What is "W" for again?

The rights of women and all human beings can be assured only within the framework of freedom and democracy. If people aren't free, it is likely that women will be suppressed. Human rights are defined by a constitution; they're defended by an impartial rule of law; they're secured in a pluralistic society. The advance of women's rights and the advance of liberty are ultimately inseparable.

—President Bush, March 12 in a speech recognizing International Women’s Day

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The bodies of three Afghan women, including one who was working for a Bangladeshi non-governmental aid group, have been found by authorities. The women had been raped, strangled with a rope, and dumped, with responsibility for the murder of the aid worker being claimed by a group calling itself Afghan Youths Convention.

Aid workers in Afghanistan have been the target of Taliban insurgents, especially in the insurgency-plagued south and east of the country, but the three women were found in the northern province of Baghlan, where Taliban rebels are not active.

"This is retribution for those women who are working in [non-governmental organizations] and those who are involved in whoredom," said a Western security official, citing the warning, a copy of which he had obtained.

The note was found attached to the chest of one of the dead women, he said.

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President Bush is firmly committed to the empowerment in education and health of women around the world. The President knows that women are vital to democracy and important for the development of all countries. And he has three very strong women at home who won't let him forget it.

—First Lady Laura Bush, introducing her husband on March 12

Mrs. Bush, it’s time to remind him that abandoning Afghanistan before anything resembling a real democracy took hold was as good as leaving its women for dead. And if he’s not going to do anything to stop the madness that leaves women who try to help other women mutilated and murdered, then the very least he can do is stop claiming a success on behalf of Afghani women.

W is not for women. Warmonger, maybe.