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Iraq Election Yields Beauty Queen
Iraq may not have an established government, but at least the nation has a beauty queen. The Miss Iraq Pageant in Baghdad on Wednesday selected 23-year-old Tamar Goregian as the official "Iraq Queen of Beauty.” The pageant, held at a heavily guarded Baghdad social club, wasn't accessible to the public. The audience consisted mostly of friends and family members of the contestants. Days before the event, nine contestants withdrew, fearing repercussions for participating in a "taboo" competition, and 11 contestants remained, ABC News reported. In the years following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the pageant had been held in a hotel in Africa among exiled Iraqis.
Story Continues Below At the Baghdad event, the 11 women paraded first in casual wear, then in one-piece bathing suits, sarongs and silk robes. After the evening gown competition, six girls were nominated as finalists and Goregian was chosen by the four judges and audience members. "Maybe beauty is the final step to end violence and preach world peace after all," she said. "The power of beauty surpasses the ugly face of politics and greed." Pageant organizers hope to send the winner to the Miss Universe Pageant in New York. The last time Iraq sent a delegate to a beauty pageant was at the Miss Universe contest in 1972. Organizers banned photos and media coverage to protect the girls from hard-line Islamists who call beauty contests a "Zionist creation."
Editor's note:
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics: Inside Cover Stories
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