Posted by lex, on December 11, 2007
More proof – as if anymore were needed – that whatever else their advantages, democracies are not above shooting themselves in the foot:
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. 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.
Religious organizations were the only hint of a political alternative that Saddam Hussein permitted to his Ba’ath Party – every other brand of party was ruthlessly supressed. So it shouldn’t come as any surprise I suppose that the Shia dominated Interior Ministry is being run by 7th Century droolers who run around with what ought to be superseded notions of femininity and honor.
I hope that the next go around, the Iraqi people have the opportunity to vote for a better class of leadership. It would a shame to think that we fought for this.
The Lexicans 