Sorry I wrecked the other thread completely, this is for anyone that has issues (as most right minded people would) with the practise. Like many other practises that muslims perpetuate this is a cultural inheritance, NOT faith inspired or "ordained":

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6176340.stm

Asside from the obvious things that are disturbing in that article, what got me was that everyone in that article kept saying "doctors should ultimately decide whether the practice was necessary or correct."

Yeah, let's ask the doctors who have been performing the mutilation, and obviously havn't had any problems with it up until now, if it's right or wrong. /rolleyes

That's the big issue, it's socially accepted as something that needs to/should be done. Even now sati (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sati_%28practice%29) is practised in parts of India, thankfully to a tiny extent but it does still happen.

As a species we do some appalling things to each other, they're all justified one way or another in the eyes of the perpetrator.

I'm not saying that muslim countries don't have issues that need addressing, just that a lot of them aren't directly related to the fact that they're muslim.