What a load of nonsense.
There are no real women's rights in Iraq. The US government pretty much destroyed those with the invasion of Iraq and the installation of fundamentalists as well as efforts in the original drafts of the Iraqi Constitution -- overseen by the US government -- to strip women of all rights.
Iraqi women took to the streets then and have done so since in efforts to fight back.
Good for them and they've had some success though probably more so within the national image than legally.
It's laughable that man -- let alone one over a propaganda ministry -- is going to improve the lives of women.
And if the meeting was at all serious, wouldn't they need the Minister for the State of Women's Affairs to be present?
It's just more propaganda for a Ministry that offers nothing but.
But maybe this latest wave will be seen as the nonsense that it is and people will start asking: If Haider al-Abadi's so different from Nouri al-Maliki, how come women are still so invisible and absent from his Cabinet?
We're supposed to be cheering Haider for a number of so-so actions and now some -- like the Associated Press -- think they've found the one to get behind.
All Iraq News reports Haider's dropped all lawsuits against journalists. These were Nouri's lawsuits. Haider issued the following statements:
"Based on the freedom of journalism and supporting the journalists,
That is great . . .
except . . .
Nouri didn't always sue.
He had no respect for the press -- something only the BBC would note in July of 2006 and, yes, we can go back to that because that was a shameful period for the western press.
But he only started filing lawsuits -- most infamously against the Guardian newspaper -- after he'd been in office awhile and had gotten a taste of negative press.
Haider's had nothing but flowers and chocolates from the western press.
Meaning?
He's dropping Nouri's lawsuits.
Big deal.
They were over when Nouri was forced out as prime minister anyway.
He issued some flowery words and that's really all it was.
No one knows how he will react to negative press.
It's silly to pretend a politician who's gotten nothing but high praise from supposed to be skeptical reporters is a friend of the press.
The following community sites -- plus Iraq Inquiry Digest and Antiwar.com -- updated:
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
iraq
iraq
iraq
iraq
