A witness who actually knew and lived with her for her last two weeks of life and was her best friend, is to be discounted because she is Muslim, whereas testimony from some teenage classmates reporting gossip and hearsay is to be taken as gospel? Who's being credulous now?

If you want to go on facts (inconvenient and difficult, I know) instead of ideology, there is this amazing little thing called "Google" where if you type in something like "Aqsa Parvez" you get back quite a bit of information. Here is another hit: http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=169790, it even has a picture of her, and quite a bit more information, which makes it sound less and less like an honour killing: most of the quarrels seem to have been about her skipping classes, not skipping hijab. Indeed, her four, yes four, older sisters did not wear the hijab, at least on a regular basis, and appeared to have no problem with dad.

But hey, you think it's sloppy reporting, you should write the National Post, Canada's other national (and quite right wing I might add) newspaper and explain to them (try and keep the patronizing tone down, it might help) that they don't know what they are talking about.

Oh, and incidentally, good little Abrahamists HONOUR their parents, submission is for god, ever read the bible you wanker?

I told you so.

Stern lecture by way of saving face, and you can bet some judges are going to get some behind-the-scene talkings to (and perhaps repostings to some shithole on the Yemeni border), but the case is wound up, everybody goes home happy. Wait a day or two and you'll see Bush taking credit too, I bet, and in this case it might actually be partly true.

Of course her life is still in danger from her family, or maybe not, the "attempt" to kill her by her brother may well have been pretty pro forma, just to save face, and designed to fail, wouldn't be at all surprised; similarly with the suicide attempt. She is likely to be regarded as damaged goods henceforward and unlikely to get married. Well, unless her family has money, then all bets are off naturally (though this will likely mean a bigger dowry will be required).

And of course Shi'ite Saudis are going to remain at high risk from the Saudi "justice" system, and women who can't draw international ire are going to continue to find themselves experiencing massive and perverse injustice. And the international press is going to find getting visas for the Kingdom just got a lot harder.

What everybody knows who is watching is that the Saudi regime is probably unsustainable, and when it goes down, as it almost certainly will, (might have already if the oil prices weren't so high) things are going to be a real mess. I mean a real mess.

Arms don't necessarily prop up a regime when those wielding them are using them against the regime, or at anyrate not in the regime's defence. Arms are irrelevant. And the absolutely worst possible outcome imaginable would be US intervention in Saudi (remember, it was the presence of US bases on Saudi soil that got bin Laden all whipped up in the first place). Major US intervention on sacred Arabian soil would provoke a result that would make Iraq and 9/11 itself look like picnics. Very small dainty picnics.

The idea that the al Saud family somehow or other keeps a lid on or mediates the Wahabi fanatics and should therefore be tolerated or even propped up is a card that the family has been playing right from the beginning in the 30s. In fact, as this case demonstrates, they are (and always have) been supporting and feeding Wahabism along; it is so useful to them you see. I don't know if Wahabis would replace them; most of the Saudi citizenry has gotten awfully used to money and might find the Wahabi approach rather too austere. One way or another, there would be a protracted and very nasty civil war, with a great deal of outside intervention.

It is so awful to contemplate that everybody leaves the al Sauds in place. But like I said, at some point the music is going to stop.

In young women with eating disorders, it is amazing how often repairing their relationships with their fathers is a critical part of successful therapy. I have been struck by how many of them have issues with their fathers. So the story actually makes a certain amount of sense.

Standards are really starting to slip in Iran, all over the place.

Now would be a really good time for Bush & the rest to back off putting pressure on Iran. The theocracy is in deep trouble, the population is heartily sick of the mullahs, and the probably the only way they will be able to stay in power over the next few years is if the population feels threatened and/or humiliated by the West.

It is ironic really, the Iranian theocracy will be brought down by the same forces that essentially brought down the Soviet Union: MTV & HBO, Jordache & Hugo Boss, Maxim & Cosmo, etc. There is no ideology that can stand up to the power of Western crap consumer culture, if given long enough to work its magic.