Joan Jacobs Brumberg, identified as a historian and author at Cornell University, and Jacquelyn Jackson, a women's health advocate, have such narrow views that they really think U.S. culture is as oppressive to women as Taliban's extremist Islamic culture.

"The female body - covered in a burqa or uncovered in a bikini - is a subtle subtext in the war against terrorism... Whether it's the dark, sad eyes of a woman in purdah or the anxious, darkly circled eyes of a girl with anorexia nervosa, the woman trapped inside needs to be liberated from cultural confines in whatever form they take. The burqa and the bikini represent opposite ends of the political spectrum but each can exert a noose-like grip on the psyche and physical health of girls and women."

Brumberg and Jackson need to get a grip. Anorexia nervosa is a medical condition, not government policy.

What really represents opposite ends of the political spectrum is the freedom and opportunities American women have in how they live their lives, compared to the slavery Afghan women lived under during the Taliban's reign of terror.