In the Los Angeles Times article on the front page of the December 11, 2007 issue an article titled “Iraq to disarm female police”. The reason given was many but none were cited as definitely proven as most important. The decision apparently came from the Ministry Of The Interior. Some “explanations” were apparently given but none seem to be stated officially. One quote was “Females are taken care of by men …”. Another reason was that the pistols were needed for new male recruits. The Times article seemed to punch holes in all of the arguments. One could say that this is none of our business. A far away country should handle their own problems and who am I to make comments upon the life style of another being or country. I seldom get incensed with newspaper and magazine articles but this really set me off. Here are some reasons why.

In the book Science Goes To War by Ernest Volkman, he writes about how a “leading Arab philosopher Ghazzali, concluded that the treasure of ancient texts represented social dynamite.” The author then goes on to explain that the solution to this problem was to keep science documents away from all but the “ruling circle”. The author then draws the conclusion that the Arab nations could not gain advantage from science because they limited its dispersal into the education of the people. The book makes a very solid case that science and war lay in the same bed. Out of science comes better war machinery. We see today the results of this flawed policy by the “ruling caliph of Baghdad”. This decision by the ruling class apparently had the long-term outcome of placing the Arab empire in a technological inferior position. Today, the Arab nations need to buy their weapons from more advanced countries. Foreign nations some times occupy their lands and dictate policy for the region. The effective removal of science from the education of the population removed a component of success, namely the ability to create better weapons.

By removing half the population, namely women, from completely contributing to the social fabric, now taking place in many Arab nations, will result in what outcome? Do we have to wait centuries or millennium to find out?

There are correct and incorrect ways to live. You diminish your chances to survive by making the wrong decisions for the circumstances that you confront. The Arabs chose to remove science because it conflicted with religion. They are choosing to remove women from the work place because it conflicts with religion. Subjugating half your population does not seem to be a positive outcome decision.