# Great US ally Saudi Arabia arrests woman for shocking photo **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 14, 2016, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-us-ally-saudi-arabia-arrests-woman-for-shocking-photo/774660 "2016-12-14T03:30:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-us-ally-saudi-arabia-arrests-woman-for-shocking-photo/774660/41 "2016-12-14T14:04:43Z")
> [@Jane\_Smythe](#): > > Exactly. The law of the State is the strictest religious law of Islam. Total sharia law. That’s their culture. One of the few Muslim nations in the world that have full sharia law. One of these days, they might get dragged kicking and screaming forward into the 14th century… ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-us-ally-saudi-arabia-arrests-woman-for-shocking-photo/774660/42 "2016-12-14T14:12:57Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > No, they blew up the _pipelines,_ repeatedly. Those are very long and effectively impossible to guard. > > And yes, stealing the oil or money from it was a major reason we went there, and we didn’t even really bother much pretending otherwise until we failed and suddenly _oh no,_ we never meant to steal it. Bush was even boasting about how much profit the US would make from the attack beforehand. You’re funny. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-us-ally-saudi-arabia-arrests-woman-for-shocking-photo/774660/43 "2016-12-14T14:22:13Z")
> [@Ramira](#): > > Please do not use us others to defend the Ibn Saud. I’m glad you’re here, because this seems as good a place as any to ask: what is your view on the rights of women in Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-us-ally-saudi-arabia-arrests-woman-for-shocking-photo/774660/44 "2016-12-14T14:22:19Z")
> [@Jane\_Smythe](#): > > I have lived and worked in the ME (not Saudi) for seven and a half years. I work with Middle Eastern people every day. Saudi is a full sharia nation. You’ve lived and worked in the ME for 7 1/2 years and don’t realize how ignorant the term “full sharia law” is? ---
**Author:** ![Human\_Action](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@Human\_Action](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Human_Action)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-us-ally-saudi-arabia-arrests-woman-for-shocking-photo/774660/45 "2016-12-14T14:24:05Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > Meanwhile the US has been busy trying to topple the Syrian administration and supporting Islamist rebels, many of whom are eager to impose the same lunatic restraints on women who at present in secular Syria are free to dress as they please and even (horror of horrors) drive cars. > > America, fighting for the rights of women across the world! :rolleyes: The US is backing Islamist rebels? That’s news to me, as they had been explicitly supporting non-Islamist groups like the Free Syrian Army. Cite? > [@Jane\_Smythe](#): > > I have lived and worked in the ME (not Saudi) for seven and a half years. I work with Middle Eastern people every day. Saudi is a full sharia nation. The people I know don’t agree with that but accept it. It is another culture from the US or the West, and it is my belief, having lived around the world, that we must accept other cultures as they are. If we demand every other culture or country live by our standards, we would not have any allies or very few. Calling it “Wahabbist law” is more accurate; it’s not some purer form of Islam, it’s a radical offshoot. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-us-ally-saudi-arabia-arrests-woman-for-shocking-photo/774660/46 "2016-12-14T14:34:39Z")
You know how Catholics are the only group that practices “Full Christianity”? ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-us-ally-saudi-arabia-arrests-woman-for-shocking-photo/774660/47 "2016-12-14T14:34:46Z")
Regardless of how you feel about this, the United States is not in a position to dictate the national laws of every other nation on Earth. Period. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-us-ally-saudi-arabia-arrests-woman-for-shocking-photo/774660/48 "2016-12-14T14:40:42Z")
I would be extremely surprised if the US has a greater number of rapes than Saudi Arabia, even given the difference in population. I would be not at all surprised to learn that Saudi Arabia has fewer prosecutions or convictions for rape, or even a lower rate of such. Rape is a problem everywhere in the world. The US attempts to solve that problem by throwing the rapists in jail whenever we catch them (an approach which admittedly has not been entirely successful, for a variety of reasons). Saudi Arabia attempts to solve the problem by punishing anyone who gets raped, and pretending that rape doesn’t exist. Do you really expect that that works any better? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-us-ally-saudi-arabia-arrests-woman-for-shocking-photo/774660/49 "2016-12-14T14:59:31Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > One of these days, they might get dragged kicking and screaming forward into the 14th century… Yes, so they’ll be closer to joining you in the 19th. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-us-ally-saudi-arabia-arrests-woman-for-shocking-photo/774660/50 "2016-12-14T15:10:26Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Yes, so they’ll be closer to joining you in the 19th. I don’t think he’s that advanced. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-us-ally-saudi-arabia-arrests-woman-for-shocking-photo/774660/51 "2016-12-14T15:19:03Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > I don’t think he’s that advanced. Well, I was willing to give him the American Revolution, but he seems divided on slavery. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-us-ally-saudi-arabia-arrests-woman-for-shocking-photo/774660/52 "2016-12-14T15:23:52Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > No, they blew up the _pipelines,_ repeatedly. Those are very long and effectively impossible to guard. > > And yes, stealing the oil or money from it was a major reason we went there, and we didn’t even really bother much pretending otherwise until we failed and suddenly _oh no,_ we never meant to steal it. Bush was even boasting about how much profit the US would make from the attack beforehand. This is fascinating. So you’re saying that the Bush administration assumed that the US was somehow going to take complete control of the Iraqi oil industry and seize all industry production and revenues, but suddenly found they couldn’t, for some unknown reason? What stopped them? