Talk and throw money at it: A “feminized” solution!

From the Guardian UK: Muslim women could play a vital role in tackling terrorism in the UK and abroad, a study by the thinktank Demos claimed today.

The report argues that the “bridge building” and communication abilities of women should be better harnessed as a force for good in Muslim communities following the London bombings.

The study, entitled Hearts and Minds, calls for Muslim community women’s groups, or “mothers’ meetings”, to be encouraged and given funds by the government. It says such groups could become intermediaries with public bodies, and “forums where issues and grievances within the community are raised and resolved”.

The authors, conflict resolution experts Scilla Elworthy and Gabrielle Rifkind, also argue for more “feminised” security services, with more women police officers and intelligence agents. Following the July 7 attacks, they call for officials to ensure that the police and other public agencies also employ women liaison officers “to act as a point of contact with women in Muslim communities”.

The experts set out to examine the psychology and underlying causes of terrorism.

They argue: “The perpetrators of terror are overwhelmingly male. Yet women can bring striking results in areas of conflict, since they are known to be effective communicators and to have a natural talent for building bridges.

“It’s high time we feminised our approach to security, by actively encouraging women to introduce their particular ways of doing things into all our efforts to deal with terrorism.”

I’m speechless. Here comes the Oprah Segment of the War on Terror. Sit down, talk, cry a little, have a low-fat nosh, blame the men, particularly – you know, BushBlairHoward – and let the Muslim women go tell their husbands and sons what to do. Maybe let’s get a make-over going one afternoon – take the women out of their hajibs, put a little rouge on ’em, and get them looking fabulous! Then their men will stop suppressing them and “honor-killing” their daughters. You know…they’ll just listen to ’em and stop blowing people up!

Actually, that’s not what’s troubling. What’s troubling is that Amir Taheri is thinking that London might be flirting with an idea of appeasement. Taheri offers no examples, but just listening to George Galloway and Red Ken Livingstone give you the idea.

Appeasement!

Why didn’t Churchill think of that? Oh, right…Chamberlain had already tried it. But then, he didn’t have Oprah on hand…no wonder it didn’t work out.

H/T for both stories, Lucianne.com