MISS IRAQ FLEES A JOB THAT CALLS FOR COURAGE MORE THAN JUST BEAUTY
>From Daniel McGrory in Baghdad
The Times
April 13, 2006
IT IS proving as hard to find a beauty queen as it is to find a prime
minister in Iraq.
Exhausted by the time their politicians are taking to agree on a
leader, the country thought it had at least succeeded in choosing a
Miss Iraq.
But last night the people’s choice — Tamar Goregian, 23, a blonde
student with photogenic pout — was in hiding in neighbouring Jordan,
having hastily renounced her crown after death threats from Islamic
extremists.
Only six days ago she was revelling in her victory, blinking back
tears of joy as she told admirers crammed into a Baghdad nightclub
that “maybe beauty is the final step to end the violence here and
preach peace after all”.
Organisers had hoped that her appearance at the Miss Universe contest
in Los Angeles in July would show the world a different image of
Iraq. By yesterday they were searching for a replacement after
fundamentalists denounced Miss Goregian, an Armenian Christian, as
“the Queen of Infidels”. The two runners-up, both Muslim, swiftly
declined the crown.
Last night it was left to the fourth-placed contestant, Silva Sahagian,
23, another Christian, to assume the mantle. “Our politicians should
have more to worry about than whether Miss Iraq should go to America,”
she said. “I cannot believe the extremists would do anything to a
beauty queen.” A civil engineering student in Baghdad, she added:
“I want to show the world Iraq has beauty and education and talent
instead of just bloodshed.”
Staging the world’s most dangerous beauty pageant proved tricky from
the start. Merely to visit a nightclub is to invite kidnapping or
worse. The event was held in secret to avoid prying eyes, and nine
of the twenty finalists got cold feet on the day of the contest and
dropped out.
To avoid offending sensibilities any further, contestants were
requested to wrap a sarong over their one-piece bathing suits as they
paraded for the judges. But in a nod to democracy, the audience was
allowed to vote for the winner.
The organiser, who was too afraid to give his name, said: “We have
no hard feelings towards Tamar Goregian. She couldn’t handle it and
is frightened for her family. She just sent us an e-mail and ran.”
Miss Sahagian, who has shoulder-length auburn hair and hazel eyes
and chose an all-pink outfit for the contest, insists that her
fellow contestants were professional women and not “airheads”. Their
traditional mantra about ” wanting to do their part for world peace”
resonates in Baghdad.
Yesterday brought the usual catalogue of mayhem. A car bomb killed
at least 26 people and injured 70 outside a Shia mosque north of
Baghdad. The explosion in Howaydir was the latest in a wave of attacks
against Iraq’s Shia majority.
Three other car bombs around the country killed eight people. Gunmen
killed three government officials as the Interior Minister admitted
that death squads are operating among Iraq’s security forces. Two US
soldiers died after an attack on their vehicle, bringing the number
killed already this month to thirty-three — two more than in the
whole of March.
Iraq’s parliament, meanwhile, announced plans to meet next week in
an effort to break a three-month impasse over who should be prime
minister. The majority Shia parties had promised a resolution by
yesterday over the fate of Ibrahim Jaafari — the embattled incumbent,
who is bitterly opposed by the Sunni and Kurdish factions — but now
say they need more time.
It remains to be seen whether Mr Jaafari lasts longer in office than
the latest Miss Iraq.