Free Republic

Holland is to become the first country in Europe to ban the burqa after the government announced plans to introduce legislation outlawing the head-to-toe Islamic garment "within days".The cabinet decreed yesterday that it posed a "terrorist threat" because it prevented the wearers' face being identified. The ban is likely to extend to all face-covering veils and prevent anyone "appearing in public with covered facial features". Rita Verdonk, the hard-line immigration minister known as "Iron Rita", has made no secret of her dislike of the garment, which she believes "aids and abets the repression of women". Calling it "a danger to...

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Dutch government agreed on Friday a total ban on the wearing of burqas and other Muslim face veils in public, justifying the move on security grounds. Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk will now draw up legislation which will result in the Netherlands, once one of Europe's most easy-going nations, imposing some of the continent's toughest laws against concealing the face. "The cabinet finds it undesirable that garments covering the face -- including the burqa -- should be worn in public in view of public order, (and) the security and protection of fellow citizens," the Dutch Justice Ministry...

The Dutch cabinet has backed a proposal by the country's immigration minister to ban Muslim women from wearing the burqa in public places. The burqa, a full body covering that also obscures the face, would be banned by law in the street, and in trains, schools, buses and the law courts. The cabinet said burqas disturb public order, citizens and safety. The decision comes days ahead of elections which the ruling centre-right coalition is expected to win. Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk is known for her tough policies, and has clashed with past coalition partners. Late last year she said the...

misinformed tolerance finally hits its limits in Britain HOW tolerant must a free society be of those who are intolerant of the values it holds dear? This question is at the heart of a controversy that has flared up in Britain over the past fortnight concerning Muslim women who wear nikabs, burkas and other face coverings that allow little more than the eyes to be seen. Two weeks ago, former British foreign minister Jack Straw, writing in his local newspaper, criticised Muslim women who covered their faces, saying the practice maked "better, positive relations" between communities "more difficult". He added...

As I walk along a London street I feel completely cut off from the world around me. I'm in it, yet I'm apart. I'm wearing a burqa, the full-length Islamic veil that covers not only a woman's body, but her head and face as well.What I can see of the world, I'm seeing through a crocheted panel set into the black material. It stops me from really seeing where I am going and it stops me from seeing what's going on to my left or right. I feel like a blinkered horse, forced to look straight ahead, undistracted by what...

The row over Muslim women's dress codes reignited today after author Salman Rushdie declared that "veils suck". Rushdie, whose book The Satanic Verses triggered death threats from Islamic clerics, gave his full backing to Leader of the Commons Jack Straw for raising the issue. Rushdie was forced into hiding for 10 years after Iranian cleric Ayatollah Khomeini served a "fatwah" on him over his book's alleged slight on the prophet Mohammed. He had round-the-clock police protection costing nearly £1 million a year, although that has been downgraded in recent years after Iran indicated the death sentence no longer applied. But...

Following faith and fashion By Indlieb Farazi in Doha, Qatar Wednesday 29 March 2006, 12:56 Makka Time, 9:56 GMT The abaya is an over-garment worn by many Muslim women Reema and her friends are slowly parading around a Doha shopping mall, making sure their fashionable floor-length coverings are seen. The glamorous girls shroud their jeans and colourful tops with long black robes, mixing fashion with religion and tradition. "I think it looks really elegant. There are so many abayas on the market at the moment - the latest being the farasha, or butterfly-style abaya. It isn't tight-fitting like the French-style...

With security being tightened at the airports across the country in the wake of Tuesday's Mumbai blasts, a youth, who allegedly put on a `Burqa' (veil) to meet his girlfriend, has been detained at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport here, police said. The youth, whose identity has not been given out by authorities, was detained last night after police personnel got suspicious and asked women constables to check the credentials of the burqa-clad person. After being accosted, the person turned out to be a man and was immediately detained, following which senior police officials interrogated him throughout the night. Additional Police...

