The thing that gets under my skin with respect to this issue, is the way the Bushies are trying to pose as woman-friendly. The way they try to use the "women are now voting in Afghanistan" to attract the support of female voters. People here have already made the crucial point that this administration has done a great deal to create a power vacuum (particularly in Iraq) and thereby ultimately encourage institutionalized fundementalism. Furthermore, this administration has an obscene record with respect to international women's issues. See link: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1014-02.htm On a personal note, I realized that Bush did not give a damn (I mean, not even one little tiny miniscule damn) about women in Afghanistan when I saw him give a speech about Afghanistan in CNN over the summer. With the usual dumb grin on his face (y'all know the one), he tried to make a point about a group of women in Afghanistan who had been massacred for holding voter registration cards. He talked about the strides we're making toward freedom and these women dying in the name of liberty, all with a huge smile on his face. The lack of value on human life, particularly that of brown women, was disgusting. He certainly wasn't grinning when talking about dead Americans who were the victims of fundementalist terrorism. I think that feminism is at its heart humanitarianism (in which all humans are truly equal). I think that its difficult for any humanitarian/feminist to endorse particularly US action in Iraq, whether women end up the better or the worse for it. As to Afghanistan, women will need alot of the support there to continue a promising trend toward equality, support which I doubt will be forthcoming.