Great words from Oliver North about the Annapolis Peace Conference. Ralph Peters has also commented that the war in the Middle East is largely about women’s rights.

from Foxnews http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,313964,00.html

If the Annapolis Conference “peace process” is to work, President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have to focus on five issues that are far more crucial than drawing lines on a map — and convince the Mideast “moderates” involved of their importance.

First, the “Arab Street” must be reminded regularly that jihadist masterminds like Ahmadinejad, bin Laden, Nasrallah and Haniyeh aren’t eager to find martyrdom. To the extent they can, they remain on the run and in hiding, relegating the “glory” of exploding bodies to their followers and their followers’ children. Those followers need to be constantly reminded that their leaders are cowards.

Second, Muslim moderates have to point out to their people that the radical Islamic terrorists in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere may be able to construct car bombs, use cell phones as detonators, and know how to use AK-47s, RPGs, and video cameras to record their atrocities. But none of them are capable of building a car, a cell phone, a camera or even a relatively simple automatic rifle. They can blow up a generating station, but couldn’t make a light bulb. The people of the Mideast need to know that “jihadists” seeking to “drive out the infidels” are destroyers not builders.

Third, conference participants need to tell the people in their own countries that they are not ashamed to be friends of America — that Americans have brought freedom and opportunity to hundreds of millions around the globe. They need to remind their countrymen that Americans send their young people around the world not to fight for gold or oil or colonial conquest — but to offer others the hope of freedom; that Christianity, Judaism and individual liberty aren’t threats to Islam — only to the power of the radical Islamists.

Fourth, those at Annapolis need to know that Islamic radicals like bin Laden, the theo-fascist regime in Tehran and terror kingpins like Nasrallah and Haniyeh count on an illiterate and impoverished citizenry that can be incited to frenzy or suicidal terror by defaming Jews or Americans. The palliative for this misery-driven fury is education — real education — not the indoctrination of a madrassa. Teaching young Muslims math, science, medicine, accounting and law will give them tools to live better instead of reasons to die the “right way” by killing an “infidel.”

Finally, and perhaps most important, the conference participants must offer Muslim women real rights — and soon.In far too many places women are not allowed to have their own bank accounts, use a cell phone In far too many places women are not allowed to have their own bank accounts, use a cell phone and participate in political debate or to vote. Radical Islamic courts treat girls as young as nine as adults, subject women to death by stoning for adultery and permit female genital mutilation.

Countries and regions ruled by radical Islamists don’t permit women to travel unless escorted by a male relative, limit the availability of medical care and forbid access to higher education. In far too many places women are not allowed to have their own bank accounts, use a cell phone, and participate in political debate or to vote.

Just before the December, 2005 election in Iraq, Mamun Rashid, governor of Al Anbar Province, told me, “this election will change everything because women are going to vote.”
When I asked him why that would change things in Iraq, he replied, “Because women don’t vote to have their sons become suicide bombers.” Nearly half the ballots in the 2005 election were cast by women.

The American troops I’m heading off to cover for FOX News understand this. They realize that the reduced violence in Iraq today can be attributed to much more than simply a “surge” in U.S. forces.

If a broader “peace process” is to work in the Middle East, then the Annapolis Conference participants need to be convinced that granting women the right to vote is essential. The best antidote for radical Islamic terror is a woman’s purple finger.

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