Barbara Walters did a story on gender roles in Kuwait several years before the Gulf War. She noted that women customarily walked about 10 feet behind their husbands.

She returned to Kuwait recently and observed that men now walked several yards behind their wives. Ms. Walters approached one of the women and said, "This is marvelous. Can you tell the free world just what enabled women to achieve this reversal of roles?"

"Land mines," said the Kuwaiti woman.