IN A FEW DAYS Condoleezza Rice will visit the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. She will not be the first woman secretary of State to visit the territory of Wahhabism, the extremist state religion imposed on the people of historic Arabia. Madeleine Albright preceded Secretary Rice. But of course U.S.-Saudi relations have changed dramatically since the end of the Clinton administration, with the events of September 11, 2001, and the revelation that 15 out of 19 perpetrators of terror on that terrible day were Saudi subjects.

Secretary Rice should take the opportunity of visiting Riyadh to make several urgent points. Some of these are stylistic; she might choose not to put on the radical covering or abaya imposed on women in the kingdom. She might even tell her hosts she would like to drive her limo in from the airport–repudiating another Saudi restriction. By refusing compulsory covering and insisting on a right enjoyed by women throughout the Muslim world, the secretary would provide an inspirational example for the millions of women who make up an indispensable section of the Saudi reform constituency.