Iraqi policewomen are told to surrender their weapons

Source: LA Times

The Iraqi government has ordered all policewomen to hand in their guns for redistribution to men or face having their pay withheld, thwarting a U.S. initiative to bring women into the nation's police force.

The Interior Ministry, which oversees the police, issued the order late last month, according to ministry documents, U.S. officials and several of the women. It affects all officers who have earned the title "policewoman" by graduating from the police academy, even if their jobs do not require them to be on the streets. It does not apply to men in the same type of jobs.

Critics say the move is the latest sign of the religious and cultural conservatism that has taken hold in Iraq since Saddam Hussein's ouster ushered in a government dominated by Shiite Muslims. Now, that tendency is hampering efforts to bring stability to Iraq by driving women from the force, said U.S. Army Brig. Gen. David Phillips, who has led the effort to recruit female officers.

"We nursed it along," he said last week, referring to the recruiting effort. "We saw this as: 'If we could get 50% of the brain power in this country that is not being utilized engaged, how much further along would we be?' "

Without policewomen, Phillips said, there will be no officers to give pat-down searches to female suspects, even though women have joined the ranks of suicide bombers in Iraq. Last week, a female bomber killed at least 16 people north of Baghdad, at least the fifth such attack in Iraq this year.



Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-policewomen11dec11,0,6920725.story?coll=la-home-center

Not.

before the Iraqi 'votes', that if they could bring the same kind of democracy to Iraq that the US 'enjoyed' in 1900, he'd be satisfied.

I guess he's happy now.

the freedom and education you helped provide to the women of Afganistan.

I think all of those women will be in the same boat before long.

How should I have phrased it?

and the the US hasn't done a damn thing to stop it?

And I wasn't entirely sure when I first replied to your #7. It seemed to be said in a semi-sarcastic manner, but I wasn't sure. I thought that I was merely reiterating what you had started. Pardon moi.

trade in your fire arms for burkas. any color you want as long as it's black. Hurry before they're all gone. Oh and by the way, keep three steps behind me when you pick up your burka.

Another success for the bush administration
jihad

and watch women flower

when the "terrorists" are more egalitarian than the "democracy" you're trying to prop up.

More adventures from Medieval Islam lands.