Pindk, you don't have a clue what Iraq was like under Saddam and you never will. Things get retarded really quickly when people like you, who have suddenly "magically" become experts on the middle east since we declared war, start spouting off bullshit.. People were perfectly able to protest, and even, *gasp* say bad things about Saddam, without being punished, I am 100% positive of that.

Trewayn, I know you don't respect my opinion, but I'll give it a shot anyway. You will notice that the article you linked to is riddled with phrases like "some clerics believe" and "some clerics might want to oppress women"

Of course I agree that the situation in Iraq is very, very bad. And, in fact, it's much worse than it was under Saddam. But you have to admit, that this article was exaggerated, and pretty alarmist.

I can only put it to you like this: What the article is basically warning us all about, is that *perhaps* *some* clerics will gain power, who may have desires to oppress women..... How is that any different from writing an article saying "America is in disaster! It's now possible for congressmen or governors to be elected who *might* have a desire to oppress women!"

If you think about it, there isn't a whole lot of difference between the two. And what you can't forget, and the writer even admits to this, is that Islam is very clear about women's rights. Islamic law provides equal rights for women, it grants women the right to divorce, and even goes as far as placing restrictions on men's rights to divorce, in order to protect women.

Any honest cleric who studies the actual law would be able to attest to that. So really, the writer is only warning us about shitty clerics, and like I said, one could just as easily be warning people about shitty congressmen, shitty lawyers, shitty judges, etc. I see no uniqueness of this situation in Iraq.

What I would be more worried about, instead, is the fact that the Iraqi people are currently drinking radioactive sewage for their drinking water, and have only one hour of electricity per day.