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Japanese human shield now the the Madam of Baghdad
By Ryann Connell
January 25, 2005
A Japanese woman who went to Iraq as a human shield is now copping flak in the
war-torn country for opening a Baghdad brothel for American servicemen,
according to Shukan Shincho.
Iraqi communists are up in arms, claiming the human shield who entered their
country because she was opposed to the U.S. starting a war there is now
operating a sex service for GIs.
"A Japanese woman called Yukiko Muragishi came to Iraq with her friends to act
as a human shield and stayed there when the war had finished. She stayed
because, inside Baghdad's Green Zone being protected by the U.S. military, she
is running a whorehouse for U.S. servicemen and Iraqi politicians and it has
made her very rich. All you Islamic leaders in your palaces in the Green Zone,
your prayers are worthless as long as American soldiers are playing around in
brothels," Shukan Shincho quotes an article listed on the Iraqi Communist
Party's website last month.
Other Arabic publications have picked up on the story and reported it widely
through the Middle East.
Yukiko Muragishi, however, the woman accused of being the Madam of Baghdad,
vehemently denies the accusations. The 33-year-old native of Shiga Prefecture
says she thought only of humanitarian concerns after developing a love for Iraq
while visiting the country as a dancer a decade ago.
"It's true that I did run a massage parlor in the Green Zone from April to
September last year. I'm also aware that there were snide rumors about the
place being spread. But I want to state emphatically that there were never
sexual services offered there. If there had been, the U.S. military would have
expelled me," Muragishi tells Shukan Shincho, going on to explain why she
opened a massage parlor for American servicemen. "Right after the war ended, I
had the chance to talk to loads of American soldiers. Many were traumatized by
what they'd had to do. To try and rid themselves of this feeling, they'd try
and justify their actions. They often got so wound up with their
justifications, you couldn't shut them up. The more I came in contact with
American military members, the more I realized they were the victims of war,
too. I wanted to do something to help them. The idea I came up with to do so
was to provide them with therapeutic massages."
Muragishi arranged to borrow the second floor of a restaurant a long-time
Chinese friend had operated and used the space as her massage parlor. Four
massage students were employed as masseuses at the parlor, providing rubdowns
for 30 dollars an hour-long session.
"There's no way I got rich out of it," Muragishi says. "When it got to
dangerous, I returned to Japan in November last year and have since been
working part-time at a factory near my parents' home."
Iraq experts are not surprised there's ballyhoo in Baghdad over "Madam"
Muragishi.
"You've got a situation where somebody who went to Baghdad to act as a human
shield because they were opposed to the U.S. war has suddenly turned around and
started providing services for the American military," Yasuyuki Aizawa, head of
the NGO Peace On operating in Iraq, tells Shukan Shincho. "Little wonder the
Iraqis are mad."
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Copyright 1999-2004, Mainchi Daily. All rights reserved. Ryann
Connell is a Staff Writer and Senoir Desk Editor for the Mainchi Daily News. No
content may be reproduced in whole or part without written permission.
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