Posted 5/16/2006 05:20:00 PM by Douglas

Fifteen of the nineteen hijackers that invaded America on September 11, 2001, came from Saudi Arabia. Is this going to become important? Oh, I don't know, maybe, as long as we're not talking about a long, protracted culture war with these good folk:

"One must think, do they want their daughter, their sister, or their wife to appear in this way. Of course, no one would accept this," the newspaper Okaz quoted Abdullah as saying.

Shudder. Your daughter, sister, or wife in the paper. Get this guy a copy of Juggs, stat!

King Abdullah has told Saudi editors to stop publishing pictures of women as they could make young men go astray, newspapers reported Tuesday.

The king's directive, made in a meeting with local editors, caused surprise as the monarch has been regarded a quiet reformer since he took office in the ultra-conservative country last August.

In recent months, newspapers have published pictures of women - always wearing the traditional Muslim headscarf - to illustrate stories with increasing regularity. Usually the stories have had to do with women's issues. The papers have also started publishing a range of views on causes that are not generally accepted in Saudi Arabia - such as women having the right to drive and vote.

The king told editors on Monday night that publishing a woman's picture for the world to see was inappropriate.

If a picture of a woman in a burka is going to be inappropriate and "lead men astray", then the occupation is going to go on for the next 200 years. That's about how long it will take the MTV culture, our largest export, to permeate their culture.