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Beauty Queen Elected in War-Torn Iraq

Iraq elected a beauty queen in a two hour competition held at a heavily guarded Baghdad social club away from the media. Audience members consisted of friends and relatives of contestants and the pageant wasn`t accessible to the public.

Tamar Goregian, 23, the first Armenian Iraqi to win the pageant, was officially elected the "Iraqi Queen of Beauty." Nine contestants, including five Muslim girls, already withdrew days before the event, fearing after impacts for participating in a "taboo" competition. Eleven contestants remained.

Aside from "Queen of Beauty", the audience also elected a "teen queen" and a "queen of grace". According to one pageant official "Pageants give women an edge to represent Iraqi costumes and culture, and show that Iraqi women are beautiful and intelligent," a pageant official said.