Nice to see you Yilgun...May I ask what the significance is to the colors in your list of old friends?

I love Ms. Muazzez Ýlmiye Çýð....thank you for mentioning her here.

Her website...

I´d love to read more of her research. I might point out just what or who an Arab is...or who anyone is seems to be fluid. The  fact of the matter is ancient Sumer was in what is now Arab land.....

"Iraq was home to the earliest known civilization on Earth, the Sumerian civilization, which arose in the fertile Tigris-Euphrates river valley of southern Iraq in the mid 6th millennium BC."

........some Lebanese call themselves Phoenecians..which is interesting because it seems to me there are quite a few others who could call themselves by the same name. Map

FWIW.....I have even met some who claim to be Assyrians......Hmmm....I wonder what their relationship is to Assyria....What´s in a name...evidently....quite a lot!.......I guess the name dictates the sweetness of the smell......for some.

Wrong....actually that´s what I thought, but....the word burqa is an Arabic word.

"Taken from the Arabic word ´برقع´ which exactly means face cover with eye openings. It does not mean the whole black dress. The black dress is called Abaya"

Both the scultures show a burqa....or what you would call a niqab....and abaya.........I think the point of the original source of this discourse was the objection to the obstruction of identity....as caused by face covering....and in particular the claim that it is demanded by Islam.

The sculptures show this tradition was in practice long before the advent of Islamic civilization, and as such did not have origins in Islam.

.............and for your interest, I have seen, and actually have a burqa....and a niqab....and an abaya....not that I wear them.....and for those who don´t like Wikipedia....this information was told to me in person by more than a few persons native to the Arabian  Gulf.

I beg to differ with you all here.  By what ever name you call it, please look here at this 2nd or 3rd Century BC Hellenistic:

Bronze Statuette 

or this one from the first Century AD Roman :
Palmyran Statue Fragment of a Veiled Dancer

You can, and I suggest you do, zoom in very close in, particular eyes area.  If you do you will see these garment is almost an exact duplicate of garments worn in Arabia today.

Hmmm you do have some smarts, even if you are a Texan...gdrvf

(Grinning, Ducking and Running Very Fast)

I would like to add that no amount of money will guarantee good care.

Below are a couple of cases of a lot of money, but little love.....

Doris Duke

Howard Hughes

The term terrorism isn´t even defined. What is it? From what I can see, it´s all a matter of rather subjective definition.

The word "terrorism" is politically and emotionally charged, and this greatly compounds the difficulty of providing a precise definition. A 2003 study by Jeffrey Record for the US Army quoted a source (Schmid and Jongman 1988) that counted 109 definitions of terrorism that covered a total of 22 different definitional elements. Record continues "Terrorism expert Walter Laqueur also has counted over 100 definitions and concludes that the ´only general characteristic generally agreed upon is that terrorism involves violence and the threat of violence.´ Yet terrorism is hardly the only enterprise involving violence and the threat of violence. So does war, coercive diplomacy, and bar room brawls. Angus Martyn in a briefing paper for the Australian Parliament states that "The international community has never succeeded in developing an accepted comprehensive definition of terrorism. During the 1970s and 1980s, the United Nations attempts to define the term foundered mainly due to differences of opinion between various members about the use of violence in the context of conflicts over national liberation and self-determination. For this and for political reasons, many news sources (such as Reuters) avoid using this term, opting instead for less accusatory words like "bombers," "militants," etc.

........in a sense, much of our present day problems  boil down to a lack of respect, respect for the rights of others.  Selfishness in combination with ability of present day humanity....we over and over again perpetuate thoughtless actions.

We are destroying ourselves and the whole world with this.  Whole species are becoming extinct.  We have ability, but not the wisdom to properly manage our "intellegence".

We need to realize we are all in this together......

Ecological Destruction........

"This ecological damage also endangers human health by turning parasites into "evolutionary land mines."

While looking for info on this, I found this....

Of women the pope and veils....

Look....even Nancy Reagan, Laura Bush and Queen Elizabeth are wearing veils!  I must admit, they are not the all covering burqas though. ....but one can see the link to an older tradition.

Here is a photo of Jackie Kennedy at the funeral of JFK......in her widow veil