In Iraq, Women's Rights = Slogans 
One of their favorite talking points is pushing how well the Iraq election went. How this is a start of something great (like how now we can start talking troop withdrawal).
Well, tell that to Maha al Douri, female candidate for the Iraqi Parliament.
She wasn't the only one. In a country that may reduce women's rights overall, it's an accomplishment to even have female candidates. Even under Saddam's sinister regime, women had some clout and stature (as long as they swore loyalty to him). How can a so-called "democracy" even think of excluding an entire gender from it's government?
In the President's last public speech on the issue of Iraq, he mentioned how "Iraqis of every background are recognizing that democracy is the future of the country they love -- and they want their voices heard." But -surprise, surprise- no mention on what that "future democracy" means for those Iraqis and no mention of the women's rights issues either. As a matter of fact, trying to find anything remotely connected to "civil rights" on the white house homepage will just leave you frustrated.
I remember when the story first broke about the Iraqi constitution. Some bobble-head pundit said something to the effect of "Well, it took the US a while to get things straight and we made it. It may take Iraq 200 years themselves." Hopefully courageous women like Maha al Douri can prove these types of idiots wrong.
KEYWORDS: Iraq, women's rights
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