Iraq Leader Avoids Shaking Women's Hands

[ECH1969]

BRUSSELS, Belgium- Photographers didn't have much luck getting pictures of Iraq's prime minister shaking hands with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, even though the United States was co-hosting an international conference on rebuilding Iraq.

Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari met with Rice for about 15 minutes Tuesday at a downtown Brussels hotel and again at a working dinner Wednesday hosted by the European Union.

However, al-Jaafari — a conservative Shiite cleric — is rarely seen shaking hands with women. Islam calls for separation between the sexes, and many Muslim males who strictly adhere to the Islamic faith do not shake hand with females.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050622/ap_on_re_eu/iraq_conference_notebook

[wakeme2008]

1. I have no problem with this... If it is part of this

religion... And besides who knows where Condi's hand has been Maybe helping George milk his cows... :rofl:

[Fridays Child]

9. It's an interesting step backward from the secular regime of...

...Saddam Hussein. If the truth be told, the radical Christian clerics who seek to control our own government probably secretly approve.

[Erika]

13. Agreed

Right winger zealots believe women have their place, and shaking hands with a man as an equal isn't their place.

[JoFerret]

31. No problem?

....no problem that the major ally is a deeply bioted religious extremist who demonises women? I say make him shake her hand and often. And especially if she is menstruating.

[Book Lover]

2. Yeah, he might catch girl germs and start menstruating

or something else equally disgusting in his mind.

[Shallah Kali]

18. Yeah Gurls have COOTIES! {whips out can of invisible lysol}

:rolleyes:

[deadparrot]

3. Sounds like someone the BFEE would enjoy...nt

[sniffa]

4. it was kinda funny actuaLLy

he stuck his hand out to greet condi, and when she reached out to shake his hand.... he yanked it away and yeLLed, "psyche!!".

[gardenista]

5. Condi has no guts. She should insist upon him shaking her hand.

She is all talk.

[Cornjob]

6. This guy is supposed to be the prime Minister...

and not a cleric when he is on state business!

This nimbskull needs a little schooling in etiquette.

Maybe he thinks he's the Queen of England and therefore cannot be touched!

[PartyPooper]

14. But, the Queen will shake anybody's hand!

And, she will do so just as long as she has those gloves on!

:D

:hi:

[saigon68]

17. Would you shake hands with this creature?

[Inland]

7. If Rice were a MALE asshole liar bloodyhanded creep, he'd shake.

Ah, the pious.

[daleo]

8. I bet Saddam would have been happy to shake Rice's hand

He certainly had no objections to giving Rumsfeld a hearty handshake back in the 1980's. And Rumsfeld seemed to be reciprocating with great pleasure.

[funflower]

10. Um. Was Rummie a girl back then? I think the issue is that people of

the opposite sex aren't supposed to touch. This guy is playing to the folks back home, not the world media. The average Arab would think he's a hypocrit if he abandons his Islamic standard just because he's talking to an American.

So, does that mean Condi can't kiss the Saudi princes like Bush does?

[daleo]

11. Mostly, I just wanted to get in a shot at Rummy.

But, yeah, I guess Condi won't be able to go for long walks in the park, holding hands and kissing the Saudi princes, the way Bush does.

It's a funny old world.

[funflower]

12. A shot at Rummy is always a worthy achievement!

[Judi Lynn]

15. Didn't you ever hear what Jerry Falwell said years ago?

I looked it up just to make sure:

In a jab at Clinton, the Rev. Jerry Falwell noted that he's never been
alone with any woman except his wife and daughter.

http://www.ptg.org/pipermail/humor/1998-March/000194.html

That seems pretty damned paranoid to me! Seems we've got some home-grown specimens here who're skeert of women, too!

http://www.gayday.com.nyud.net:8090/news/2000/images/orlando_sentinel_990617a_falwell_opt.jpg

[saigon68]

16. Does that mean?

That Falldown had sex with his daughter?

[Judi Lynn]

20. Wouldn't be surprised! You remember Hustler learned

he had "met" with his dear mother in the outhouse!

[Adrian Luca]

19. Hassidm

Is it or is it not true that Hassidic Jewish men also refuse to touch women who are not their wives?

[phylny]

21. It is true, and the same goes for women.

From what I'm told by our Hassidic builder, they do not touch anyone of the opposite sex except their husband or wife - with some exceptions (obviously, young children are touched and cuddled within a family). If there is a medical emergency, or a childbirth, then touching can occur, but in general, they do not.

[Vladimir]

22. Oh goodie, lets all demonize the orient a bit more

the Moslems, they don't shake women's hands, didn't ya know - the evil squinty eyed greasy fuckers that they are. Look at how shady they are, refusing to submit to our superior culture and religion - if only we hadn't been so soft in the Middle Ages, they could all have been good Christians by now, and then they would shake women's hands, they would. You better watch out for *them*, cos *they* are coming here to set up a theocracy and covert *you*!

Fucking grade a) shangri-la racist crap.

:rant: :sarcasm:

[Frances]

23. I think your post is unfair

I don't think anyone is demomizing Muslims in this thread.

[Vladimir]

24. I wasn't refering to people on this thread

and I am sorry if that's the impression you got - I was referring to the article.

[Frances]

25. Sorry, I misunderstood

nt

[Bridget Burke]

26. The headline does not reflect the whole article...

Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller said the European Union, which also co-hosted the conference, should stay away from offering Iraqis advice on drafting their constitution, noting the current crisis surrounding the EU's proposed charter.

"We have nothing to teach them," Stig Moeller said jokingly. "You will see people agreeing, disagreeing — isn't that beautiful?".....

"When I had meetings with Iraqis, they said: 'Don't write our constitution. We can write our constitution ourselves. We don't want a constitution imposed on us,'" Stig Moeller said. "They are proud people — of course they can write their own constitution."

Serbia-Montenegro Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic agreed.

"Don't forget: 18 centuries before Christ, those people had the first written code in the history of mankind," Draskovic said. "I'm talking about the Hammurabi Code."

Why did they emphasize an irrelevant cultural difference?

[lukasahero]

27. "Irrelevant"?

I'm guessing the women who this "leader" considers dirty and below him might not find the cultural difference "irrelevant".

[Bridget Burke]

28. He is a leader--why the quotation marks?

Check the bookstore for cultural guides for businessmen (& women). Other cultures have different rules. This isn't worth getting worked up about.

The fact that people from other countries think that forcing a government upon the Iraqis matters more.

[bluedonkey]

29. This artice is BS

Do a study on american males.Most of them don't shake hands with women either.It offended the hellout of me when I first came over here!

[Rabrrrrrr]

30. Did you offer your hand first?

Our etiquette says that a man should not offer his hand to a woman first, but wait for her to make the move to shake hands, because it's rude to force a woman to shake hands.

I haven't seen anyone who won't shake hands with a woman, but since I'm a man, I've also never bothered really checking it out. I shake their hands.