April 27, 2002

11:21 AM

During Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah's visit to Crawford, Texas, this week, his representatives asked the FAA for his flights to be worked only by male air traffic controllers, according to today's Dallas Morning News.
posted by rcade (13 comments total)

ho hum.
posted by Espoo2 at 11:27 AM on April 27, 2002

Why can't they do that for me?

Maybe my flights wouldn't be delayed if we had more men working.
posted by wsfinkel at 11:32 AM on April 27, 2002

Why are we kowtowing to a dictator?

... oh yeah, now I remember.
posted by insomnyuk at 11:36 AM on April 27, 2002

I suppose it's an extension of that whole "women shouldn't drive cars" thing. Lame.

What women in SA should do is rise up against their overlords. Societies where women have equal (or heck, give 'em even more) say are generally more modulated, in my experience.
posted by donkeyschlong at 11:50 AM on April 27, 2002

Interesting call by a Saudi official to enslave all Jewish women, worth a read.
posted by insomnyuk at 11:54 AM on April 27, 2002

How, exactly, are these women to rise up? They are oppressed by the force of law and the law of force throughout their society. They can't organise, they can't arm themselves (though the morality police -- the ones that forced the little girls back into the burning school to die -- are armed) they can't safely disseminate information about such dangerous topics as insurrection amongst themselves. Saudi women aren't quite as shuttered as women in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan were, but they may as well be.

The sick part is that the western world capitulates to the petty, greedy, demanding, self-serving, spendthrift and highly corrupt Saudi royals for the sake of Saudi oil, instead of reminding them that while we could find ways around using their oil, if they can't sell it, they're just a bunch of stone age fools in the middle of a desert who wouldn't even have the money to import their drinking water.
posted by Dreama at 11:58 AM on April 27, 2002

Culture shock shouldn't happen in reverse. Ugly Americans aren't the problem, Ugly Saudis are.
posted by dreamer98 at 2:05 PM on April 27, 2002

From the article:

Representatives of the Federal Aviation Administration and the State Department denied that the Saudis asked for special treatment.

"We have received no request from either the Saudis or the U.S. State Department that we provide any special services" to the prince, said FAA spokesman Roland Herwig. White House officials said they had no knowledge of any such request.

Looks like the Saudies, and the esteemed State Dept., are denying it. It doesn't sound like the Saudies would have the balls to ask for such treatment here. And, whether or not this story is true, this is yet another reason to streghten our public transportation infastructure and spend more money on alternative fuel research. And I don't care what the Saudies say about not using oil-as-weapons against the US.
posted by Rastafari at 2:34 PM on April 27, 2002

The story is sourced to several aviation officials and confirmed by a Texas FAA official. One of the officials went on the record saying it's true: Ruben Gonzalez, an official at the company that manages the airport control tower at Texas State Technical College airport in Waco.

Since both the White House and Saudi denials are of the "have no knowledge of that" variety from people away from the situation, I don't see any reason to doubt the story.
posted by rcade at 3:02 PM on April 27, 2002

you mean there are women air traffic controllers? oh shit!
posted by billybob at 4:55 PM on April 27, 2002

insomnyuk:

That's just terrible, the racism in this world. Everyone knows all women should be slaves :P

(just kidding, of course)
posted by delmoi at 7:28 PM on April 27, 2002

I was almost amused by the remark of Prince Saud al-Faisal, who noted that half the people on board the crown prince's plane were female "hostesses", as if he had to categorize them as such - a position of servitude - to rationalize them even being there. Who knows in what capacity they actually were there. Were they girlfriends? Wives? Secretaries? Flight attendents? Pilots?
posted by iconomy at 7:31 PM on April 27, 2002

i'm getting rawtha tired of the bathtowel headress set. next thing you know they will require we provide camels for companionship.
posted by quonsar at 11:46 AM on April 28, 2002