Via The Daily Kos, Reuters reports that a survey of NGOs in Iraq reveals that women's rights were more respected under Saddam Hussein's government that today. A large part of the regression is the influence of conservative Islamic clergy and their insistence on following the Shari'a, a traditional body of Islamic Law that denigrates the role of women in the public realm and restricts them to chattel status.

Another entirely predictable outcome of Bush's crusade for democracy.

IRAQ: Women were more respected under Saddam, say women's groups