OK, I give up. We should immediately issue every single man and woman in the US armed forces string bikinis and have them lounge in mosques urinating on the frescoes all day.

YES it is unfortunate that this is required. But as I and a few others have pointed out - when one joins the military, one is required to follow the standards set. In the US, we're slightly more tolerant than the 'arab world' in regards to women, women's clothing, voting issues etc.

But last time I checked, Bahrain wasn't in New Jersey. Oman isn't a suburb of Los Angeles. And for whatever reason, the Powers In Charge have decided that we are sending military aid to these areas.

The only solutions to this as far as I can tell are: Tell the local governments "Fuck you, we'll wear what we want." Likely results: increased tension between hardline militant groups, as well as the host countries and anyone else wishing to use it to embarrass the US. Given that the one point Bin Laden gets the most sympathy on is that the US has bases in Saudi Arabia (location of several holy sites, be they hundreds of miles from any US base), I can just imagine how well THAT would go over.

Or perhaps we can just ban women from the area all together? That way they can abide by whatever conduct THEY feel necessary without creating adverse reactions among the host population.

Face it - short of toppling the governments involved, incarcerating a large percentage of the population and 'reeducating' them and pretty much destroying several sect's faiths, it's not going to change any time in the near future. Societal pressures might do that eventually, and actually probably will. But at the moment, her refusal to don the required garments could VERY reasonably be expected to create an adverse condition.

M