Good Article but Wanders Toward the End

Leave it to a Wellesley woman to blog about all articles about female empowerment. In the article, Women Ascend to Iraq's Elite Police Officer Corps by John Leland of the NY Times, 50 women graduated from Iraq's elite officer police academy. This is a huge step for Iraqi women, who had only been able to secure low level police jobs in the past. The officers were said to be given equal treatment as the men. However, they did not train with them. They also were not given residence on the academy. Some had to commute as early as 4am to attend. Members of the class only had positive comments about their enrollment. No one seems to be to phased by the threats they occasionally received from members of the community who disapprove of female officers. The class was mostly men, totaling about 1,050, but Colonel Twitchell of the US army says that 100 more women will be enrolled in the upcoming class.

The article was fairly strong. The lead was captivating and almost emotional. There was adequate coverage on the conditions the women were subjected to as opposed to the men. However, I would have like to see a little more explanation as to why 1) they weren't given residence on the base 2) why they decided to allow women to enroll in the academy this year as opposed to previous years. The ending was also very weak. It seemed like Leland had run out of things to say and decided instead to stick-in the number of U.S. deaths over the past 3 years to fill the article. It was very random, especially since the article isn't even about the US army.