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The way to defeat our enemies' "hateful ideology," he said, is to offer an ideology "that says to young girls, you can succeed in your society, and you should have a chance to do so." He also said, "Hopefully, the drafters of the constitution understand our strong belief that women ought to be treated equally in the Iraqi society."
Hopefully? Is that the best we can do for a country that we broke, own and are sacrificing young men and women every day to keep?
[...]The fundamentalist Taliban is recrudescing in Afghanistan, young girls in Iraq are afraid to leave their homes because there are so many kidnappings and rapes, and women's groups in Iraq are terrified that the new constitution will cut women's rights to a Saudiesque level.
Some Shiite politicians are pushing to supplant the civil courts that have long governed marriage, divorce, child custody and inheritance with religious courts that are based on Sharia, or Islamic law. The New York Times reported that one of the crucial articles in various drafts of the constitution is: "The followers of any sect or religion have the right to abide by their religion or sect in their personal affairs, and a law should organize this."
That little provision could jeopardize any chance for women's equality. Clerics running religious courts based on the Koran could legitimize polygamy, honor killings, stonings and public beheadings of women charged with adultery, and divorce by "talaq" - where all a husband has to do is declare, "I divorce thee," three times.
Saddam repressed Islamic politics, so under him, Iraq was one of the most secular countries in the Middle East. It has become far more fundamentalist since the U.S. took over.
The back-to-burka trend has been widely reported throughout Shiite-dominated southern Iraq, and young women activists told The Los Angeles Times that their mothers had more freedom in the 60's.
Najla Ubeidi, a lawyer in the Iraqi Women's League, agreed: "During the 1960's, there was a real belief in improving women's conditions. We could wear what we liked, go out when we liked, return home when we liked, and people would judge us by the way we behaved."
If W. liked exercising his mind as much as his body, he could see that his mission to modernize Muslim countries is backfiring on women. The most painless way for Muslim men to prove that they have not abandoned Arab culture and adopted Western ways is to tighten the burka.
To us, the "liberated" but repressive Iraq is a paradox. To the women, it's a prison.
--Maureen Dowd
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WASHINGTON - Infants have been stopped from boarding planes at airports throughout the U.S. because their names are the same as or similar to those of possible terrorists on the government's "no-fly list."
It sounds like a joke, but it's not funny to parents who miss flights while scrambling to have babies' passports and other documents faxed.
Ingrid Sanden's 1-year-old daughter was stopped in Phoenix before boarding a flight home to Washington at Thanksgiving.
"I completely understand the war on terrorism, and I completely understand people wanting to be safe when they fly," Sanden said. "But focusing the target a little bit is probably a better use of resources."
yahoo! news
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Now, Cindy Sheehan has come full circle, all the while dragging her son’s honorable memory and duty behind her. She is the toast of the radical anti-war zealots, and the mainstream media. Billed as the “Peace mom” by CNN, Cindy Sheehan has stirred the restless pens of the media and ignited a Bush-bashing feeding frenzy.
Cindy Sheehan, who camps out in a ditch outside of Crawford, Texas, awaits the president to come and speak to her. Her comments and questions, which make for effective media theatre, also make for standard radical anti-war verbiage.
Cindy Sheehan has taken her talking points from sources such as Michael Moore, MoveOn.org, and obscure organizations like the Hip Hop Caucus. Indeed, Sheehan herself is a founder of the left-wing Gold Star Families for Peace, a web site that features article by her and others with such grandiose titles as "Lie of Historic Proportions." Advancing her new-found celebrity status, Sheehan asks the president and the world-at-large, “Why did you kill my son, President Bush”? Leftist dead-enders chant and hold up signs that read “W killed her son” and “liar-in-chief.” All the while, Sheehan says “It's just snowballed. We have opened up a debate in the country.”
