OK, so it’s a bit of a stretch to put this under babes of politics, but I think you’ll let this one go:

Pounding a beat, pistol in hand, an Iraqi woman soldier is a novelty in Baghdad:

Pounding her Baghdad beat, wrapped in a bulletproof vest and brandishing a pistol, Sgt. Bushra Jabar definitely stands out in the new Iraq.

She’s the only woman in the Iraqi Army unit patrolling the Kharkh district in the heart of the capital.

…

Her day starts with a ride to her base in the back of a military pickup truck. She’s wearing a tight orange blouse, her fingernails painted black with white dots, her jet-black hair flowing in the wind. Occasionally she waves her pistol at other vehicles to get out of the way.

There’s an amazing picture in my local paper’s version of the AP story that I wanted to post, but I can’t seem to find it online yet. I’ll update this post when they (hopefully) get around to putting the image up.

UPDATE: OK, here we go:

Pickup? Check. Gun? Check. Babe? Triple-check.