What's the connection?

After reading about the complex political status of women in Iraq during the regime of Sadam Hussein and also about the lack of civil liberties and personal and political freedoms within Iraq during that same time, do you perceive any connections between the democratic freedom (democratic being defined very broadly here) of a country and the political status of women in that country? In other words, are countries that systematically deny women the same rights as men more likely to be non-democratic governments/dictatorships?  If so, what do you think the connection is? If you don't think there is a connection, explain why not. Please cite examples from the text, but you are also allowed to use your outside knowledge of other countries' governments and political practices to inform your thinking.

Despotism or Patriotism?

In Chapter 3, Zainab writes "After a while I could hear no single voice, not even my own. I was part of a united whole, doing what our leader wanted us to do: march and shout. I turned my brain off and shifted to automatic pilot, one of the thousands upon thousands of young Iraqis marching for Saddam Hussein.  Sometimes our whole school would empty out and join others for massive demonstrations through the streets of Baghdad, and I would slip away in the confusion." (60)

Zainab's knowledge of the horrific events that occur in later years seems to inform the way that she describes scenes like the one above.  In other words, she sees sinister and manipulative tendencies of her president clearly in retrospect, and is inclined to see those tendencies everywhere. Are you inclined to see despotism everywhere just as she does, or are there moments that she frames as examples of tyranny and despotism that might have seemed like something else at the time (such as the passage above)?  How does this narrative of oppression and dictatorship shape the telling of Zainab's memoir thus far? Is she able to separate events from that narrative, or are the events simply evidence to support that narrative? Or is she unable to avoid the narrative of oppression because it genuinely dominates her daily life? 

Please be sure to cite specific examples from any of the three chapters we've read thus far as you explain your answer to the above question. 

Truth in Journalism

After reading the various articles from The New York Times, what are your thoughts and reactions to the ways in which truth, fact, context, general information and personal experience are expressed and conveyed through journalism? Please refer to specific examples from the articles to illustrate and explain your reactions.