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Friday,
April 23, 2004 |
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Bush
ties seem a bit fishy
Justin
Vann
Last
Thursday, the State Department quietly urged all nonessential
U.S. diplomats and private U.S. citizens to leave Saudi
Arabia. Senior officials stated that there was “recent
and credible information indicating that extremists are
planning further attacks against U.S. and Western interests.”
Now, regardless of whether or not you trust the Bush administration,
you have to admit that something smells fishy about this
sudden evacuation. In Fallujah, four American citizens
were brutally murdered, and we had to restrain ourselves
from nuking the entire city. But now, in Saudi Arabia,
in response to an “elevated threat,” we’re
just pulling out?
As it stands, the United States is pretty chummy with
Saudi Arabia. A few weeks ago, Condoleezza Rice mentioned
that Saudi Arabia was “fully on board” in the
war on terror.
I think that’s kind of interesting, considering that
15 Saudi Arabian hijackers were “on board” the
jets that toppled the Twin Towers and crashed into the
Pentagon and Pennsylvania. I’m not trying to say
Saudis are terrorists. However, a poll taken in October
2001 of educated Saudis in Saudi Arabia between the ages
of 25 and 41 found that 95 percent of those polled “had
sympathy for the cause of ... Osama bin Laden.” Neil
Macfarquhar, a reporter for the New York Times, notes
that “admiration of bin Laden is evident even among
those who dislike his austere Islamic vision.” In
January 2002, Riyadh confirmed that 100 of the 158 alleged
al Qaeda prisoners in Guantanamo Bay were Saudis.
Fun fact: The Saudi monarchy, at best, parallels the level
of oppression seen in the Taliban. No free speech, press
or assembly. No political parties. No dissent. No women’s
rights. We’re talking religious fundamentalism, secret
police, public executions, torture rooms, the works. It
is, in every sense of the phrase, a totalitarian monarchy.
I want to slap President Bush every time he says terrorists
“hate our freedom.” Terrorists hate the United
States’ long-time alliance with the governments that
oppress and kill them. That’s why we’re evacuating
from Saudi Arabia. So, if you aren’t already thinking
it, I’ll just come out and say it: Why are we best
buds with Saudi Arabia? Well there’s only one person
who can answer that.
President Bush’s spokespeople are reassuring the
public that Bush did not make a deal with Saudi prince
Bandar to increase oil production, thereby lowering gas
prices before the election, as was claimed in Bob Woodward’s
book, Plan of Attack. Let’s forget the fact that
Bush is still taking tea with one of the world’s
most oppressive supporters of terrorism. There are still
plenty of reasons to see Bush is lying.
Bush censored 28 pages of the congressional investigative
report on the 9/11 attacks. The 28 pages dealt with Saudi
Arabia’s connection to the attacks. Days after 9/11,
Bush allowed private Saudi jets to pick up 24 members
of the bin Laden family and transport them outside the
United States. We are still holding children in Guantanamo
Bay, but Bush gave bin Laden’s family a first class
ticket to freedom! George Bush Sr.’s nickname among
Saudi royalty is “Bandar Bush,” given all the
business investments made by the Bushes with the Saudis.
And yet, there are people in this world who believe that
Bush is not exploiting his political ties with Riyadh
to boost his approval rating near the election. These
people are living in complete denial. President Bush is
sleeping with the devil, and it’s about time he got
burned. |
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