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Originally Posted by accella4.4
Elimination of existing enemies is one thing, but pre-empting the conditions that breed more enemies should also be part of the solution. Do we try to shut down the religious madras schools? Impossible without creating more enemies. IMO, bringing the women of Iraq and Afghanistan into the 21st Century vis a vis giving them a right to education and a vote will pay dividends downstream, as these women will likely demand more enlightened husbands and will raise more enlightened children...but then how do explain the Lackawanna Six?
How do you hate a country that permits a mosque on 96th Street in NYC?
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One correction: In Iraq under Saddam Hussein, women were indeed living in the 21st century. There are many women doctors, scientists, and even parlamentary members in Iraq. For this reason, Saddam was enemy #1 of Al-Queda as Iraq was one of the only countries in the region that was not an "Islamic state". Saddam's top advisor was actually a Christian. From what I have read, the new government, which is very friendly with Iran, is more conservative when it comes to such issues, and there has been a large backlash against women professionals by the religious fanatics in the last couple of years. If the new government has their way, you can expect things there to look like Iran in a few years. The current Prime Minister is buddy-buddy with Iran. When Saddam was in power, he lived in exile in Iran and received the support of Iran's government during the recent elections. The candidate our government supported in the recent elections lost.
As far as Afghanistan, I don't see anything much changing there. The new government, while much better than the Taliban, is not much better when it comes to women's rights. They are good for foreign business interests in the region, so that is why they are being supported by the US and Europe, but as far as human rights, not much has changed there.
But you are right to say that helping women's rights would help the situation there. It's just not currently being done.