Daniel Pipes writes:
To remind, both garments are designed for the modesty of Muslim females; the niqab covers all but the eyes and the burqa covers the entire face. In "Ban the Burqa – and the Niqab Too," two years ago, I documented how these two items pose criminal and terrorist dangers.
Is that still the case?Criminality: Jordan
offers a glimpse into the potential for niqabs and burqas as illegal
accessories: one news report indicates that 50 people committed 170
crimes using Islamic garments during the past two years, or roughly one
incident every four days, a crime wave that has prompted some
Jordanians to call for restricting or even banning these Islamic head
coverings.
No other country reports nearly so many head-garment-related crimes, but Philadelphia, Pennsylvania boasts multiple robberies (3 banks and 1 real estate leasing office) in a sixteen-month period in 2007-08, including the murder of a police officer. . .
Pipes goes on to cite incident after incident of crimes and terrorist attacks occurring around the world. Pretty fascinating, if dismaying, reading.
Pipes concludes:
(For greater detail on all these incidents, see my weblog entry, "The Niqab and Burqa as Security Threats.")
I have previously called for a ban on "these hideous, unhealthy, socially divisive, terrorist-enabling, and criminal-friendly garments" from public places. Now joining with fed-up Jordanians, I reiterate that call. Islam requires that women wear neither niqab nor burqa, while public welfare emphatically requires their public prohibition. How many more cases of robbery and terrorism must occur for this common-sense stricture to be applied from Afghanistan and Jordan to the United Kingdom and Philadelphia?
Update: On a somewhat different theme, Phyllis Chesler takes Naomi Wolf to task for supporting the burqa. Update 2: Jamie Glazov demolishes Naomi Wolf who had objected to Chesler and Glazov's representations. It's a devastating, stunning response.