IRAQI SHEILAS WITH GUNS

Iraqi security firms are employing an effective new weapon, armed females:

As insurgent and terrorist groups become more proficient in the use of roadside bombs and ambushes, security companies increasingly are finding armored vehicles bristling with automatic weapons are less effective for protecting passengers than low-profile convoys disguised to blend into regular traffic.

That impression, the companies find, is enhanced by the presence of a modestly dressed woman in the front seat next to the driver, appearing to be a housewife out for a drive with her husband.

"We are a low-profile security convoy company. We do our best not to be discovered, and part of that is using women," said Mr. Karam, a veteran of the Lebanon civil war. "We never have been hit while they were with us."

His company initially hired eight women for the duty, four of whom remain on staff. And it has recognized that the women need to be as ready as the men to defend themselves in the event of attack.

"We train them all together, women and men. They are treated as equals."

Ain't the market at work a thing to behold.