Check out the pictures of Laura Bush on a visit to the Middle East at A Tangled Web. I'm pleased she didn't succumb to the pressure to cover any more of herself than American standards of decency require (unlike, oh, say, Nancy Pelosi and Julia Carson).

The part that slays me is the multicultural apologists who say these women are just "modestly dressed" and it's better than the alternative, which is to dress like Paris Hilton/Britney Spears. That's always the example of the alternative to the burqa. So much for "liberals" being better at tolerating ambiguity and flexibility...millions of women around the world go out every day dressed neither like streetwalkers nor like slipcovered furniture--and I'm sure there are "sex workers" who wear more clothes to the office than Ms. Spears. I'm always "modestly dressed" in jeans and T-shirts or sweatshirts, but since my hair and face are always visible, and occasionally my arms show above the wrists, I'd be at risk for an arrest and/or beating. Even though, believe you me, the "passions" of straight men are not "enflamed" by the sight of my hair.

Bleah.