"But he didn't apologize. He did go to EXPLAIN, but it isn't likely a rare occurance to explain things to foreigners.
If there was an American who was imprisoned in a foreign country, and we had doubts over whether they received a fair trial, I would expect that we could pay for someone from that country to fly over here and explain it to us so we could be sure justice was being served. And I doubt anybody here would complain."
“If there was an American who was imprisoned in a foreign country, and we had doubts over whether they received a fair trial, I would expect that we could pay for someone from that country to fly over here and explain it to us so we could be sure justice was being served. And I doubt anybody here would complain.”
I suppose that you have a point. But don’t you think that just going there to “explain” our system is an apology of sorts. Certainly it’s a “defense” of our American way of life, which I would think that the Saudi king by now understands if he has read our Constitution and our Bill Of Rights. I think that most of the problem with Islam is that its believers think that their laws are naturally superior to, and should override, all man-made laws including those of equal rights. And I doubt that they will ever change even if we send an envoy to “defend” every US law that every Muslim violates. Every American traveler who enters a foreign country is warned that they are bound by the laws of that country, not by US law. If I’m caught carrying a gun in Mexico or spitting on the sidewalk in Singapore, I can’t expect an official of that government to travel to the US to justify their laws.
Finally, my quarrel is not really with the Colorado AG as much as with our State Department. I believe that it is arrogant and deft to the desires and needs of most Americans.
I don't know. If I have a question about my taxes, I call the IRS, and they explain to me exactly why they made the changes they made. They aren't apologizing for them, they are answering my questions.
If you receive a sentence in court, you might ask the judge to explain the sentence, he isn't going to apologize.
We are always calling people to explain things to us, and if they are nice people they will explain nicely so we can understand.
In this case, a high-profile member of Saudi society is going to jail for a LONG LONG time, and the Saudi government really wanted to hear directly from someone in charge exactly what the evidence was so they could understand.
Sure, it's "special treatment", but we GIVE special treatment to dignitaries and foreign leaders.
In the story last week about John Edwards and the Playstation 3, lost in the obvious humor of it all was that some 20-something kid called Walmart to ask for special treatment, and actually got direct attention of a high official, and a call-back explaining the policy. I am pretty sure you or I would not get that treatment, he got it because he invoked the name of a FORMER senator and FORMER VP candidate.
I'm not saying it is completely fair, but I hardly see it as a major scandal, or even surprising, that we would offer a face-to-face explanation about why we are sending the guy to jail for 28 years, upon request and payment for service by the head of Saudi Arabia.