Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Back Under the Burqa With You!
Hey, remember when Laura Bush was all about touring around the Middle East and making points about women's rights? Think she's going to say something about this?
The draft of a chapter of the new constitution obtained by The New York Times on Tuesday guarantees equal rights for women as long as those rights do not "violate Shariah," or Koranic law. [snip] But women's groups are incensed by Article 14, which would repeal a relatively liberal personal status law enacted in 1959 after the British-backed monarchy was overthrown by secular military officers. That law remained in effect through the decades of Mr. Hussein's rule.
I will repeat that: the new Iraqi government is drafting up a constitution that says that women will have less rights than they did under the tyrannical dictator.
Democracy wins!
The draft of a chapter of the new constitution obtained by The New York Times on Tuesday guarantees equal rights for women as long as those rights do not "violate Shariah," or Koranic law. [snip] But women's groups are incensed by Article 14, which would repeal a relatively liberal personal status law enacted in 1959 after the British-backed monarchy was overthrown by secular military officers. That law remained in effect through the decades of Mr. Hussein's rule.
I will repeat that: the new Iraqi government is drafting up a constitution that says that women will have less rights than they did under the tyrannical dictator.
Democracy wins!
