A journalist had done a story on gender roles in Kuwait several years before the Gulf War, and noted then that women customarily walked about 10 feet behind their husbands. She returned to Kuwait recently and observed that the men now walked several yards behind their wives. He approached one of the women for an explanation. “This is wonderful,” said the reporter. “What enabled women here to achieve this reversal of roles?” To which the Kuwaiti woman replied: “Landmines.”