> seems like that was as much or more in the minds of their captives,
> but don't you think this use of women in interrogation only reinforces
> any prejudices the prisoners might actually have? who is the greater
> enemy of women?
Probably a toss-up. (As in toss up your cookies.) But I haven't yet found any explanation of this apparent belief in so many (not all) Islamic cultures that the mere sight of female flesh has such enormous power over men. I'd really like to see such an explanation. AFAIK, it's not really a part of Islam as a religion; it seems to go back before Mohammed, so it has some other source.
>
> i also find it interesting that you focus on this, rather than, say,
> jack straw's insistence that their release does not "prove" their
> innocence.
I think one news report I saw said that some British police agency or other checked them out and quickly concluded that there was nothing to charge them with.
Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org __________________________________ When I was a little boy, I had but a little wit, 'Tis a long time ago, and I have no more yet; Nor ever ever shall, until that I die, For the longer I live the more fool am I. -- Wit and Mirth, an Antidote against Melancholy (1684)