Did you listen to her story? She was given to be some man's wife - by her mother - at the age of 11. I thought you said that you were against child abuse? That you were against the sexual abuse of children, Luddly? Did I misunderstand you? Did you mean only for American children and not the children of Yemen? The girl states in her testimony that her 14 yr old aunt could no longer take the abuse of her own "husband" beating her with chains and making her life awful - she set herself on fire and took her own life.
Where is your compassion? Is it only reserved for American people? What good is that? The world is bigger than America. Much, much bigger. This little girl spoke out with great courage - she spoke the truth from her heart and she is to be commended for it. She died but her message will live on. The question is - will people listen? Will anyone care enough to speak up for her now that she can no longer speak up for herself? We are to defend those who cannot defend themselves by speaking up for them.
First of all, 11 year old children do not talk extemporaneously in the way she did. It wasn't 'her' story; it was a speech she was fed by someone else, written by someone else.
Second, where is the verification that this video is real, that the girl in the video is speaking the truth about her situation, that the whole thing isn't just propaganda? For the very most part, if young girls like her are given into marriage, they are sold, and they are sold because their parents are poor. Poor families in Thailand have been selling their kids into prostitution for as long as I can remember: where is the outrage? Oh, and by the way, the Thais sell their kids, for the most part, to Westerners. Why are you so self righteous about Muslims when our people are doing it too?
I'm not 'defending' Muslims, so don't jump on that bandwagon. I am trying to impose a bit of reality and sanity on this discussion.
For one thing, though it does happen that young girls are 'given' (for a price) to older men for marriage, it is not common among the 7.5 BILLION Muslims on the planet. It happens in some cultures and to a limited extent.
These are poor families selling children in order to survive, the same way families in Thailand have done for decades and continue to do. It is not part of Islam for these people to do this: it is cultural, not religious, and Muslims have as many different cultures as do Christians.
Only an unfeeling, leftist, islamonazi, apologist couldn't see the emotion in that girls eyes.
Eleven year old girls, especially in a part of the world where people are poor and poorly educated, do not speak at length, lucidly and articulately, on any given subject, much less such a controversial one.
I do agree very much and intensely that marrying young girls off is wrong, especially if the husband is much older and does not wait until she is sexually mature to have sex with her. Arranged marriages are a part of many cultures, but not with children or not consummated until the girl is sexually mature. This is a very wrong situation, marrying off or selling your child, but, again, it is in areas of the world where there are very poor and poorly educated people, such as Thailand, for example, and other places, including, as in the OP, Yemen. This is not, however, done throughout the ME.
Anyway, someone coached this child and is using her as a propaganda tool. I agree with their point of view, except for using a child this way; however, they are most likely exaggerating the extent of the problem. It does not happen throughout Muslim culture, only in a minority of environments.
I think the main thing this video does is give a skewed slant on the situation: it isn't fully honest. But that's exactly what propaganda does.