Former President Bill Clinton
Posted on 01/19/2004 10:25:37 PM PST by JohnHuang2
IN SEARCH OF A LEGACY
Clinton: Muhammad would let ladies drive
Former president challenges traditionalists in Saudi Arabia speech
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
Speaking at a conference in Saudi Arabia, former President Bill Clinton told a Muslim audience Islam's founder Muhammad would have let women drive if cars had been around 1,400 years ago.
Former President Bill Clinton |
Clinton urged the Muslim kingdom, which follows the strict Wahhabi interpretation of Islam, to not resist the "tide of change" in the world and seek ways of broadening political participation "without compromising your faith and culture," Reuters reported.
Saudi Arabia bars women from driving and being seen in public with men other than family members.
A fatwa, or edict, issued by the head of the country's Department of Religious Research, Missionary Activities and Guidance in 1990 declared women should not be allowed to drive because Islam supports women's dignity.
Clinton said, however, Muhammad 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," he said, according to Reuters.
The former president was speaking at a conference in the Red Sea port of Jeddah, where women delegates, covered in black robes, were separated in the meeting hall from the men by a screen.
In 1990, 47 Saudi women defied the fatwa and staged a "drive-in" in Riyadh, cruising around the capital for about 15 minutes. The women apparently were inspired by American female soldiers among the troops in the country during the 1991 Gulf War. As punishment, the Saudis lost their jobs and passports for two years, and religious groups distributed flyers denouncing them as "fallen women."
Clinton said Saudi policy "cannot be based in the long run on fighting change because you cannot fight the tide of change," Reuters reported.
Acknowledging a "tug-of-war" between "an old order and a new world" in Saudi Arabia, he called for education "which does not exclude religion but includes science, technology and political science."
The desert kingdom is facing a new wave of terrorist attacks by the al-Qaida network led by Saudi-born Osama bin Laden.
Clinton suggested Saudi Arabia could redirect aid channeled through religious charities tied to terrorism and use it for humanitarian projects such as providing drinking water in poor Islamic nations.
This guy is pathetic, and what the heck is that on his lip? Hillary biting him again? Hope he put "some ice on it!"
Clinton: Bend over, ladies...I'll drive
Looks like a cold sore to me.
OK, folks, what's wrong with this statement?
Ah yeah. The calling card of herpes simplex, is what that is. He needs to put some acyclovir on it; ice ain't gonna cut it.
The American Academy of Dermatologists has a dumbed-down for the public pamphlet on the disease.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
The Saudis take their religion seriously, and, right or wrong, women driving is considered by them to be an issue of morality.
Bill Clinton lecturing Muslims on morality?
Well, that explains Islam's love of beating women, raping them to "teach them a lesson," honor killings, and all that.
And ain't it funny that the Muslims get a free pass from NOW and the rest of the femi-Nazis? Now ain't that peculiar?
"Heh, it's not an open sore, baby - I've had my shots..."
Clinton Tells Saudi: 'Don't Fight Tide of Change'
Mon January 19, 2004 06:55 AM ET
By Dominic Evans JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Bill Clinton urged Saudi Arabia 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 marginalized, 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 program 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.
U.S. 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 channeled through religious charities accused of terror links, to practical projects providing drinking water in poorer Muslim countries.
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I think Muhammed would have driven around in his little car, trying to pick up 9-year-old girls, considering his *ahem* preferences in that area.
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