No, Mrs. Sheehan, you have not opened up anything resembling debate. You have only continued the anti-war left’s maniacal behavior and many outrages since this war began. You have brought nothing new to America’s table of debate. You have instead used your son’s death to try to politically assassinate a war-time president. As sympathetic and endearing as you may think you look to your leftist cohorts and a small minority of the country, know this: You are a tool, Ms. Sheehan, in a grand game of political chess, and like most pawns, you will be discarded, and forgotten.
But the large majority of Americans will not forget your son, who served with honor and dignity for what he believed. Though Casey Sheehan died in the war-torn streets of Iraq, it is in the freedom-loving streets of America that he will be remembered, and properly so.
Casey Sheehan is a true American hero, and not the liberal cause-celeb you have made him out to be. How shameful you should feel, “Peace mom.”
[...]Cindy Sheehan plans to carry out her media protest until President Bush relents and comes out to talk with her. “I will stay here everyday and, and my only condition for leaving is if George Bush meets with me and I want him to tell me the truth.” Ms. Sheehan, go home. This disgraceful and selfish display of “outrage” now resembles nothing more than a pageantry of hate-filled leftists and anti-American supporters who parade around spouting the vilest of invectives against a president who has earnestly tried to defend the country.
We honor and believe in what Casey, and James, sacrificed for their country. How dare you, and those that lead you, despoil their gallantry and spirit. Enough, Ms. Sheehan; go home.
the spin is killing me...
children are dispossessed. see: social services, military service (drafts, especially), etc.
not belonging to the parents--no, they are property of the state.
the entire family. and all are free to be played off one another,
in defense of noble imperialistic causes, in defense of our beloved "war-time President."
what's really sad about the op-ed above is the reduction of sheehan's desire for answers (instead of carefully molded catch-phrases handed to GWB in a brown paper sack) to a 'baseless act of political assassination.' note that her main points--lack of WMDs, variance in stated goals, rising cost in lives and resources, no end in sight--aren't really opinions. they're facts. common knowledge for anyone not filtering their info-feed thru a partisan funnel. but 50% of the talking heads can just ignore that; they can ignore it and get away with it, carrying an uninformed audience along with them. and note the dirtier language, the nastiness. cindy sheehan, "camped out in a ditch." a "pawn...discarded, and forgotten." the individual people are now irrelevant; especially when they threaten the mythology that is so ruthlessly protected and re-emphasized. and yet, all those dead bodies end up as talismans for The Righteous Cause. mothers and fathers don't know the significance of their children's lives (and subsequent deaths), not like the government does. take your babies physically, and then symbolically.
one big argument, getting more and more deluded, confused, and petty.
your children died to protect your freedoms, the ones thus brushed off and dismissed.
the children are pawns, their parents are pawns. pawns top to bottom. spun, spun, spun.
CRAWFORD, Texas — President Bush might have made his peace with the antiwar encampment outside his Texas ranch, but his next-door neighbor has taken up arms.
The incident occurred Sunday morning as activists gathered for a prayer service in the tent village set up by Cindy Sheehan, whose son Casey was killed in Iraq and who is demanding a meeting with Bush to discuss the war.
On the other side of Prairie Chapel Road, Larry Mattlage hopped into his pickup, barreled across his pasture and pulled up to a fence within a few hundred feet of the protesters. He climbed out of the cab, retrieved a shotgun from the back and fired at least one blast into the air.
Mattlage insisted he was shooting at birds. But he said the activists had worn out their welcome, and he wanted them to go away.
"I done made my case. It's over," he said as he shooed away a reporter from the gated entrance to his ranch.
The McLennan County Sheriff's Department said Mattlage had broken no laws. A man has a right to fire a gun on his own property, the authorities said, as long as he didn't point it at anyone or issue any threats.
...The inhabitants of Camp Casey, the activists' tent village, said they were a bit shaken by Mattlage's blast, but considered it more a clash of cultures than a declaration of war.
"This is Texas," said Bill Phillips, 48, a New Orleans social worker who spent the night at the site. "I kind of expect people to fire a gun off now and then."
yee haw.
August 16 2005, 05:50:38 UTC 6 years ago
but do love love love dowd. too bad she writes for the ny times.
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