Bye Bye, Abaya? 

by Paul Hein

Many years ago, when she first visited St. Peter’s in Rome, my wife was denied admission until she could don a sweater, because her dress was sleeveless. She should have sued! Today, of course, anything goes in women’s fashions—except in Saudi Arabia.

Lt. Col. Martha McSally, a U.S. Air Force fighter pilot, is stationed in Saudi Arabia, and she’s suing Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defense, charging him with violating her Constitutional rights. Her case is interesting because it illustrates the tangled web of contradictions and absurdities that flow from substituting political correctness for good sense.

Lt. Col. McSally’s beef is that she cannot leave the Prince Sultan Air Force Base in Saudi Arabia without donning the traditional female dress of that country, the abaya, which covers her head to toe, with only slits through which to see. And she cannot drive herself, but must be driven by men, who may not, however, wear Arab dress. Furthermore, American women stationed in Saudi Arabia at the embassy may wear American clothing in town. So may the wives of servicemen. Blatant discrimination!

McSally’s hopping mad. The rule requiring the wearing of the abaya by female soldiers was laid down by her military superiors, and, according to her, it “abandons our American values that we all raised our right hand to die for.” And McSally isn’t the only one piqued. Republican Senator (for the moment, anyway) Bob Smith has this to say: “What makes this particularly bizarre is that we are waging a war in Afghanistan to remove those abayas, and the very soldiers who are conducting that war have to cover up.”

Of course, the abaya is the traditional, customary female attire in Saudi Arabia, but according to McSally, “When those customs and values conflict with ones that our Constitution is based on, and that women and men in uniform died for in the past, that is where you draw the line.”

It isn’t immediately obvious--indeed, it isn’t obvious at all--what Constitutional rights or values McSally is talking about. On the other hand, it is obvious that when you join the military, you obey the orders you’ve been given. Can a soldier on active duty come and go as he or she wishes? Can a soldier wear what he or she prefers? Say whatever he or she pleases? Soldiers obey orders. Where is it written that they must agree with them? Women working at the embassy, and the wives of soldiers, are not under military authority. But even if their superiors ordered them to wear the abaya, would that eliminate McSally’s complaint? What McSally “raised her right hand to die for” was her acceptance of military discipline, and that discipline is utilized to protect commercial interests, especially those of the oil business, not to bring western fashion ideas to countries that reject them.

Admittedly, McSally may feel entitled to exempt herself from the rules. At 63 inches in height, she is not tall enough to satisfy Air Force physical requirements for pilots, but flies nonetheless. Perhaps this is because of the well-known and thoroughly documented superiority of women as fighter pilots, even if they are too short.

Some may be surprised that American lives, and billions of dollars, are being expended to alter the traditional clothing of Muslim women. Senator Smith evidently thinks that our Afghanistan expedition is to rid Afghani women of the abaya, and it is “bizarre” that the “very soldiers who are conducting that war have to cover up.” What is truly bizarre, however, is the Senator’s willingness to display his ignorance. McSally is stationed in Saudi Arabia, and flies her missions over Iraq, not Afghanistan. And Afghani women wear the burqa, not the abaya. And, in any event, what business is it of ours?

If the government were to learn anything from this grotesque situation, it is this: none of this absurd litigation would be taking place if we didn’t have our soldiers in Saudi Arabia, and weren’t bombing Iraq. And we could hire bounty hunters to find bin Laden and save ourselves lives, billions, and idiotic lawsuits. And doing these things would lessen the terrorism threat more than all the foolishness at airports, for example.

Asked if her career might be jeopardized by her actions, Lt. Col. McSally said, “I try not to think about it.” Not thinking would seem to be her modus operandi. She should do just fine in government work, abaya or no.

January 24, 2002