Two weeks ago, Iraqi Zeyad reported that Baghdad's Ministry of Justice announced an anulment of Governing Council Resolution 137, the Islamist back door for oppressive Sharia law. Officially, that repeal has taken place in the Governing Council, causing five reactionary Council members to walk out in protest. (Twenty are left, so a quorum likely remains.) The ramifications of such a vote - namely the modern rights of women - are absent from headlines. Truth be told, the beleaguered New York Times is among the few newspapers to print an article correctly identifying this vote as a victory for modernity:

Under many interpretations of Islamic law, a woman's right to divorce and inheritance are strictly limited. Some interpretations of Islamic law also allow polygamy, as well as permit men to marry girls. Many Iraqi women expressed concern at the legislation, and Mr. Bremer did not sign it, preventing it from taking effect. Some of the women on the Governing Council, however, vowed to repeal the legislation, in part to send a message to a future sovereign Iraqi government. On Friday, the council, led by Dr. Raja Habib Khuzai, a female Shiite member of the council, voted to repeal the law.

The title? Even better: "Iraqi Women 1, Islamists 0." On this story, the New York Times 1, free press 0.