THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN IRAQ: Roger Simon points to something quite troubling — an effort to theocratize Iraqi family law.

I think that this is a dreadful idea. It seems that many Iraqi women do, too. The United States cannot (unfortunately) entirely force Iraq into the 21st century, but we should certainly stand in the way of clerics who want to force it into the 14th. The best thing that could happen would be for this to be voted down by Iraqis. But I think that our strategic interests require that Iraqi women not be subjugated, and I think we need to be sure, one way or another, that that doesn’t happen.

UPDATE: Read this related post on Sistani and the Shiites, too.