The crucial factor may not be that Muslim schoolgirls were "bringing religion" into the schools, but that they were actively defying school officials. The secular state can accommodate certain "public" forms of religion, but it will not tolerate blatant religious opposition to state authority, however minor the gesture, however young the opponent.

From Early Warning

If the Bush administration got its way on Iraq, if it got its dream outcome, U.S. and Iraqi forces would suppress the violence, create neighborhood, town, city, governorate and national security and safety; the militias would be disarmed and the tribes suppressed, enfranchised and officially empowered; Iraqi armed forces and police would take control of all the nooks and crannies of the country; the Baghdad government would achieve national representation, delivering services and stability for all religious and ethnic factions, and develop equitable and fair sharing of services and resources; free speech and tolerance would flourish; the people would split with recalcitrant insurgents, terrorists, extremists, and bandits; justice would prevail and a free market would flourish; oil would flow; and a free and democratic Iraq would open up for a security alliance, buy American arms and goods, and finally host U.S. forces and bases as a "permanent" bulwark against Baathist socialism in Syria and Shi'a fundamentalism and radicalism in Iran.

Also from The Washington Post, Epidemics of genital shrinkage!