Use of women combatants? Not a good idea

The Los Angeles Times has an article about Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani-born neuroscientist who appeared Tuesday in federal district court in New York. Human rights activists have claimed that she was originally 'disappeared' by Pakistani authorities five years ago, possibly at U.S. behest: "Siddiqui, who trained at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, initially dropped out of sight in 2003 in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, at a time when U.S. authorities wanted to question her about her suspected ties to al Qaeda... American officials said this week that Siddiqui had been arrested in Afghanistan last month and flown to the United States on Monday after recuperating from a gunshot wound that authorities said she suffered in a shootout after her capture... The Pakistani government has never acknowledged detaining Siddiqui and made no statement Tuesday about her arrest. However, its diplomats in the United States have sought consular access to her while she remains in U.S. custody, Pakistani officials said. Siddiqui appeared in court Tuesday to face accusations that she tried to kill U.S. soldiers and FBI personnel during an alleged struggle last month. Her lawyer, Elizabeth Fink, said Siddiqui hadn't received appropriate medical attention since being shot July 18, a charge denied by the government's lawyer... Pakistan's civilian government, which took office in March after dealing a stunning electoral defeat to the party of President Pervez Musharraf, has said it wants to move ahead with resolving missing-persons cases such as Siddiqui's. But the governing coalition, beset by infighting, has had a difficult time establishing any significant authority over Pakistan's intelligence establishment. Most of the missing are thought to be held under the auspices of the military or security agencies such as the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence... The politically explosive issue of the "disappeared" is entangled with what has become a drawn-out dispute over the restoration of judges fired last year by Musharraf, when he was still the country's military ruler. Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, who was among those dismissed by Musharraf, had been taking measures to help the missing-persons cases move forward. The governing coalition has been unable to agree on how and when to reinstate the fired judges, and most observers believe the current high court bench, which remains beholden to Musharraf, is unlikely to take strong steps regarding the "disappeared." The current judges "are unlikely to engage in judicial activism that would embarrass the army or intelligence".

Rico says he doesn't know why anyone's surprised at any of this...