How do they deal? Valium

[edschweppe]

Apparently, Oprah Winfrey's show yesterday was about what it's like to be a thirty year old woman in various parts of the world. One of the people she interviewed was from Baghdad:

What is it like being a 30-year-old living in a war zone? Sabah, a writer living in Baghdad, has lived through three wars and the death of her father and brother under Saddam Hussein's regime. She says the situation for women in Iraq has never been worse than it is now.

"I mean, welcome to the real world," she says. "For me, as an Iraqi woman, I don't feel safe. Anyone can attack me. Anyone can rape me. Anyone can even kill me, you know? We are full of fear. Iraqi women are losing their freedom instead of gaining freedom, because there is a lack of security. Now we're supposed to be free. But now we are more afraid."

Most Iraqi people are living in misery, and Sabah says when her life became unbearable, she turned to Valium for escape. In Iraq, Valium is sold without a prescription and costs only 20 cents a bottle. Sabah says the constant state of fear is driving more and more women to the highly addictive drug.

http://www.oprah.com/tows/slide/200410/20041006/slide_20041006_111.jhtml

Isn't that just f*****g ducky?

(from the Daily Kos)