if these a-holes in canada are so concerned of western culture's influence on their family, then why don't they go back to their stone age homes. And how could anyobe kill theur daughter for any reason, let alone "honor". Islam is the religion of peace, ya sure, it is the religion of morons who willingly pursue it's idiocy because they cannot think for themselves and need some other idiot to tell them what some idiot wrote down hundreds of years ago really means. As far as the rape of an 8 year old by 4 other "boys", I say cut their nads off and violate them in the most heinous fashion before killing the little pukes. Oh, and castrate their fathers also, for doing such a fine job of raising them.

These boys would be a prime example of why you can't ever apply the death penalty too young. They're gone. Irredeemable, and will be a danger and drain on society until their death. Too bad their death wasn't that day.

Oh, can we kill her family too? And theirs? What nationality were the perps?

The perps & the girl were Liberians, apparently refugees from the decades of civil war there, during which packs of child soldiers roamed about raping & terrorizing everything in sight:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8168480.stm

It's no comfort to the dead, but there are a few signs of progress in the Canadian tragedy. Police officers, politicians, & journalists actually came out and used the words "honor killings", even when the deaths were being investigated as possibly accidental drownings. Not long ago, no public official would have dared to utter those words for fear of being declared an Islamophobic bigot. And the family members have been charged not just with murder, but conspiracy, another sign that the legal system is starting to recognize the true nature of what's going on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4FpTvp0tgs

I have to wonder just how much better - or not - it might be for her if her parents really do persist in abandoning her. That is, adoptions of older kids who remember their parents - especially those who are victims of violence, of course - are notoriously problematic, emotionally speaking. Given her age, she can't be expected to "understand" why her parents are doing this, so how can she ever really get over this when the rejection will likely be just as horrific for her?

Bottom line: Maybe, just maybe, it's possible to rehabilitate the parents - and even the boys. (Thanks, Martin, for pointing out that the boys possibly were surrounded by very bad examples of human behavior for years.) Granted, this will be tough - it's bad enough that some parents in every country in the world still blame any female in her teens or older for getting raped without our having to deal with such barbarism in the parents of an 8-year-old - but now that even Liberia's president is speaking out (excerpt from Myers' article above)

"In recent years, Liberia has made efforts to combat rape under the leadership of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who has sought to dispel the stigma associated with sexual assault by publicly acknowledging that she was herself the victim of attempted rape during the country's civil war."

- it may be possible. If she has any brothers, the counselors could at least say over and over to the parents: "What sort of message do you want to send to your sons?" (And one day they may even learn to love their daughter again.)

It reminds me of how atheist Sam Harris, in his book "The End of Faith," said in effect: "Why is it politically incorrect to discuss the possibility that nations and religions that routinely practice 'honor killings' don't love their daughters?"

Of course, there IS the question of just what predates a religion and what doesn't - e.g., female genital mutilation definitely predates Islam from all accounts and is also practiced by some African and Middle Eastern Christians and Jews. However, that doesn't explain why those practices haven't been stopped by now, just as witch burnings stopped - in America, at least - long before Salem. (Salem witches were hanged - ha ha, what an improvement.)

Lenona:

A small chance of happiness is better than none. Adopting older children is always a risky venture, but this girl has absolutely no future with parents who told police officers, in front of her face, that she's garbage & better of dead. And all this when she needs love & compassion the most. Imagine that. It's unfathomable.

The best way to rehabilitate her parents would be to deport them. That way, their fate could serve as an example.

Immigration was important...a hundred & fifty years ago...we don't need it so much now.

Time to bring a halt to importing people that refuse to assimilate.

Martin, good point. If they are not already U.S. citizens, the authorities could at least tell them: "We will never accept immigrants who display towards human beings attitudes that are immoral and virtually illegal by now."

Trouble is, chances are the girl wouldn't be allowed to stay either.

Something else that's interesting: Most people understand without being told that when a black man walks into a well-known racist neighborhood and gets beaten half to death for his color, it's not civilized to talk even privately about how "foolish" his behavior was or how he could have avoided getting beaten, so what's the difference? (I'd love to hear the father's response to that one.)

Sigh.....it just gets better and better.....

I searched on "Liberian" and "Phoenix" and found this excerpt:

.....Earlier this week, the girl's father told ABC15 he loved his daughter and planned to get her back.

"I need her back, I want her back, and they (Child Protective Services) said I can have her back in three months," he said.

The father also said the family moved to the United States five years ago from West Africa and they don't understand the United States' criminal system.

When asked what he wants to happen to the suspects involved in the assault against his daughter, he answered, "nothing.".....

(end of excerpt)

For a long interview with President Sirleaf about this particular case, see the Liberian Observer. I found it under "Sirleaf" and "Phoenix." The title is "We Do Not Condone This."

In that same search, there's also a strange article in ICT magazine that looks like another article I saw - except this one looks as though it had been translated into another language and then back into English.

Two more notes:

Let's not assume, as dozens did on one site, that the girl's family is Muslim. Apparently, in Liberia, the Muslim population is 20% and the Christian population is 40%. As I hinted above, it doesn't necessarily make a difference either way.

And, someone who works with Liberian refugees was quoted as saying that rape wasn't a crime in Liberia until 2006. Hard to believe, but then, some countries didn't allow women to vote until 40 years ago or less - including Switzerland. (And some still don't.)

AND better:

As told elsewhere by VerbalBarb:

I saw members of the family/community interviewed on television. I didn't know whether to hit the screen or go throw up. The little girl's (23-year-old) sister blamed the 8 year old, saying something like, "I told her she should stop following those boys around"; a couple others said that they were behind the rapists and that "these things happen" and "we have to support our own people".

(end)

And a girl doesn't count as "people"?

BTW, there are a few news videos on Youtube, including one regarding the boy being tried as an adult - and a telephone interview with President Sirfield - but I can't seem to find any videos of the girl's relatives or neighbors.

Put the little girl into foster care, deport her family, put the boys in jail.

The guy who killed the woman and 3 girls had 2 wives. The first wife was the murdered woman, and his second wife and his son helped kill her and the 3 girls. I don't know why they even bother coming over to a western country when they know how things work over here. They should all be deported and save us a lot of money prosecuting them.

>>And, someone who works with Liberian refugees was quoted as saying that rape wasn't a crime in Liberia until 2006.

100% true. The current Liberian president, herself a victim of attemped rape, was instrumental in passing the law making rape illegal. Until 2006 there was no law making rape a crime in Liberia.

Keep checking in Google News under Liberia and Phoenix. Lately, the father has been denying that he ever said what he allegedly did. (I prefer to believe that when police take children away from their parents temporarily, at least 70% of the time they're doing the right thing and not misinterpreting anything they hear.)

And there are one or two articles pointing out that even Americans don't have the best record of believing and supporting kids' claims of criminal behavior when the accused is not a stranger. (Unfortunately, adults are not always unjustified in their skepticism - after all, even angry, vengeful 3-year-olds are quite capable of lying about *familiar* subjects. If we're going to give kids a lot more information and power than we used to, we also have to warn them against abusing that power - and punish them when they do.)