Huffington Post: Let Women Wear the Hijab: The Emptiness of Obama's Cairo Speech, by Peter Daou:
I know many will gush over President Obama's Cairo speech and I'mlikely swimming against the tide of the media and my fellow Democratsand progressives. But reading the transcript, I was struck by twothings:
1. Aside from a few platitudes, it is disappointingly weak on human rights and specifically women's rights.
2. It betrays a naiveté, perhaps feigned, about how the Arab world works.
I sometimes preface my posts by explaining that my Mideastperspective is that of an American-Lebanese-Christian-Jew who grew upin Muslim West Beirut at the height (or should I say depth) of theLebanese civil war. The tumultuous and bloody intersection of religionsand geopolitical interests is painfully real to me.
…Take the issue of women's rights, addressed in Obama's Cairo speech with the most tepid language:
"The U.S. government has gone to court to protect the right of women and girls to wear the hijab, and to punish those who would deny it."
"I reject the view of some in the West that a woman who chooses tocover her hair is somehow less equal, but I do believe that a woman whois denied an education is denied equality. And it is no coincidencethat countries where women are well-educated are far more likely to beprosperous."…
Is that a joke?
With women being stoned, raped, abused, battered, mutilated, andslaughtered on a daily basis across the globe, violence that is sooften perpetrated in the name of religion, the most our president canspeak about is protecting their right to wear the hijab? Iwould have been much more heartened if the preponderance of the speechhad been about how in the 21st century, we CANNOT tolerate thepervasive abuse of our mothers and sisters and daughters.