ìHer Virtual Prison: ëInside the Kingdomí by Carmen bin Laden,î by Danielle Crittenden, Wall Street Journal, 29 July, p. D8.

ìThe New Macho: Feminism,î by Barbara Ehrenreich, New York Times, 29 July, p. A27.

Good review of book by Saudi ex-pat who once was the wife of Osama bin Laden's brother. The portrait painted is basically that of a women kept as a breeding pet in a totally male-defined culture:

Rarely could she leave the houseórarely, even, did she see sunlight. Courtyards had to be cleared of male servants before she could poke her head outside: she was not even permitted to cross the street alone to visit a relative. When she did venture out, she had to wear a choking abaya and thick socks to hide her ankles. "It was like carrying a jail on your back," she writes.

Interesting comparison. Reading the excerpts in this book reminded me of nothing so much as the descriptions of life inside a super-max federal prison for hardcore criminals. One is now located in my hometown of Boscobel WI and the prisoners there are completely invisible to the town just outside its walls. Prison-reform advocates say the isolating treatments are so cruel that they naturally drive the inmates down pathways of mental illness over time.

Barbara Ehrenreich hits a politically-incorrect nail on the head when she writes that "Many women have nothing to lose but their chains" inside such Gap regions as the Middle East. In her mind, the most incendiary (and Democrat-friendly) counterterrorism is feminism in our foreign policy, which frankly has been missing in action primarily because of the influence of the anti-abortion crowd in this country.

Yes, Democrats would risk the "girlie man" charge from tough-guy Republicans like Arnold, but when push comes to shove, we have to admit to ourselves that making globalization truly global will mostly be about liberating the women of the Gap and killing the hardcore males who stand in the way.