first time and hasn’t forgotten.)

But I will say a prayer tonight for Aisha. It will go something like this:

Dear God,

Please help Aisha get her face fixed and have a good life. And PLEASE don’t let this happen to anyone else. Thank you.