MODEL Michelle Leslie wore a burqa during her stay in a Balinese prison on drugs charges to avoid being raped... Leslie said she awoke in the Kerobokan prison one night to find a man sitting on the end of her mattress, laughing and singing: "Jiggyjig Missa Leslie. Bali holiday. Jiggyjig". "I knew jiggyjig translated into having sex," Leslie told the magazine. "He was saying Australian model and stroking my leg. I screamed: `Get out of here!'." Leslie said she was aware another woman was being taken from her cell regularly for sex, and realised her fate would be the same...

A lot of Muslim women would agree with "most" Australians who find the head-to-toe Islamic garb confronting, Prime Minister John Howard said. Mr Howard defended his comments that Australians find Muslim women wearing the traditional garb, the full burqa, confronting, but said he would not ban the practice. "Well I just think it's confronting, it's confronting to a lot of people," he told Sky TV. "I'm not saying it should be banned." The prime minister said he could not tell people what they should wear. "You don't ban what people wear and you don't pass laws on what people can...

Netherlands considers burqa ban The Dutch immigration minister says she will look into the legality of banning the burqa, the robes worn by some Muslim women to cover their bodies. Rita Verdonk made the pledge after a majority in parliament said it would support such a ban. The proposal was put forward by independent politician Geert Wilders. "That women should walk the streets in a totally unrecognisable manner is an insult to everyone who believes in equal rights," he said. "This law is a comfort to moderate Muslims and will contribute to integration in the Netherlands," he added in a...

Netherlands considers burqa ban The Dutch immigration minister says she will look into the legality of banning the burqa, the robes worn by some Muslim women to cover their bodies. Rita Verdonk made the pledge after a majority in parliament said it would support such a ban. The proposal was put forward by independent politician Geert Wilders. "That women should walk the streets in a totally unrecognisable manner is an insult to everyone who believes in equal rights," he said. "This law is a comfort to moderate Muslims and will contribute to integration in the Netherlands," he added in a...

Jumshedpur, India: Though it is an internationally accepted fact that osteoporosis is more common in women than men, prominent orthopaedics in the steel city have come up with an interesting finding. According to them, incidents of the disease in the city have been noticed more in burqa-clad women and those who have lesser physical activity than the office-going ones. Throwing light on prevalence of osteoporosis, Dr AK Verma, superintendent of MGM hospital said: “Women require a balanced diet, rich in calcium and Vitamin D. Women, particularly after menopause, are at higher risk and should maintain a good diet. They should...

According to NARAL and other organizations that claim to support the rights of women, George W. Bush must be some kind of backward-thinking, knuckle-dragging Neanderthal. If you listen to their rhetoric, you’d think that Dubya must beat poor Laura with a club every night before sending her to a dark and dirty kitchen to toil over a hot woodstove. He probably makes his daughters wear chastity belts and floor-length bloomers, too.

Italy bans Islamic burqas Natasha Bita, Florence August 01, 2005 ITALY has banned Islamic burqas under tough terrorism laws that provide two-year jail terms and E2000 ($3200) fines for anyone caught covering their face in a public place. The counter-terrorism package, passed by Italy's parliament yesterday, doubles the existing penalty for wearing a burqa or chador -- traditional robes worn by Muslim women to cover their faces -- or full-faced helmets or balaclavas in public. Police can extract DNA samples without a suspect's consent, detain them for 24 hours without a lawyer present, and deport foreigners suspected of terrorism under...

hillary's burqa by Mia T, 10.6.05 $595 pantsuit and sweater, Margaret O'Leary, San Francisco. Edward Klein The Truth about Hillary:What She Knew, When She Knew It, and How Far She'll Go to Become President "What Klein doesn't understand is that Hillary's success today depends not on an ability to be aggressively masculine, but on the exact opposite. That black pantsuit is the power woman's burqa -- a disguise for screening out, not extinguishing, distracting gender" Tina Brown pontificating on the nuances of haute couture jla unny. My Margaret-O'Leary ensemble doesn't seem to "screen out" my gender.... Tina Brown is onto...

