Girls Gone Wild

Saddam Hussein, despite all his ills, gave these women many of their rights three decades ago, making Iraq the relatively progressive oasis of women’s rights in a highly conservative and repressive region … “We love Saddam Hussein very much,” says Arwa, 23, who was a senior in chemical engineering at Baghdad University before it was trashed by looters. “He was kind. We were safe, even when there were wars. He gave opportunities to Iraqi women. Now every dream is broken.” … The concept of female terrorists is hardly a matter of idle rhetoric. As Arwa’s mother proudly notes, two female suicide bombers have already blown themselves up to kill American soldiers in Iraq, while another woman with a rocket-propelled grenade launcher destroyed an American tank in Nasiriyah … thousands of female students regularly trained with army units during their summer school holidays. There are female student militias outside Iraq, as well. “Kloot Saddam,” an economics major living in Amman, Jordan, vows to return to join the Iraqi resistance like the estimated 7,000 Iraqis who crossed the border during the U.S.-led bombing campaign. Originally from Basra, she first went to military training camps at age 12.