Posted on 10/14/2001 9:22:43 PM PDT by xm177e2
OUR GOOD FRIENDS THE SAUDIS: Speaking of civilization-vs.-barbarism, our sort-of allies the Saudis are on the wrong side. As Glenn Reynolds reports, they have long been using their riches to export the worst sort of Islam, even to the point of undermining the religious traditions of other Muslim nations. When Chuck Freund was recently in Lebanon, visiting his wife's Maronite Christian family, the march of "Wahabism" was what everyone was talking about. (That and henna, which Lebanese men and women can apparently spend hours discussing.) Reports yesterday from NPR said that two of the hijackers appear to have been former Saudi Air Force pilots who had actually attended exchange programs offered by the U.S. military, one at the AF War College and the other a language school. When I spoke at the Naval War College last year, my escort described their international students as two types: the best and brightest and "somebody's nephew." I'm sure the same is true for the Air Force War College. If this report turns out to be true, I want to know which this hijacker was—and, if it turns out to be the latter (which seems likely), just who the connection was. The Saudi government is illegitimate, decadent, and evil. They are not our friends, and they are at war with our values at home and abroad. Any U.S. response strategy needs to take these realities into consideration. [Posted 9/15.]
OUR GOOD FRIENDS THE SAUDIS (CONT'D): "The Saudi government is illegitimate, decadent, and evil," I wrote on September 15. The Saudis oppress their own kingdom and export terrorism and Wahhabism. They practice a sexual apartheid that makes South Africa's racial apartheid look relatively humane—and Iran's treatment of women positively enlightened. Now every day brings reports that tie the Saudi royal family more closely to the horrors of September 11. The latest is this Drudge Report preview of a Seymour Hersh New Yorker story coming out Monday. Saturday's New York Times had this report on the administration's gradual admission that Saudi assets have been funding terrorism.
The stability-conscious Bushies won't want to acknowledge the problem, but this war will not end until there's a change of regime in Riyadh, preferably one that leaves the royal family a lot poorer. Protecting the monarchy always required a cynical disregard for American principles, the sort of thing that engenders hatred in the Muslim world. Now it requires a disregard for American interests. Yes, we need the oil. But they need the money that comes from the oil, and to get that they need Western companies. Saudi Arabia can't go it alone.
The CIA overview of Saudi Arabia is here. Check out the low literacy rates and the peculiarly high ratio of adult males to females: 1.41, compared to .98 in the U.S. and 1.06 in China, where we know there's a problem. What happened to all the women? When Glenn Reynolds' soccer moms get wind of this story, they're going to be ready to level Saudi Arabia. [Posted 10/13.]
SO CRAZY IT JUST MIGHT WORK: How about we tell the Palestinians they can have Saudi Arabia if they'll move and leave the Israelis alone? The Palestinians are hard working and entrepreneurial, unlike the Saudis, so they might actually make something of the opportunity afforded by all that oil. And, while their leaders are thugs, it's unlikely they'd be any worse in the terrorism, oppression, and fundamentalism departments. The Palestinians aren't going to get Jerusalem. Maybe they'd settle for Mecca and Medina. [Posted 10/13.]
...henna, which Lebanese men and women can apparently spend hours discussing
What's up with that? My red-headed ex-girlfriend would put that on her hair sometimes, I think. Or am I mistaking "henna" for something else?
The Wahhabi movement is an extreme expression of Islam. It has it roots in many parts of Islam, and is actively intolerant. It desires for a return to the pure monotheism that Islam had in its beginnings. It is against all modernity, all science, and anything that has to do with secularism.
Wahhabism was a reforrm movement begun by the conservative Syrian jurist Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703-92). Ibn Abd al-Wahhab was faithful to the Qur'an (Koran), the supreme body of Islamic law, and to the Hadith (or Sunna), a second body of Islamic law comprising the actions and utterances attributed to the Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam.
Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab rejected, however, all innovations and also the principle of consensus (Ijma) of the Muslim community on any text of Islamic writ and on customs compatible with the Qur'an or Hadith.
The ascetic life and stern preaching of ibn Abd al-Wahhab extended the influence of the Wahhabis, who rejected all luxury, dancing, gambling, music, and the use of tobacco. Wahhabism spread rapidly as a nationalist religious movement, gaining ascendancy throughout Arabia. Wahhabi warriors successfully attacked and purged the Islamic shrine at Karbalâ; and the cities of Riyadh, Mecca, and Medina in the early years of the 19th century before they were defeated by the armies of the Turkish sultan Mahmud II, after a campaign ending in 1818. Wahhabis members are confined almost entirely to the Arabian Peninsula, in Saudi Arabia.An extremist, expansionist, colonialist, extremely fundamentalist, extremely brutal and hateful sect of Islam.
Osama and 15 of the hijcakers were Sauidis, The Saudis would not let the FBI question the Kohbar Tower atackers and the Sauid will not let us investigate the 15 Sauidis that hit the WTC nor will the Sauid freeze any of the Al Qeda monies.
Current and former intelligence officials suggest, Hersh reports, that the instability of the Saudi regime is "the most immediate threat to American economic and political interests in the Middle East," and that "the Bush Administration, like the Clinton Administration, is refusing to confront this reality." Sad thing is Bush will do no more in fighting terrorisim than Klinton did. He will not go agianst the true terrorists the House of Sau'd.
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