The Saudis are apparently torqued that the Pentagon has reversed its policy on requiring female service personnel to put on the abaya when going off-base. Note that the Saudis never made a formal request about this, and there’s been no similar restriction on State Dept. and other non-military personnel.
There was no immediate Saudi government reaction, but one official complained there had been no advance consultation.
“I am surprised that such an order comes in such a way. We had no prior information about it,” he said.
A Saudi cleric said the rule change flouted Muslim precepts.
“The covering of women to hide their bodies is an Islamic sharia demand, which should not be subject to criticism or (evoke) surprise,” Sheikh Saad al-Saleh, an official at the Saudi Islamic Affairs Ministry, told Reuters. “There must be no exceptions in enforcing the Islamic dress code in Saudi streets. No one of any nationality is exempt in the eyes of religion,” he said.
It’s also worth noting that there were no objections to women in fatigues off-base during the Gulf War, though they were required to wear long pants, not shorts as many of the men did off-duty at the time.
I don’t imagine anyone there remembers exactly why we ended up with US troops in Saudi. Or wonders whether Islamic law would be better protected under the secular autocracy of Saddam Hussein.
Other Saudis warn that there may be clashes between such “indecent” female soldiers and the mutawaeen, the unofficial religious police, who go around with sticks to enforce Islamic law.
Yeah, I’d like to be there for that confrontation …