Video emerged in mid-April showing US Rep. Martha McSally, R-Arizona, joking about Saudi Arabian women stepping on land mines in a commencement address she gave at Rhode Island College on April 21, 2003.McSally, a former Air Force pilot, began the speech saying she was thankful to be back in the United States after a deployment to Saudi Arabia. She explained that she has spent a lot of time in Saudi Arabia recently, but told the audience she has noticed “something different” during her most recent trip.“As a custom, the women walk 5 to 10 feet behind the men. And, it’s because of their deference and where they stand in society and that’s just a common practice,” McSally said. “When I went back this time what I saw was an exact reversal. The women, when I went off-base, were actually walking 5 to 10 feet in front of the men.”She told the crowd how she “couldn’t believe it,” and said she asked one of the Saudi women what had changed.“And she said … ‘landmines,’” McSally said.The video was first reported in April by ThinkProgress.McSally in January announced her bid for the Arizona Senate seat being vacated by Sen Jeff Flake. In her first campaign video, McSally aligns herself with President Donald Trump, draws on her experience as the country’s first female combat fighter pilot, and on her successful legal challenge to the military’s policy that she wear a body-covering abaya while off base in Saudi Arabia. “I absolutely refused to bow down to Sharia law,” she says in the video. “After eight years of fighting, I won my battle for the religious freedom of American servicewomen.” Credit: Rhode Island College via Storyful