What you can do for Iraq

Regular readers know how much I love Women for Women International. Today I love them that much more: After deteriorating security in Iraq last year forced program cuts, Women for Women is restarting its full program to help Iraqi women. They've got 500 women who need sponsors this month to provide year's worth of job skills, rights training, direct aid and small-business help. The group plans to help a thousand more Iraqi women next year.

Security is still a serious issue in Iraq. Unlike Women for Women's programs in other countries, there will be no letter exchanges, no last names, and probably no photos from Iraq. But these women will still get help to rebuild their lives.

When I think about what it would be like to live in a country that's so unstable and violent that my correspondence could endanger my life, and when I think about how that situation came to be, I feel sick. I want to help. I want a woman in Iraq to know from experience that an American woman cares about her and wants her to be safe and successful.

Think of it as a charitable act or as a self-interested resentment-mitigation project, but please think about participating and tell them I sent you.