You've Come A Long Way Baby

Iraqi policewomen are told to surrender their weapons
The move is a sign of the religious and cultural conservatism that has taken hold since Hussein's ouster.

BAGHDAD — The Iraqi government has ordered all policewomen to hand in their guns for redistribution to men or face having their pay withheld, thwarting a U.S. initiative to bring women into the nation's police force.

The Interior Ministry, which oversees the police, issued the order late last month, according to ministry documents, U.S. officials and several of the women. It affects all officers who have earned the title "policewoman" by graduating from the police academy. It does not apply to men in the same type of jobs.

Critics say the move is the latest sign of the religious and cultural conservatism that has taken hold in Iraq since Saddam Hussein's ouster ushered in a government dominated by Shiite Muslims.
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The ministry has been "whittling away step by step" at the initiative launched by U.S. troops in late 2003, Phillips said.
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The impact of the growing religious influence on Iraqi women has manifested itself in other ways as well. In the southern city of Basra, police say religious militants this year have killed dozens of women who did not cover their hair or dress modestly.

Hey, anyone else remember this Shining moment where the bushies used an Iraqi woman (and illegally used US troops in uniform) to propagandize the freedoms they've wrought on Iraq?I'm thinking Safir raised the wrong finger for bush.



Cross posted at VidiotSpeak