Women: MiddleEast What is a 'fundamentalist Islamic feminist'? Report from Basra, Iraq

In his fascinating blog, the American reporter Stephen Vincent has a fascinating entry dated May 29, "Veils and Bar Codes." He helps us understand how a variety of feminism that is rational to a segment of the society in which it is embedded can peer out at him from the eyes-slot in a nearly total veil, making sense as she explains her mission; and his account stands as a warning that there are more varieties of orientations to the status of women in the world's varous societies than are dreamed in our liberal fem ideologies in North America, but here we've already had some lessons on that from conservative women of many kinds. This lesson in feminism from Basra is much more drastic than that, and completely relevant to the emerging democracy in Iraq. This is especially good reading from an especially gifted journalist who's spent an awful lot of time in Iraq and the MidEast generally. And thanks to Haifa Malij Jaafir, of Basra Province's Governing Council and the director of the Muslim Union of Women, who granted Mr Vincent the interview on which this account is based. It does make Oprah seem a bit more ridiculous after reading her cuddle-piece for Mo Atta, the 9/11 terrorist. - Owlb.

Stephen Vincent's book