U.S. in the Middle East

Ross Douthat (NYT March 29)  gives a good analysis of what the U.S. is doing in the Middle East. What we do not debate or even discuss is the basic assumption that the U.S. must be the dominant power in this area. But why should we dominate an area so far from our borders? It is well known that the reason is the oil companies’ desire to make big profits there. How would we feel if Syrian or Iranian companies got big profits from the wheat and corn farms in the Midwest?

Headscarves

            There is controversy about Moslem women and girls wearing  headscarves, Although they live in western countries where it is an unusual custom.  They believe they do it to show that they are devout Moslems.

            Unfortunately, the headscarves  have a deeper meaning.  A tradition in the Mid East that is much older than Islam, but which was taken over by Islam and made a key element of its structure was that women are a lower grade of human being than men and that every woman must  be owned by a man.  The owner of course wants to keep his property for his own enjoyment and does not want anybody else to see her.  Hence in Moslem countries women are totally covered up from head to toe.

            It is absurd for an American woman or teen aged girl to be dressed just like the others but with a headscarf.  I don’t see why any woman or girl would want to proclaim to the world:  “I am an inferior being and am owned by a man.”