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I watched Roush on interview, and have followed her for a while. It'd be a good idea to read her own account of her life.

Roush criticized the first Bush, and criticized the second. I have yet to find any word on criticizing Clinton, and her daughters remained in SA during his admin. The conclusion I draw, that she has some personal animus with the Bushes, is not unreasonable. The notion that she can't get help because of their family oil connections reads high on the meter in that regard.

Notice *I* am not dragging Rutabega into this, you are--you might notice my response to her. Your attempt to make Roush's issue one about Rutabega is spurious. I have no intention of making her the subject, but you seem to find her predicament rhetorically *useful* in the context of trying to prove your point.

re: Even smart, take charge, definitely non-neurotic and non-masochistic women can find themselves in an abusive relationship. )))

I'm sure you can find some. But you can find career victims, too. It would behoove the wise professional to behave with some healthy distrust. Would that I had, rather than fall into the trap of trying to "help" someone who was playing out a melodrama of her own making. re: Abusers are charming and cunning and talented at getting their way. They manipulate the emotions and ingrained conditioning of their victims. You said a mouthful--only it works both ways. And the helper can find himself the victim as well. Once, anyway.

As I said, I was writing to inform on intimate partner violence, not to rescue Ms. Roush. The original story and thread are/were about Sarah Saga, who is definitely not to blame for her abuse. Personally, I don't believe Ms. Roush is either, and wonder why you are.

The very web page ("Pat's Story") you sent me to has criticism of Clinton, Feinstein, and Boxer as well as Reagan and the first Mr. Bush and was written in 1998.

"""My heart went out to her," says Wildes, who has two daughters himself. "Nothing to me would be worse than to have held my daughters as babies and not be able to hold them as they grow older.

"Our government has given up on her plight. The American government cares more about its oil and its military agenda than its daughters. A phone call from President Clinton to King Faud would have those girls on a plane in one day. He won't do it. He and Bush and Reagan turned it over to their staffs, who do nothing but give it the runaround, writing letters, putting up a faÊade instead of going to the Saudi government and working out an arrangement so the girls could spend equal time here and there."

It also gives examples of the way women are convinced to go along to get along,

"" To the diplomatic world, accustomed to linguistic niceties and composed deference, Roush inevitably can seem strident, overbearing. Indeed, Saudi officials demonstrate some disdain toward her, privately critical of what they consider her impertinence and impatience. Startlingly, they believe Roush should placate her husband, be more conciliatory.

"She has a thousand warrants for her husband's arrest out all over the world and then she wants him to be flexible," says a high-ranking Saudi official. "Put yourself in his shoes. ... If you found out that your husband is going around slamdunking you all over the world, making you out to be a criminal, a monster, would you be in any mood to be accommodating? "What if Mrs. Roush were for a change to be more accommodating, if she were to drop some of these warrants, be more flexible, be just a little bit more civilized about the whole thing, then what's the likelihood that the husband would be responsive?" The words gall Roush. Irretrievable years stolen from her, she's not willing to passively wait for a dubious reunion. "The situation has become a bit of a joke to the Saudis," she says in uncontained outrage. "They think "Your government isn't going to help you, won't back you up, why should we?' It shouldn't be that I'm a nuisance to my government, asking them to help me ..." ""