"Cease, lest he suffer humiliation!"

I marvelled at the outry and fear generated by the posting of images of Saddam receiving better treatment at the hands of the "evil Americans" than most of the rest of the world ever thinks to do for themselves.

Actually I didn't marvel. You could have predicted the outcry.

Liberals have a habit of demonstrating either lunacy or hypocricy, sometimes both. The fear in this case was that (first of all, that Saddam WAS humiliated by us, I disagree that he was) by publicly humiliating this despot, that we were in essence humiliating all Iraqi men. Of course we weren't humiliating Iraqi women, because the Baathists and Sunnis don't recognize women as equals.
If, and in my book it's a big IF, were actually did humiliate Saddam more than he did by hiding in an old septic tank to begin with, the only people on the face of the earth who were prostrated along with him were like-minded members of his former regeime, terrorists who think they can hide without consequence forever, other international despots and liberal Democrats in this country who supported all of the above, out of hatred for the current, legally elected President.

If you want to look into things that REALLY bother the Arabs and Muslims, try sending a woman to negotiate a business deal with them. Sure, you can pretend that the deal carries the same weight with them that a male would, but you'd be fooling yourself in the same dreamworld that says the Japanese are inclusive of "round-eyes" in their innermost circles of social interaction. Someday it will happen. Today it does so only rarely.

Now, before you blow a gasket -what's that? Oh, too late, I guess.

Well, for those of you who are open minded enough to read things you generally disagree with long enough to see whether you are prepetuating the truth or a lie, let me state that I think there is no difference, preference, advantage or disadvantage to having, using or being represented by a man, woman, child or elder, black, white, hadicapped, blind or sighted, regardless. This includes Christians, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindu, Agnostics, Atheists, and Undecideds. Gay, straight, celibate, who cares. I know, work, live with, work with and love all sorts. I can think of people who fit all those categories whom I despise as well. Takes all sorts.

What I do believe, and where I do have boundaries, is that in matters of life and death ONLY the most qualified should attend to the matter personally. Where life and limb are not at risk, then anyone with confidence should be given the opportunity to give it a go, without prejudice.

If the arrogance of America had a part in the terrorists targeting us more fervently, it had more to do with humiliating our Arab neighbors by sending women to represent us as Ambassadors. (Quick, read what I wrote above about thinking women are no less qualified than men at ANYTHING) The problem is not in our confidence in a woman, the problem is with the typical modern Arab in trusting and respecting the words of a woman.

We had great success in Desert Storm in demonstrating to the Arab alliance that women were competent to command men in the arena of war. That went a long way towards tearing down myths the Saudis and Kuwaitis held socially for aeons. Today, as a result of demonstrating this in front of them, the Saudi Air Force wouldn't flinch at hearing a female commander issuing orders over the radio. It may take another generation before the Saudis actually have a female military commander, though.

The Tuskeegee Airmen were an important asset to the American Air War effort in WWII. The method of integrating such qualified pilots into the mainstream was to be sneaky and prove that they could do the job. Same holds true of Gays in the military, women in combat, etc., etc., etc. Who did more to help integrate our country -Rosa Parks and Malcolm X or Jim Brown and Jesse Owens? Rosa inspired a lot of young, fed up people to get in the face of their oppressors and prove that laws were wrong. Today, we still have hateful, resentful blacks and whites. Jim Brown quietly encouraged other black atheletes to excell in dress, manners, speech, courtesy and education. Jim Brown to this day still prefers hiring and doing business exclusively with blacks, probably because the people he hires are generally better dressed, mannered, and are more courteous and respectful that the whites I have to hang out with.

What we did wrong in Iraq was to send a woman to be our Ambassador in the years leading up to the original Gulf war. Was this improper because a woman can't do the job? NOPE. Was it improper because the leadership in Iraq were idiots who discounted anything a woman might say to them? Well, we might need to discuss that.

But NOPE.

What was and is improper about sending a woman ambassador to the typical Muslim state is that in their mind, you are showing deliberate disrespect, just as if you extended to them your left hand in greeting (an insult) just as if you refused to stop talking at prayer time, just as if you refused to wash you hands before a meal.

There are ways to bring all people into the 20th century (they'll only be a century behind now) but everything we do to influence the rest of the world ought to be done with love and respect. We really do need to show other governments how to be modern and progressive by leading them down the right paths when they are eager to learn, and to bomb the daylights out of them when they kill our citizens. But when they are generally benign, don't threaten to kill us and don't care much for our customs, we shouldn't be so eager to force our customs, practices, policies and preferences down their throats, espacially when we have evidence that such a direct approach is both disrespectful and offensive.

The party of tolerance, understanding and progressiveness should strive to be so tolerant, understanding and progressive.