Month: June 2009

* “Taliban respected me as they raped me”— and, like a good dhimmi:  “they allowed me to live…”

 An update on  Dutch journo Joanie de Rijke, who went to buy bananas from the Taliban, but instead got captured and raped: but not to worry, she says, it was all good: they ”They also respected me,” and emphasized “They are not monsters.”

Truth-challenged:

Andrew Bolt:

De Rijke – along with most of the Dutch political elite – is furious with Geert Wilders, (for telling the truth about the moral decline of our elites in parliament)  but not terribly convincing in denying his accusations of Stockholm syndrome:

De Rijcke (sic), 43, was kidnapped in November in the town of Sarubi, some 50 kilometres from Kabul. She was kept prisoner for six days and raped repeatedly by a Taliban leader, Ghazi Gul. But she wrote in a book; “I do not want to portray the Taliban as monsters, nor am I angry with Ghazi Gul. After all, he allowed me to live.”

De Rijcke now sounds a different note. ”I am indeed very angry with the perpetrators. I am furious with my abductors and rapists. All the things Wilders is saying are completely wrong,” said De Rijcke in Algemeen Dagblad Friday. “It is very, very painful. I am trying to recover from my trauma.”

Hmm. Her book cover picture alone does not seem to reflect a woman traumatised by an ordeal she’d rather forget:

                                What will she market next? The Taliban Kamasutra?

 Her interviews to promote it seemed remarkably relaxed, too, and utterly devoid of any anger or obvious sign of mental trauma. She instead talked freely of how “very religious” her captors were, how much “easier” the atmosphere in the camp was when she agreed to pray to Allah, how her captors had “told jokes” to relax her, how they’d done “nothing” physical to her, how they were engaged in a “religious” struggle”  (link to video, interview in Dutch, helaas)

*  Andrew Bolt asks the question: Is it possible to suffer fom Stockholm Syndrome when you already admire your captors before they even catch you?

Jawa report is onto it also:

It’s regularly contended that leftism is a mental health problem and, given de Rijke’s response to being savagely raped, it’s hard to dispute the contention. Denying reality is not healthy.

On the other hand, some have suggested that de Rijke suffered from Stockholm Syndrome and identified with her captors, instead of being blinded by an ultra-left ideological mindset. I’ll entertain the notion, however, experts contend that Stockholm Syndrome doesn’t usually apply to hostages who have been abused.