This article titled “CBS News’s Lara Logan suffered ‘brutal’ attack in Tahrir Square” was written by Richard Adams, for guardian.co.uk on Wednesday 16th February 2011 03.23 UTC

CBS News journalist Lara Logan is recovering in hospital this week after being violently attacked and sexually assaulted by a mob in Egypt’s Tahrir Square on Friday, according to a statement by CBS.

Amid the celebrations on the night of Hosni Mubarak’s resignation, Logan was reporting on the scenes in Tahrir Square for the news programme 60 Minutes when the South African-born journalist, her camera crew and security staff were overwhelmed by what the US television network described as “a dangerous element … a mob of more than 200 people whipped into frenzy”.

“In the crush of the mob, she was separated from her crew. She was surrounded and suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating before being saved by a group of women and an estimated 20 Egyptian soldiers,” CBS said in its statement released on Tuesday evening.

“She reconnected with the CBS team, returned to her hotel and returned to the United States on the first flight the next morning. She is currently in the hospital recovering.”

Logan joined CBS in 2002, after a television news career that included a spell at GMTV covering the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, and is a veteran of reporting from warzones including Iraq and Kosovo.

CBS’s chief foreign affairs correspondent, Logan had previously been detained by the Egyptian military for a day, as part of the Mubarak regime’s crackdown on foreign journalists.

Logan serves on the board of the Committee to Protect Journalists, which documented 140 attacks on journalists in Egypt during the protests this month.

“We have seen Lara’s compassion at work while helping journalists who have faced brutal aggression while doing their jobs. She is a brilliant, courageous and committed reporter. Our thoughts are with Lara as she recovers,” said Paul Steiger, chairman of the committee.

CBS said it will make no further comment. “Logan and her family respectfully request privacy at this time,” the network said in its statement.

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EMILY’s List President Stephani Schriock is claiming that the Republican Party is “anti-woman.” She also makes the absurd claim that the coming elections are likely reduce the number of women in Congress.

But as NewsBusters rightly points out, this election season has the largest number of female candidates ever. This is due to the unprecedented number of female Republican candidates — most of which Sarah Palin is backing.

It’s Stephanie Schriock and her phony ass EMILY’s List that’s really anti-woman. They think women are dumb puppets incapable of thinking for themselves. They don’t want women to have a choice in who they vote for or which party they belong to. They want women to toe the liberal line and think in unison.

Check out this trailer for a new movie from Citizens United (they made Hillary The Movie) about Conservative women in their own words. It’s called “Fire From The Heartland.”

This from Reuters:

Top Pentagon officials are calling for an end to the U.S. military’s historical ban on allowing women to serve in submarines.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the top U.S. military officer, advocated the policy change in written congressional testimony distributed by his office to reporters on Friday.

"I believe we should continue to broaden opportunities for women. One policy I would like to see changed is the one barring (women’s) service aboard submarines," Mullen said.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said he was "moving out aggressively on this."

"I am very comfortable addressing integrating women into the submarine force," Admiral Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations, said in a statement.

Women account for about 15 percent of the more than 336,000 members of the U.S. Navy and can serve on its surface ships. But critics have argued that submarines are different, pointing to cramped quarters where some crews share beds in shifts.

The military has proven itself to be a very adaptable organization over the years and I predict this will be no different. As I’ve said many times, no branch of the military should be off-limits to women. That includes frontline combat roles in the Special Forces. Any woman who wishes to become a Navy SEAL and is physically able to complete the training should be given the opportunity to serve.

The NY Times has an interesting piece about women in today’s military. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have forced gender integration well beyond what was originally intended — with surprisingly good results.

I’m very glad to see women for the most part doing well in the military. The contribution that women make to the armed forces is absolutely essential and should never be taken for granted.

As The Times article points out, women are increasingly seeing front-line combat action, something that was unthinkable in past wars. Cultural sensitivities require women to be part of combat patrols and other missions so the female soldiers can frisk and search female locals.

It’s not uncommon to see women sitting atop the .50 gun turret in a Humvee ready to shred the enemy at a moments notice. This too, is a good thing.

I think partial gender integration is a sham. Women should have the opportunity to do anything in the military that men do. Women should be allowed to become Navy SEALs or Army Special Forces if they so choose.

If a women can meet the physical requirements to become a special operator, why should she not be allowed to?

The old theory that combat soldiers simply can’t cope with seeing women blown apart on the battlefield is false. The two wars we’re currently fighting have unfortunately seen many women blown apart.

Soldiers don’t like to see their brothers or sisters blown apart in battle, but women have every right to be combat soldiers or special ops soldiers if they so choose.

Via AFP:

A rampaging mob in western Kenya burnt 15 women accused of witchcraft to death, a local official and villagers told AFP Wednesday.

“This is unacceptable. People must not take the law into their own hands simply because they suspected someone,” said Mwangi Ngunyi, the head of Nyamaiya district. “We will hunt the suspects down,” he added.