Issues of gender quality and abuse against women were an integral part of the rhetoric supporting the War on Terror. For instance, in a conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, then-President George W. Bush described the Taliban Government as follows: “There's no question the Taliban is the most repressive, backward group of people we have seen on the face of the Earth in a long period of time, including and particularly how they treat women.”[52] Such statements support Norwegian feminist scholar Berit von der Lippe's claim that protecting women and children is a common part of war rhetoric and has always been so. For her, "nation-states today have added the use of gender equality rhetoric, or a specific feminist rhetoric, to this scenario in order to mobilize support for war."[53] This argument is further supported by other feminists, such as Angela Davis — a Black feminist and anti-racist scholar — who critiqued this as a hijacking of feminism in order to promote military aggression and dubbed it as the George and Laura Bush version of feminism.[54] For these scholars, the idea of America invading other countries in order to liberate Muslim women is part of a frame of mind which hierarchizes cultures. According to scholar Sherene Razack, “saving Muslim women from the excesses of their society marks Western men and women as more civilized.”[55] In other words, the War on Terror had the rhetorical basis of a civilizing mission - America had to bring 'modernity' to the Middle East.