The Truth About Saudi Arabia

Irish Times ^ | Kevin Myers

[atafak]

...well my dears, if you want to live in a state governed by Islamic laws, go to one, but don't stay here and expect us to make one for you.

Perhaps we ought replace that old bit from Emma Lazarus with this more fitting one.

[JCG]

For though Saudi Arabia outwardly conforms with the rules of civilised behaviour, it is in itself a criminal state which cultivates poisonous strains of religious criminality which it unleashes on the very Western world which has made it rich.

And how many of its criminals has it exported to our shores?  The number, if known, would be frightening.

 America's Fifth Column ... watch JIHAD! In America -- here

[nopardons]

BUMP

[driftless]

This guy is right on the money. The bit about them being goatherders if not for oil is what I've been saying for a long time. Like Don Imus has stated on his program, what if we just took over their country? What are they going to do about it? And if they stopped the flow of oil to us, endangering our prosperity and stability, I'd be for invasion. Rest assured, the berobed jerks smiling at our emissaries would slit our throats if they could. The Saudis are not our friends, only extremely unsavory people we have a contract with. We should be making the demands on them. Without the West, their wealth vanishes.

[prognostigaator]

"Freed of the necessity which is a feature of all genuine wealth-creating societies everywhere else to have social flexibility, to emancipate women, to have liberal laws, to have an enquiring intelligentsia which could perpetually question orthodoxies, the ruling élite in Saudi Arabia were able to create a dysfunctional society, bound by antique laws and obsolete practices."

Fertile ground by which the likes of a Bin Laden can promote the idea of a superior religious nation-state-world.

History is replete with such individual instigators whose aims were to promote their own image and beliefs rather than follow the philosophy of the "golden rule" , the basis of which is found in the leading religions promoting selflessness and tempered justice.

No wonder the United States was a target for this extremist fool and his even more foolish extremist followers, whose 'self sacrifice' would not be pursued by Bin Laden himeself..

[NixNatAVanG InDaBurgh]

> The Truth About Saudi Arabia

THE TRUTH? YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!

Sorry, I always wanted to say that.

[Dan De Quille]

Bump

[tonycavanagh]

An excellent analysis.

Tony

[patriciaruth]

The end of the oil age was anyway to hand, as the world needs cleaner, more efficient technologies

And what does the author believe is readily at hand?

[tonycavanagh]

re : And if they stopped the flow of oil to us, endangering our prosperity and stability, I'd be for invasion.

That is not the American way, that is more the reasoning of an imperial or a dictatorial power, you have something I want therefore I have the right to take it from you.

Is that not the very action you will oppose if your government used that reasoning in America. If the American people empowered there Government to take land, Oil, Minerals or any goods for the common good, does that apply to America its self, who is to stop the American government taking from the American people what it considers it needs for the common good.

Tony

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Time to rescue the world from this mess and set up a protectorate. Then sell the oil at market
prices and put the money into a trust fund for the good of the people of the country.

[brityank]

Good article. Bump for your edification.

[Dan De Quille]

Time to rescue the world from this mess and set up a protectorate.

Interesting idea. But I suspect that putting Mecca and Medina under a US (or UN) protectorate would really chap the Muslim a$$.

[Kermit]

At the end of this, the Saudi's will be the ones, who'll regret the terrorist attacks more than any other country. They are now under the spotlight and these cockroaches don't like it.

[ImpBill]

I liked your #7. I too have been mentally screaming that at America for years now. Perhaps it is time America heard the truth and responded accordingly. This article is about as close to the truth about our relationship with a religious/social/ecconomic/political philosophy bent on our destruction as I have read yet.

It is time for America to wake up and smell the foul stench of the fact that we really are at war with an evil philosophy and while there may be some individuals who don't aggressively practice that philosophy it is a philosophy with "world domination" as it's singular and common goal, whether practiced by "moderates" or "fundamentalists".

"Truth" is an elusive and illusory commodity and most people when confronted with it really "can't handle it." It is particularly difficult to recognize in this era of moral relativism.

[Rubber Duckie]

There is very little oil in western Saudi Arabia where Mecca and Medina are located. They can go back to goatherding as they did a century ago. Even a century back would be too modern for them.

[driftless]

Depends on the situation. I don't favor invading Saudi Arabia for their oil even though they are not very good friends. But in the case of war or national survival, we can't be so diplomatic as we would like to be. In non-wartime situations, sure, we allow despotic governments to exist. But we went to war in Kuwait, Britain and America, to secure our supply of oil as it was threatened by Hussein. What if Saudi Arabia decided to ally themselves with Iraq as they are currently making noises to do?

My longterm desire for the West is to wean ourselves off our dependency on foreign or unfriendly oil sources. I do not currently favor forcibly taking the oil from Saudi Arabia or any other country we have legal contracts with. But if the survival of our country in an emergency situation depends on it, I do. I stress the word emergency. We are not in one now, but you never know.

[ovrtaxt]

"Is that not the very action you will oppose if your government used that reasoning in America. If the American people empowered there Government to take land, Oil, Minerals or any goods for the common good, does that apply to America its self, who is to stop the American government taking from the American people what it considers it needs for the common good."

Good question. ask the Indians...The guvmint does have a history of this attitude.

[bvw]

Hooray! The wolves are minding the chicken feed pen. They demand chickens for every ounce of feed. Time for the farmers to be men and drive the wolves out.