Posted on 11/22/2006 7:11:10 AM PST by goldstategop
While Americans celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow, Saudi Arabians already had theirs over the weekend.
Tomorrow, we eat turkey. Over the weekend, the Saudis had us begging to eat crow over a man named Turki.
In an utter display of American weakness and shame, Colorado Attorney General John Suthers traveled to Saudi Arabia to apologize. Apologize for the American justice system and virtually everything else that America stands for.
Suthers went to Saudi Arabia to apologize for the conviction of Homaidan Al-Turki. Just before Labor Day, Al-Turki was sentenced to 27 years to life in a Colorado prison for keeping a slave and raping her, among other crimes.
Extremist Makeover: Homaidan Al-Turki & Wife Sarah, Before & After
Al-Turki, from a prominent Saudi religious family, was in Denver seeking his Ph.D. at Colorado University. This summer, he was convicted of sexually assaulting his Indonesian housekeeper, whom he and his wife--also convicted--kept as a slave. The Al-Turkis' abuse of this fellow Muslim went on for five years. They brought the 24-year-old woman to their home in Aurora, Colorado to serve as their cook, maid, nanny, and apparently "marital aid" (or in this case, also, "marital aide").
Mr. Al-Turki was convicted of felony counts of unlawful sexual contact by use of force, theft, and extortion, and misdemeanor counts of false imprisonment and conspiracy to commit false imprisonment. He and his wife confiscated the woman's passport and kept her prisoner.
When it was time for Al-Turki--like any other American resident convicted of any crime--to ask for the mercy of the court, he chose a different tack: chutzpah. Al-Turki's statement to Judge Mark Hannen at sentencing was simply stunning:
Your honor, I am not here to apologize, for I cannot apologize for things I did not do and for crimes I did not commit. The state has criminalized these basic Muslim behaviors. Attacking traditional Muslim behaviors was the focal point of the prosecution. No, upholding American laws against slavery, false imprisonment, and rape was the focal point of the prosecution. But that's something that our State Department--and apparently Colorado's chief law enforcement officer--now don't understand.
In an unprecedented move, the State Department flew Attorney General Suthers to Saudi Arabia to personally explain--and apologize for--Al-Turki's conviction to Saudi King Abdullah. Yes, U.S. taxpayers paid for this outrageous trip, though now Suthers is claiming Abdullah decided to reimburse the tab.
Suthers flew 19 hours to answer to leaders of another sovereign nation for enforcing the laws of Colorado. And apparently, he contracted a rapidly infectious case of Stockholm Syndrome during his stay, calling his pander-tour "the adventure of a lifetime."
Monday, he lectured the media that King Abdullah et al simply can't understand "that an Indonesian maid was considered a competent witness in our courts."
He also instructed that Abdullah and company were upset that they couldn't just buy their way out of it and pay off the maid. "They didn't understand how that wasn't possible here," Suthers said.
Suthers said that, under Saudi law, four eyewitnesses are needed to prove a rape case. Memo to Suthers: You are the Attorney General of Colorado, not Saudi Arabia. The four witnesses is taken from Islamic law, since Saudi Arabia is a theocracy. We are not. And that should be the end of the story.
Our "friends," the Saudis can't get over Al-Turki's conviction. Saudi state-run media, under King Abdullah's complete control, continues to portray the Saudi slavemaster in America as the victim of a judicial system biased against Muslims.
This is the same judicial system that failed to convict Islamic Jihad frontman Sami Al-Arian, despite six-months worth of overwhelming evidence. The same judicial system that failed to convict Saudi national, Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, of terrorism, despite his creation and oversight of terrorist-related websites calling for planes to fly into buildings . . . well before 9/11.
The same judicial system that agonized for over a year on the fate of Zacarias Moussaoui, and spared his life despite his prior knowledge of the impending murder of 3,000 Americans. The same judicial system that overturned--on the flimsiest of reasons--solid convictions of Al-Qaeda terrorists who comprised the Detroit terror cell. The same judicial system that has now indicted the valiant and innocent prosecutor of that terror cell. The same judicial system that overturned the NSA wiretaps of suspected Al-Qaeda terrorists.
