Baghdad Burning

Riverbend describes her experiences of how fundamentalist Muslims are taking life back to the Dark Ages for women in Iraq. An extremely interesting blog, already publicized by the infamous Salam Pax, it's worth a regular read for anyone interested in what's going on during the occupation/reconstruction by the U.S. from a female perspective. The post illustrates how bringing peace, freedom and propserity to a country is often much more complex than simply removing an evil dictator from power.

Fathers and mothers are keeping their daughters stashed safe at home. That’s why you see so few females in the streets (especially after 4 pm). Others are making their daughters, wives and sisters wear a hijab. Not to oppress them, but to protect them.

...Men in black turbans (M.I.B.T.s as opposed to M.I.B.s) and dubious, shady figures dressed in black, head to foot, stand around the gates of the bureau in clusters, scanning the girls and teachers entering the secondary school. The dark, frowning figures stand ogling, leering and sometimes jeering at the ones not wearing a hijab or whose skirts aren’t long enough. In some areas, girls risk being attacked with acid if their clothes aren’t ‘proper’.