http://www.garyrog.50megs.com/midi1.html MIDI - CALENDAR GIRL She's their calendar girl...in the terrorist world Yes, Cindy Sheehan is their calendar girl She's the terrorists' girl They love, they love their little calendar girl Each and every day of the whole year January...she wonders what to do February...Dubya, she knows she loathes you March...she'll march for every camera lens April...with old hippies wearing their Depends Yeah, yeah the terrorists' pal They've really come to love their little calendar gal Every day...every day...of the whole year Each day of the year May...she's wanted for some May Day parades June...she's keeping cool drinking Dem Kool-Aide...

MULTAN: Military Intelligence and Elite Police personnel arrested a suspected Al Qaeda operative from Multan Railway Station on May 25, witnesses told Daily Times on Thursday. They said intelligence and police personnel encircled the station several minutes before the Rawalpindi-bound 7-Up Tezgam arrived from Karachi. The moment the train stopped at Platform 3, police personnel entered the last car and caught the suspect, witnesses said, adding that they threw a sheet over his head and took him away. Several passengers told reporters that they could not board any train because law enforcement personnel asked all passengers on Platform 3 to...

Pakistani agents wearing burqas seized al-Qaeda suspect Abu Faraj al-Libbi by ambushing his motorbike in a rural town, police told the BBC. The man alleged to be a top al-Qaeda organiser was riding pillion and managed to run into a house where agents flushed him out with tear gas. He has been held at an undisclosed location since his capture at Mardan, 60km (37 miles) from Peshawar. Pakistani officials have ruled out his immediate extradition to the US. They said he would not be handed over before being exhaustively questioned by local authorities. US President George W Bush has called...

Sat Mar 12, 5:10 AM ET Iranian female police cadets conduct a drill during a graduation ceremony at Iran's police academy in Tehran March 12, 2005. REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi

COPENHAGEN (AFP) - Denmark's national symbol, the Little Mermaid sculpture perched on a rock at a Copenhagen pier, was draped in a burka and a sash reading "Turkey in the EU?" overnight, Copenhagen media reported. The coup, which came as European Union leaders gathered in Brussels to decide whether to launch membership talks with Turkey, was discovered Thursday morning by a Japanese tour guide who arrived with a bustling group. The tourists' cameras clicked wildly as the tour guide removed the full-body black veil worn by Muslim women in some countries, footage broadcast by Localeyes television showed. "The Japanese were...

New Zealand's first Muslim MP says two women fighting to keep their faces covered while they give evidence in court should remove their veils at all times and integrate into New Zealand society. Labour MP Ashraf Choudhary said he did not believe wearing veils was required by the women's religion. "Clearly I don't believe they should be covering their faces anywhere in public," he said. "It is not what the Koran says. I don't support this view that women should be covered." In a case before an Auckland court which is attracting world attention, Fouzya Salim has said she would...

BOSTON — The Kerry campaign smells a rat in the widely circulated snapshot that shows its man wrapped head-to-toe in a baby blue outfit. "This was a leaked photo," Mary Beth Cahill (search), campaign manager for John Kerry, said an interview with FOX News on Tuesday. No media photographers were in attendance Monday when Kerry toured a facility at the Kennedy Space Center with famed astronaut John Glenn and Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida. All the men wore anti-contamination suits (search). Asked by FOX News' Brit Hume if a dirty trick was being played, Cahill didn't answer the question directly...

Mon Mar 8,11:41 AM ET Afghan women government employees repair a road in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, March 8, 2004, the International Women's Day. The situation for women in Afghanistan has made some improvements since the fall of the Taliban, however, many women are still unable to work outside the home. (AP Photo/Amir Shah)

Jan 17, 9:42 AM (ET) By ELAINE GANLEY PARIS (AP) - Shouting "The veil is my choice," hundreds of people marched in Paris on Saturday as part of global protests against the French government's plan to ban Muslim headscarves in schools. Muslims from all over France took part in the Paris rally, expected to draw at least 10,000. Many of the protesters were women in headscarves and bearded men in robes. "We're here for our liberty," said Fatiha Hossol, from the southeastern city of Lyon. "It's our religious obligation to honor our God." Algerian-born Kawtar Fawzy, 30, also traveled from...

