Bill Clinton: 'Prophet would have let wife behind wheel'

The Times of India ^ | January 19 2004 | Reuters

[knighthawk]

JEDDAH: Former US President Bill Clinton urged Saudi Arabia on Monday to push ahead with reforms, saying the deeply conservative Muslim kingdom could not fight the "tide of change".

In a challenge to traditionalists in the birthplace of Islam, where women cannot drive and say they are marginalised, Clinton said if cars had been around 1,400 years ago Prophet Mohammad would have let his wife get behind the wheel.

"He probably would have made Saudi Arabia the first automobile producing nation on earth and put her in charge of the business," Clinton told a conference in Saudi Arabia 's Red Sea city of Jeddah .

He was warmly applauded by women delegates, covered in black robes, or abayas, and segregated from men by a screen running the length of the conference hall.

The world's biggest oil exporter, facing a wave of militant violence and growing economic challenges, has embarked on a programme of cautious reform despite fierce opposition from some powerful religious figures.

Clinton said Saudi Arabia had to address ways of broadening political participation in the absolute monarchy "without compromising your faith and culture".

Saudi policy "cannot be based in the long run on fighting change because you cannot fight the tide of change," he said.

Economists say women make up more than half the graduates from Saudi universities but just five percent of the work force.

Saudi Arabia 's Crown Prince Abdullah has promised limited reforms, including municipal elections later this year, although no date has been set and the government has yet to say if women will be allowed to vote.

Saudi Arabia is also battling a wave of Muslim militant attacks -- blamed on Saudi-born Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network -- that killed more than 50 people in attacks on foreign compounds in the Saudi capital Riyadh last year.

Al-Qaeda has also been blamed for the September 2001 attacks in the United States -- carried out by hijackers who were mostly Saudis -- which strained relations between Riyadh and Washington .

US critics say Saudi Arabia 's austere Wahhabi Islam and school curricula breed intolerance and provide a permissive environment for militancy in the kingdom.

Clinton , describing what he said was a "tug-of-war" between "an old order and a new world" in the country, called for education "which does not exclude religion but includes science, technology and political science".

The former president also proposed Saudi Arabia switch some of its overseas aid, which is partly channelled through religious charities accused of terror links, to practical projects providing drinking water in poorer Muslim countries.

[FourtySeven]

Won't he ever just shut up?

[weegee]

In a challenge to traditionalists in the birthplace of Islam, where women cannot drive and say they are marginalised, Clinton said if cars had been around 1,400 years ago Prophet Mohammad would have let his wife get behind the wheel.

And which of Mohammed's wives would that have been Bubba? The six year old???

[Porterville]

It is good to see him giving them some criticism. I wonder what would happen if Shrillary was there giving the same speech... but screaming in incoherent tongue.

[weegee]

The Saudis need to permit relgious freedoms too. The Toon didn't speak out against that bigotry although he had the FBI running a wild goose chase to discover that there was no concerted effort in America to burn down Southern churches.

[weegee]

Just call him Bubba Imam from now on. He has the ears of Islamic fundamentalists. If he doesn't advise them to reign in their bombers, rapists, and murders/kidnappers, we can blame Bill now. He walked into this one saying things he chose not to when he was in the Oval Office.

[VOA]

He not only would have had his wife driving a car, he would have had ALL of his
wives driving cars, of age or not, with him seated in the rear sipping rose water.

LOL! "Mohammed, it really is all just about you, isn't it?"

[Marysecretary]

clinton's already stoned...

[Marysecretary]

I'll bet they weren't laughing. He does have a lot of nerve, always did, always will. No brains, but a LOT of nerve.

[tracer]

It's easy to blaspheme in an Arabic nation when you have a Secret Service and host government security detail and army covering your six. But Mr. Klingon may have made himself a target for some unwanted attention in the future.

I'm not advocating anything violent against a former president, but Bill should do lunch with Salman Rushdie sometime for a real-deal sit-rep.

He might even dig the female disguise and makeover that Rushdie is reported to sport from time to time.

Bad move and doom on you, Bill. Thou hast blasphemed against Allah and the prophet thereof.

I wonder when it's time to draw straws for new assignments at USSS headquarters. The word "stampede" comes to mind.... 8~0

[tracer]

"It's no different than if he had tried to say what Jesus would have thought about any thing."

Ah, but the irony of your words lies in that fact that Bill would not know and dare not ask......

[freebilly]

Of course Mohammed would let his wife drive a van loaded with explosives. Why is Clinton even bringing this up?

[Nix 2]

The women would be the one getting stoned

What makes you think Clinton wouldn't be stoned? It IS his secondmost recreational choice, after all.

[george wythe]

In a challenge to traditionalists in the birthplace of Islam, where women cannot drive and say they are marginalised, Clinton said if cars had been around 1,400 years ago Prophet Mohammad would have let his wife get behind the wheel.

"He probably would have made Saudi Arabia the first automobile producing nation on earth and put her in charge of the business," Clinton told a conference in Saudi Arabia

I thought of so many jokes just reading these two paragraphs.

Great article.

[NYCVirago]

Which one? He had four. One was 12. Do you want a 12-year-old behind the wheel?

What a great response!

[freebilly]

What would Mohammed drive?

Anything but an Accord. The Islamic world can't get along with any one.

[joesnuffy]

Nice chancre

[SpyGuy]

"He probably would have made Saudi Arabia the first automobile producing nation on earth and put her in charge of the business," Clinton told a conference in Saudi Arabia 's Red Sea city of Jeddah.

Typical Liberal revisionist history: implying that the Saudis were capable of developing and producing automobiles--or any other modern technological innovation. They wouldn't even have oil if Western corporations didn't go into the Middle East and discover (and recover) it for them.