Saudi Arabia escapes religion blacklist

Agence France Presse via the Washington Times ^ | March 3, 2003 | Agence France Presse

[Pan_Yans Wife]

AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE The Bush administration, in a move likely to anger both conservatives and human rights activists, has decided not to blacklist Saudi Arabia over the issue of religious freedom, Newsweek reported in its edition to be released today.

[tessalu]

Shame on Saudi Arbia for religious oppression. They should not be allowed off the hook.

[KickRightRudder]

I wonder what would happen if people started doing the honest thing. Just start telling the truth,cut foriegn aid from our critics,tell the saudi's that they're a bunch of goons and we aren't ready to bomb them yet but it may come to that-and if you cut off our oil, we'll take your oil fields. What would happen if truths like that were told? Does all the lying that goes with politics really do any good?

[Pontiac]

As much as I hate to have political expedience trump principle, the week you before go to war is not the time to anger an uneasy ally.

[valkyrieanne]

Yes, we put up with Josef Stalin (a bigger mass murderer than Adolf Hitler, it turned out) because they were our allies during World War II. It's sickening to watch the Bush administration kow-tow to the Saudis, however.

[Avenger21]

Even though we might not like Saudi we still need them as an ally. We depend on them for oil and support against Iraq.

[bvw]

Trust in a bigger picture than the the venal one real-politik always suggests to the confused.