<p>WASHINGTON -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will spend Thanksgiving in Afghanistan before traveling to Iraq with a former Army paratrooper turned senator to meet with soldiers and ask questions about the United States' ongoing nation-building efforts.</p> <p>The former first lady and Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., have both been critical of the administration's handling of post-combat problems in the war on terrorism, particularly after major military operations ended in Iraq.</p> <p>Clinton and Reed said Tuesday they were concerned about the current efforts to win the "hearts and minds" of Iraqis.</p>

100% cotton burqa in black, with 2 layers, completely covers the face, leaving only the eyes showing. Similar to our full niqab, but with a string running from the forehead to the nose. Tie-back. Top band is 21" in circumference and length is approx. 16" from the forehead. Black only.

I can't stop laughing at this one. Arab News, government approved mouthpiece for "our good friends, the Saudis," proposes a resolution to expel the US from the UN Security Council and perhaps from the UN itself. Oh, the horror, where have we sinned? "It is time to kick the USA out of the UN Security Council for starters, or out of the United Nations if need be. The world can do without such bullies and war mongers and international dictators. No more ultimatums to the UN. If you don't like the United Nations, then get out of it; Tomorrow is...

<p>SOON AFTER Sept.11, 2001, the blue burqa became the symbol for the Taliban's repressive regime in Afghanistan. Americans bemoaned the fate of Afghan women, who were prohibited from leaving home without wearing a garment that covered them from head to toe.</p>

TEHRAN - Arab men are going wild over an outrageous new entertainment craze that's taken this city by storm - wet burqa contests! Drooling, cheering men are packing makeshift nightclubs where shapely gals get hosed down while wearing the burqa - which clings to every curve and corner of their bodies even though they're wearing a garment designed for the ultimate in modesty. Modeled after the wet T-shirt contests that show off America's most buxom young beauties, the burqa competitions award cash prizes in categories including Best Breasts and Butt. "No one ever said a woman in a burqa couldn't...

Argue all you want with many feminist policies, but few quarrel with feminism’s core moral insight, which changed the lives (and minds) of women forever: that women are due the same rights and dignity as men. So, as news of the appalling miseries of women in the Islamic world has piled up, where are the feminists? Where’s the outrage? For a brief moment after September 11, when pictures of those blue alien-creaturely shapes in Afghanistan filled the papers, it seemed as if feminists were going to have their moment. And in fact the Feminist Majority, to its credit, had been...

Liberals will go to any lengths to demonstrate a moral equivalency between American culture and the most backward and repressive countries in the world. They cannot accept genuine criticism of any Third World cultures, so they instead try to smear the West. Octavio Romano, however, reaches a new low in an article in the Chronicle, in which he attempts to draw a parallel between Afghan women wearing burqas, and American women using cosmetics. Romano’s analogy is not only preposterous, but faulty. The mandatory donning of burqas by Afghan women, is completely different from American women choosing to apply cosmetics. Even...

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 8/15/02 Unexploded Ordnance aplenty, First Iranian visit in Years, Unfair Burqa in Hot Summer, Bagram, Kabul, Kandahar, Lawyers Interfere with Justice, Demolition and Possible Transfer, Photos of Perps in Gaza, Shootout at Ein el-Hilweh ==Bagram, Afghanistan == In Bagram, 764th EOD Co. (Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company) Army soldiers are still destroying unexploded Russian-made RPG-7 rocket propelled grenades. In Bagram, at the runway there is bad weather. ==Kabul, Afghanistan == In Kabul, surveillance by SF and disdain by local forces as Iran's Khatami visits. This was the first visit to Afghanistan by an...