Having traveled to parts of the world where war has done its usual nasty work on people's lives, I have come to develop a particular hatred for the shape, the look, the sound of the AK-47.

News reports don't look at the land that existed before a war and the land that exists after a war. Reporting on war is a snapshot in time.

When men talk about war, the stories and terminology vary - it's this battle, these weapons, this terrain. But no matter where you go in the world, women use the same language to speak of war. They speak of fire, they speak of death, and they speak of starvation.

Combat is a piece of war. But war is a totalizing, uncivilized experience.

When you strengthen women, you strengthen the world.

I think if we understand better the impact of war on women and children, we might be more careful about the wars we start.