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-us-ally-saudi-arabia-arrests-woman-for-shocking-photo/774660/53 "2016-12-14T15:28:31Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > This is fascinating. So you’re saying that the Bush administration assumed that the US was somehow going to take complete control of the Iraqi oil industry and seize all industry production and revenues, but suddenly found they couldn’t, for some unknown reason? What stopped them? The U.S. government and military got a lot of things wrong about Iraq in 2003. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-us-ally-saudi-arabia-arrests-woman-for-shocking-photo/774660/54 "2016-12-14T15:37:09Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > The U.S. government and military got a lot of things wrong about Iraq in 2003. Yes, they did. My question was directed to **Der Trihs** , but feel free to answer for him if you want. So you’re saying that the Bush administration assumed that the US was somehow going to take complete control of the Iraqi oil industry and seize all industry production and revenues, but suddenly found they couldn’t, for some unknown reason? What stopped them? ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-us-ally-saudi-arabia-arrests-woman-for-shocking-photo/774660/55 "2016-12-14T15:38:46Z")
She does have some hot ankles. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-us-ally-saudi-arabia-arrests-woman-for-shocking-photo/774660/56 "2016-12-14T15:40:49Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Yes, they did. My question was directed to **Der Trihs** , but feel free to answer for him if you want. So you’re saying that the Bush administration assumed that the US was somehow going to take complete control of the Iraqi oil industry and seize all industry production and revenues, but suddenly found they couldn’t, for some unknown reason? What stopped them? Reality? ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-us-ally-saudi-arabia-arrests-woman-for-shocking-photo/774660/57 "2016-12-14T15:53:08Z")
> [@Jane\_Smythe](#): > > Your sarcasm illuminates closed mindedness. These folks are not Saudi, but they are from countries with very strong Islamic rules about the role of women in their societies. > > Arab World > > Year Laureate Comment > > 1978 Sadat, Anwar ElAnwar El Sadat First Egyptian Arab to win a Nobel Prize in Peace > > 1988 Naguib Mahfouz First Egyptian Arab to win a Nobel Prize in Literature > > 1994 Yasser Arafat first Palestinian Arab in Nobel laureate in Peace > > 1999 Ahmed Zewail First Egyptian Arab to win a Nobel Prize in Science Not a very persuasive list. Anwar Sadat and Yasser Arafat were political figures who won the Peace Prize for their efforts to curtail the constant warmongering in the region. Ahmed Zewail (as **RickJay** pointed out) was an Egyptian-born American, and in fact at the time he won the Nobel he had been on the faculty of Caltech for 23 years. I know little of Naguib Mahfouz but I assume he was a deserving winner for Literature. But here are some interesting illustrative facts [from Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naguib_Mahfouz): [ul] [li]he was the only Arab writer to ever have won the award[/li][li]his books were banned in many Arab countries until after he won the Nobel Prize[/li][li]Mahfouz was on an Islamic fundamentalist “death list”[/li][li]Mahfouz was given police protection, but in 1994 an Islamic extremist succeeded in attacking the 82-year-old novelist by stabbing him in the neck outside his Cairo home[/li][/ul] There seems to be a certain lack of enlightenment in the region. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-us-ally-saudi-arabia-arrests-woman-for-shocking-photo/774660/58 "2016-12-14T17:43:28Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > She does have some hot ankles. And it’s all her fault for how they affect you. Are you not driven to lust by the mere glimpse of those ankles? Do they not fill you with impure thoughts? Are you driven to take her and have your way with her right on the street? In opposition to all the laws you believe in? Damn right she should be covered! It’s not your fault, you know! She MADE you have these thoughts. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-us-ally-saudi-arabia-arrests-woman-for-shocking-photo/774660/59 "2016-12-14T18:07:53Z")
America and Saudi Arabia are in a twisted codependent relationship. Don’t see it getting better anytime soon. What’s a couple terrorist attacks between friends? As for the Iraq invasion and occupation, it’s interesting how mainstream opinion has drifted over the years. Though Bush officials said the war could be paid for with oil revenue, America never intended to take it as a spoil of war (no blood for oil!). Using Iraq as a beachhead for globalist free market policies or any reference to PNAC is called a CT nowadays. GWB wanting revenge on Saddam for trying to kill his father is considered too petty for such a grand enterprise. It wasn’t for terrorists or WMDs. About the most people will say is the admin naively wanted to democratize Iraq and the locals just weren’t ready. How flattering. You see something similar in discussions about why America is so interested in Syria. > [@Jane\_Smythe](#): > > Something to think about: the freedom that Western women have leads to thousands every year being abducted, raped, and murdered. I don’t think that we should change in anyway the freedoms Western women have: certainly I expect them for myself, but the point is that a culture like Saudi Arabia would say the freedoms women in our culture have lead to a lot of danger for them. Seems like a fairer solution would be to curtail the freedom of the class of people actually doing the abducting, raping, and murdering. ---
**Author:** ![CatandMouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c89c15/32.png) [@CatandMouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CatandMouse)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-us-ally-saudi-arabia-arrests-woman-for-shocking-photo/774660/60 "2016-12-14T18:12:13Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > But it’s the rationale of bigoted assholes and that needs to be pointed out. I think most of us already know that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-us-ally-saudi-arabia-arrests-woman-for-shocking-photo/774660.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-us-ally-saudi-arabia-arrests-woman-for-shocking-photo/774660.md?page=4)