Suspect sketch. Who’s this hater?

Last night I looked up “acid attack” on google to find out if what happened to poor Bethany Storro in Vancouver, Washington had happened before. Unfortunately it has. A lot. Look in Cambodia and other parts of SE Asia, Pakistan, India, Iran, Iraq and other places where women are/used to be property and you will see these types of attacks. They’re reserved for pretty women who have spurned someone. See the attack of the model for instance in which she didn’t want to go out with a guy so he made sure she wouldn’t go out with anyone else here, either.Vancouver police have their hands full. If this was one of those attacks–in this case a “black” woman calling out to a “pretty girl” and then throwing acid in her face in retribution (for what we don’t know) then we’ve got more than a simple random act going on here. We’ve got a cultural problem and it needs to stop right now.
The left love the idea of “hate” crimes, where one sub group of people is treated to more rights under the law than others. Their attackers treated more harshly than attackers of others, say, white people. But we might be having a little cultural war going on in Vancouver–in the greater Portland area and we’d better get hip fast.
Below are some excerpts from stories and a small sampling of pictures of women to whom this retribution has been taken out. These happened almost exclusively in Hindu and Muslim countries. So: what are we going to do about this? Here’s a sampling of more pictures of these women.

MYSORE: While Hina Fathima, on whom her husband poured acid recently, is struggling for life in K.R. Hospital, Dr. Mahalakshmi, another acid victim, is battling for justice.
Dr. Mahalakshmi’s former landlord threw acid on her seven years ago. After losing a legal battle at the lower court, she moved the High Court recently. She said “granting of bail leniently to the accused” was responsible for losing her case in the lower court.

Oeng Sodine (L), a 18-year-old victim of an acid attack, rests near Som Bunnarith (R), a 39-year-old fellow victim, while receiving treatment at the Cambodia Acid Survivors Charity in Kandal province, west of Phnom Penh February 25, 2010. Cambodia’s government is drafting a law to specifically target crimes involving acid attacks amidst a rise in such attacks this year. The government is reviewing similar laws in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh to draft tough sentences including life imprisonment for these crimes, police officials said. REUTERS/Chor  

“People always ask me what happened,” she says. “And many people say this happens to girls who are not good. They say this happens to girls who are bad. I feel depressed when I hear this, even though I know it’s not my fault and I try not to let it get me down.”

An otherwise bright, talkative schoolgirl, Monira gets noticeably quiet when asked about the attack that changed her life. “It was very painful … khoop jaltai [intense burning], khoop jaltai,” she repeats in her native Bengali. “I can remember screaming and screaming until they took me to hospital. There, the doctors gave me an injection and it became a little bit cool.”