2 Turkeys: Colorado Attorney General John Suthers & Fellow Cooked Bird
If anything that system has bent over backwards in favor of Muslims, to no avail in the Muslim world.
But that's not the point. Our judicial system is not perfect. It is, however, the fairest in the world. And we chose it. We need not apologize for it to anyone, much less the bloated self-anointed king of a totalitarian state. We need not apologize for it to the man from whose country 15 of 19 hijackers emanated.
We have many foreign nationals convicted in America, every single day. But American taxpayers don't send them to foreign lands to "explain" why they were found guilty.
The Saudis understand our legal system very well. They did not just discover America. The Saudi government pays for the best legal eagles for its nationals in America, when they are accused of a crime. The Saudis funded an absurd website comparing Al-Turki to the Statue of Liberty (strangely, the site's English version was removed). This sudden summons of a top American law enforcement official to "explain" is absurd and degrading. More absurd is that U.S. officials complied and went along with the act.
Can you imagine the U.S. sending a state Attorney General to explain to Hitler why we allow Blacks and Jews to serve as witnesses in our courts and why enslaving and raping them for five years is a crime?
In those days, America did not apologize for being a just society. These days, America just apologizes.
Colorado Attorney General Suthers is the latest emblem of those endless apologies to those who hate us. He can write his political epitaph with it.
Tomorrow, it's doubtful Suthers will be eating turkey like the rest of us. He's still digesting all the Saudi crow he consumed.
Well, unfortunately, he is a Republican, who just won re-election with 53 % of the vote, one of the few R's in what was generally a Dem takeover.
This is disgusting.
What's disgusting is that Schlussel's article is false.
Between this guy Suthers and the uttlerly incompetent Mary Lacy, something appears to be seriously wrong in the state of Colorado.
What is false about it? Please explain.
It would be interesting to know the diplomatic background of of the trip.
Likely the Saudis were putting a lot of pressure on the State Department; imagine the outrage in the US if the daughter of US Senator was put on trial in Saudi Arabia under the Sharia laws regarding rape and you get some idea of political problems this must be causing the Saudi ruling family.
Perhaps the objective of his visit from the US perspective was to make the point that under US law this was a state matter, and that the US Government could not intervene even if it wished to?
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
Whereas Dear Debbie claims that Suthers apologized for the trial, Suthers himself "believes he sent a message that the U.S. is not the least bit apologetic about our justice system and how it works."
Ms. Schlussel is a liar, or a fool, or both.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
Yes, it is. Just as we're concerned about what happens to our citizens as they're tried in foreign courts. We want to make sure they get a fair trial, and the Saudis did likewise. Suthers went (was sent) to Saudi to explain the facts of life to them.
We are NOT obligated to apply their laws here. Their citizens are supposed to ABIDE by our laws. Which is the point.
Indeed, and that was PRECISELY what Suthers told them. Ms. Schlussel's article is false.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
Suthers didn't apologize. Schlussel is lying.
You think more explanation would help Americans arrested for breaking foreign laws. I don't think so.
You don't think ... and that's your problem.
These guys pump a good bit of the worlds oil.
We consume a good bit of the world's oil.
We do what we can to keep them happy.
If we want to end our support of their salvery, we need to end our own.
Which completely misrepresents what Suthers actually did. She is a liar and/or a fool.
But that's not the point. Our judicial system is not perfect. It is, however, the fairest in the world. And we chose it. We need not apologize for it to anyone, much less the bloated self-anointed king of a totalitarian state. We need not apologize for it to the man from whose country 15 of 19 hijackers emanated.
We have many foreign nationals convicted in America, every single day. But American taxpayers don't send them to foreign lands to "explain" why they were found guilty.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
Precisely.
Until that happy day, continue to expect our leaders to tug their forelocks and kowtow before the House of Saud.
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