veryfemmeandantifascist:brazilia:Speaking of western freedom of speech, meet the artist Laila Al-Att

veryfemmeandantifascist:brazilia:Speaking of western freedom of speech, meet the artist Laila Al-Attar who drew a caricature of George Bush the father that was printed on tiles and put at the entrance of Al-Rashid hotel where senior Iraqi officials stayed and held their press conferences. Obviously, her way of expression pissed the Bush Administration off, so, in 1993 her house was bombed by American warplanes turning her and her entire family into shreds.for clarification the airstrike was ordered by Bill Clinton, her daughter survived but was blinded as a result.This story doesn’t seem to check out. The Wall Street Journal says:American officials say the notion they targeted Ms. Attar is absurd, and the Iraqis offer no evidence the U.S. deliberately aimed at the artist. The image of President Bush is signed by two marble-cutters who insist it’s all their own work. Even Ms. Attar’s family denies she had anything to do with it. But nearly everyone involved with art in Baghdad – primarily painters and sculptors who work from home studios and show their work at private galleries – repeats the allegation.“Leila is our martyr,” says Hany Ali, a 32-year-old painter. On his own initiative, he commemorated Ms. Attar’s death with a rendering of her face as a piece in a puzzle of ancient Iraqi civilizations…Mohsen and Majid Tabani, the brothers who shaped the portrait with pre-sanctions Italian marble and granite [in 1993], say that it was their idea and their design. “We did it from pictures of Bush we found in newspapers and magazines,” says Mohsen Tabani, 49. “We exaggerated Bush’s face, of course, to make sure he looked vicious enough – like an angry dog.”But of course, the story rings true, because American military supremacy is cruel and hypocritical.Six months later, President Clinton ordered a volley of Tomahawks to punish Iraq for its involvement in a foiled car bomb plot to kill Mr. Bush on a visit to Kuwait. (Iraq denied any involvement with the alleged plan.) The attack wrecked the foreign intelligence headquarters.“I think the missile that killed Leila was aimed at the intelligence place next door, but skipped through the wall,” says Suad al-Attar. “Leila and her husband were asleep. They ran outside, but the roof of the patio collapsed and crushed them together. They were still holding hands.”Her housekeeper also died. More on Layla al-Attar here. -- source link

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