Would US shoot down Israeli aircraft? 22, April 2010
Posted by thegulfblog.com in American ME Relations.Tags: Air force cadet, Iraqi air space, Israel overflying Iraq, Israeli air force, US Air Force
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The Mideasti blog covers a great little story of a young air force cadet asking a horribly tricky question of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
‘Since Iraqi airspace is a US declared no fly zone’ he began ‘would the US therefore shoot down any Israeli aircraft over flying Iraq?’
The Commander obfuscated about not answering hypotheticals and the great US-Israeli relationship but overall I wholly agree with Michael Collins Dunn commenting that
…I hope the AFROTC cadet enjoys doing his active duty at a radar station in northern Greenland or the South Pole, but it was a good question, wasn’t it?
12-year-old Saudi girl granted divorced from 80-year-old 22, April 2010
Posted by thegulfblog.com in Saudi Arabia.Tags: 12 year old divorce, Prophet Muhammad marriage, Saudi divorce, Saudi marriage
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The Times of London reports that a 12 year-old girl from Saudi Arabia has been granted a divorce from her 80 year-old husband. After initially being granted the right to go to court for the divorce, eventually it was agreed in private among the family. The girl’s father had paid a dowry of £14,500 for the girl and the marriage was subsequently consummated.
This affair which has garnered significant media attention has sparked a debate in the Kingdom as to setting a minimum age for marriage. Needless to say, religious clerics are in the process of contradicting each other, replete with Quranic quotations, for and against the notion of a minimum age. A significant amount of obstinacy to change stems from the Prophet Muhammad’s marriage to a 9-year-old girl. Considering that Muslims consider Muhammad’s life to have been – for want of a better word – perfect, this obviously is an issue.
The Gulf blog 