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In the aftermath of the September 11th 2001 attacks, the Bush administration immediately began making a connection between the Al Qaeda network and Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Eventually the decision was made to launch a war in Afghanistan in retaliation for the attacks. The ruling Taliban regime’s systematic oppression of women provided one convenient justification for the Afghan war. Nearly a year and a half later, President George W Bush launched a second war on Iraq, also drawing attention to the mistreatment of Iraqi women under Saddam Hussein. Yet, the American occupations of both nations have led to a worsening of women’s rights and today, on this tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, we examine how Afghan and Iraqi women view the wars launched partly in their names, and how terror has only increased for women as a result of the wars.

GUESTS: Reena, a member of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA), Houzan Mahmoud, representative of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI).

Find out more at www.rawa.org and www.equalityiniraq.org.

This interview was broadcast nationally, as part of Pacifica Radio’s National Coverage of the Tenth Anniversary of the 9/11 Attacks