Fox Spin Point #422: Bash Howard Dean, Even When He Speaks the Truth
Reported by Janie - August 16, 2005
Yesterday (8/15) on Dayside, guest-host Mike Jerrick conducted a short segment discussing a comment made by Howard Dean on the rights of Iraqi women with regular guests Rich Lowery and Ellis Henican.
Mike began: Some folks questioning progress in Iraq, on CBS Face the Nation, DNC chairman Howard Dean had this to say:
Dean: It looks like today, and this could change, it looks like today women could be worse off in Iraq then they were when Sadaam Hussein was president of Iraq
MJ: How about that comment? Lets start with you Rich. Whoa! What a comment! Just respond to it!
RL: Its pretty outrageous, I mean, no one had rights in Sadaam Husseins government. It was a totalitarian state, and women in Baghdad had to fear one of Sadaams sons, Uday or Qusay, snatching them off the street and raping them. We are going to end up with something better than Saddam Husseins Iraq. The problem is, Democrats cant seem to get their mind around that.
Comment: Jerrick began by, once again, bashing DNC chair Howard Dean, despite the legitimacy of his comments. According to the BBC, just last month, over 200 women protested in Baghdad over their well-founded fear of losing rights that they did have under Saddam. One Iraqi woman is quoted as saying: "We are worried that the interpretation of Sharia law will take us backward and that people will think that, regarding women, the era of Saddam Hussein was better".
Lest we forget, Saddam's regime was not only totalitarian, but was also rather secular. Under the new Constitution, women's testimony in court would only amount to one-half of that of a man, a woman would no longer have say as to whether her husband can take on a second wife, only men would be allowed to petition for a divorce, women would lose inheritance rights, and most importantly, women are in fear of losing a quota that was put in place that demanded one-quarter of parliament seats be given to women.
And all Rich Lowery could come up with was Dean is nuts, and hey! At least they aren't being raped?
