Rachael S weighs in on burqagate. Note: alas a blog often has less than useful comments. For example, as a woman of color, I think that bombing countries where people wear the burqa would cause more women to suffer. Unlike what Jack Straw says, a few women wearing cloth on their heads really isn't that big a deal. The real problem about the Taliban was not allowing girls to go to school and women to work in professions, not the fact that they made a big fuss about requiring the burqa. Not to mention, bombing other people's countries just gives terrorists a foothold. In Iraq, women had a little bit of freedom, even under their dictator, but now, with all the violence and kidnapping, I think it's not very well for the women- I worry that when there's a civil war, some parts of the country may end up with very restricted roles for women.

Also, brownfemi talks about the wrongness of bombing people.