However, Some Things Must Be Said, And

There Is One Islam, Unreformed, But Three Sets Of Muslims. Medina, Mecca, And. Dissidents, Reformers, Whatever You Want To Call Them. The First Group Are The Extremists And Fundamentalists, The Second The Great Mass Of Muslims Who Just Want To Live Their Lives In Peace, And The Third Are Reformers.

The West Is Duly Terrified. But It Should Not Be Surprised.

The Veil Deliberately Marks Women As Private And Restricted Property, Nonpersons. The Veil Sets Women Apart From Men And Apart From The World; It Restrains Them, Confines Them, Grooms Them For Docility. A Mind Can Be Cramped Just As A Body May Be, And A Muslim Veil Blinkers Both Your Vision And Your Destiny. It Is The Mark Of A Kind Of Apartheid, Not The Domination Of A Race But Of A Sex.

Most Unmarried Somali Girls Who Got Pregnant Committed Suicide. I Knew Of One Girl In Mogadishu Who Poured A Can Of Gasoline Over Herself In The Living Room, With Everyone There, And Burned Herself Alive. Of Course, If She Hadn't Done This, Her Father And Brothers Would Probably Have Killed Her Anyway.

It Was Friday, July 24, 1992, When I Stepped On The Train. Every Year I Think Of It. I See It As My Real Birthday: The Birth Of Me As A Person, Making Decisions About My Life On My Own. I Was Not Running Away From Islam, Or To Democracy. I Didn't Have Any Big Ideas Then. I Was Just A Young Girl And Wanted Some Way To Be Me; So I Bolted Into The Unknown.