[soc.feminism] NOW urges gulf withdrawal

sjones@batserver.cs.uq.oz.au (Susan Jones) (01/15/91)

Someone sent me an article, which I believe appeared in the Washington
Post last month, and I thought it would be interesting to pass it on
(though a withdrawal at this point doesn't seem the least bit likely):

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"NOW Urges Gulf Withdrawal"
Knight-Ridder

Comparing the way Saudi Arabia and Kuwait treat women to South
Africa's apartheid policy of racial separation, the National
Organization for Women yesterday called for an immediate withdrawal of
U.S. troops from the Persian Gulf.

"Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are despotic, clan-run monarchies," said NOW
President Molly Yard.  "Both... systematically oppress women.  This is
gender apartheid in its purest, most brutal form and should deeply
offend all Americans."

Yard expressed particular wrath at restrictions the Saudi monarchy has
insisted be placed on female GIs sent to protect Saudi Arabia from
possible Iraqi aggression.

"We would be outraged if the administration sent American troops to
defend South Africa from invasion, ordering black soldiers to 'respect
the culture' by bowing their heads in the presence of white racists,"
Yard said at a news conference on the NOW resolution.  "The oppressive
regimes of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are not worth the sacrifice of
American lives."

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Susan

gazit@cs.duke.edu (Hillel Gazit) (01/16/91)

In article <6695@uqcspe.cs.uq.oz.au> sjones@batserver.cs.uq.oz.au (Susan Jones) writes:
>Yard said at a news conference on the NOW resolution.  "The oppressive
>regimes of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are not worth the sacrifice of
>American lives."

Sure.

But the war is about oil, and defending these rotten regimes is the
cheapest (in *American* lives) way to get that oil.  :-(

Follow-up to talk.politics.misc.