ARTICLE: "Sacrificed To the Surge: Tribal fighters have cut down Iraq's violence. But they're subjecting women to often-medieval mores," by Silvia Spring and Larry Kaplow, Newsweek, 14 April 2008, p. 30.
Depressing stuff. The more we rely on the classic Sunni brutes, the more the stability reinforces age-old restrictions on females in social and economic life.
The classic: man cheats on wife and wife kills husband, then she's a murderer. Reverse the sexes and the widowed husband gets away with defending his "honor" through murder.
This is an uncomfortable reality. The only way you can change it organically is through economic connectivity. Make the men realize they lose money by keeping women down. That's the only way to get them to change on their own. Keep the pie limited and men will feel the right and inherent need to rule over women.
Only greed trumps tradition.
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Comments (4)
This is sad, very sad. But we intend to get out as fast as we can, we should expect more of this kind of stuff.
Now, if we stay engaged, over time, a long time I suspect. We can have a positive impact on their culture.
Senator Obama wants us out. McCain wants us in. Who is walking the walk on human rights?????
Posted by Wiredman | May 1, 2008 12:18 PM
This is to be expected as societies go from premodernity to modernity (gap to core). This is caboose braking (I opine). How long did it take we in the USA to let the women be persons also (along with the proletarian whites and other races). Methinks that Archie and Edith Bunker were the rule here for a long time until my lifetime (born 1952). =)
Posted by Tom Mull | May 1, 2008 1:04 PM
So, Tom, aside from these distractions how do you think the rinsing process is going?
During the 1968 Tet, the NVA or local VC in Nha Trang sent children and old people toward a US MP combat support garrison wearing explosive vests. I don't know if the wearers controlled the explosives or they were remote activated. That was a tough situation for those new GIs to shoot, but it was necessary.
At the same time So. Korean troops from the White Horse Division detected North Vietnamese troops dressed as civilians and captured them. They gave them a last bowl of rice, executed them, and left their bodies on a street corner for many days, as a message. I hated seeing that, but those troops had saved many American lives because our more 'civilized' American commander had denied support troops personal weapons in a 'safe rear city' area.
As far as I know there were no Islamists in the VC or North Vietnamese ranks. They did, however, see Nha Trang Christian South Vietnamese as too close to the French and American outsiders. So those civilian deaths were OK. I heard that after getting a final victory, the North Vietnamese made efforts to restore community unity.
Most military bureaucrats, media mouths, and academic experts on these type conflicts don't have a clue what Tom's rinsing means to those on the scene.
Posted by Louis Heberlein | May 1, 2008 7:01 PM
This is sad, very sad. But we intend to get out as fast as we can, we should expect more of this kind of stuff.
Now, if we stay engaged, over time, a long time I suspect. We can have a positive impact on their culture.
Posted by sohbet | August 23, 2008 7:54 PM