Remember this woman? She's Safia Taleb al-Souhail, a leading advocate for women's rights in Iraq. The photo above shows her being trotted out as Exhibit A in Bush's 2005 State of the Union Address. Bush had this to say:
"One of Iraq's leading democracy and human rights advocates is Safia Taleb al-Souhail . . . Three days ago in Baghdad, Safia was finally able to vote for the leaders of her country -- and we are honored that she is with us tonight."And now that the Iraqi Constitution appears to be shutting the door on women's rights and, oh, secular democracy in general, she has this to say:
"When we came back from exile, we thought we were going to improve rights and the position of women. But look what has happened -- we have lost all the gains we made over the last 30 years. It's a big disappointment."I think if she were in the balcony again, she might turn that victory sign around and give Bush a nice little U.K. F.U.
(Links through Billmon.)
2 comments:
If we are there to "develop" "create" "foster" "invent" Democracy, you think we would do it for everybody.
Some History, - that up until 1991 Iraq had some of the most progressive views on women's rights in the entire Middle East. According to the The Iraqi Provisional Constitution (drafted in 1970) , women had the right to vote, go to school, hold political office and own property. This had much to do with the secular Ba'ath party coming into power.
But with UN sanctions and Saddam's choice to embrace traditional Islamic and tribal ways, women started losing out. People started to send only boys to school and women illiteracy rate soared. Rights were taken away and soon women were regulated to traditional roles at home.
Rights were taken away and soon women were regulated to traditional roles at home.
Look, Bush said freedom was on the march. He just forgot to mention it was marching out of Iraq.
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