The Root Cause of Bin Laden's Anti-Western Crusade

A PBS documentary titled "House of Saud" is a must-see for anyone wanting an understanding of Saudi Arabia.   Produced in 2005, the show provides an overview of the founding of the kingdom, points of tension within the citizenry and it's crucial relationship with the U.S.

The producers also do a great job summarizing the root cause of Osama bin Laden's beef with the U.S.  See this fact-filled clip to learn more:

Also, of special surprise are interviews with former executives of the largest oil company on earth, ARAMCO.  

Link to the doc here.

Democracy, Hypocrisy

Saddam Hussein greeting U.S. special envoy Donald Rumsfeld

(Baghdad, 1983) 

Nearly a quarter century ago Murray Rothbard wrote* "Why the Intervention in Arabia?".  In it he ponders the contradiction of the U.S. supporting dictators in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia while Washington was claiming to be spreading "democracy":

"Saddam Hussein is a very bad man, the "Butcher of Baghdad." Absolutely, but he was just as much a butcher only the other day when he was our gallant ally against the terrible threat posed to the Gulf by the fanatical Shiites of Iran." 

...

U.S. Senator John Kerry dining with Assad

(Damascus, 2009 image The Telegraph)

Rothbard continues:

"The fanatical Shiites are still there, by the way, but they--as well as the Dictator of Syria, Hafez Assad, the Butcher of Hama--seem to have been magically transformed into our gallant allies against Saddam Hussein."

Fewer than three years after Kerry and Assad were dining together in Damascus the U.S. began allying with Syria's Muslim Brotherhood to topple Assad and his government.

According to the New York Times funding for Assad's opposition is coming from Turkey, Qatar, U.S. State Department, the C.I.A. and Saudi Arabia.

The victims of regime change in Iraq would ask if this policy of spreading "democracy" is underpinned by hypocrisy?

*Rothbard's article is published at Mises.org

Harry Truman Writing on Palestine

In 1946 U.S. President Harry Truman wrote to the King of Saudi Arabia about Palestine.  In his letter Truman writes:

The Government and people of the United States have given support to the concept of a Jewish National Home in Palestine ever since the termination of the first World War...

World War I had been over for nearly thirty years at the time of this letter.  This means that a Jewish home in Palestine has been "official U.S. policy" for almost a full century.
 

Harry Truman with Crown Prince Saud
(1947)

Truman continues:

I do not consider that my urging of the admittance of a considerable number of displaced Jews into Palestine or my statements with regard to the solution of the problem of Palestine in any sense represent an action hostile to the Arab people. 

For over six decades the U.S. has chosen to walk the tightrope by supporting the Saudi Arab monarchy while also supporting Israel against Palestinian Arab's.  The world's largest military supporting and opposing Arab people depending upon where they stand on the earth has been and always will be a recipe for disaster.

Human Rights for Some of Us

A man was convicted in Saudi Arabia for committing the crime of "insulting Islam".  The Saudi court sentenced him to ten years in prison plus 1,000 lashes.  This is what hosting a website about religion will get you when you live under a totalitarian regime.

Have you heard outrage from the west about this violent crackdown on freedom of speech?

Harry Truman with Crown Prince Saud (1947)

In case you weren't aware the U.S. has been selling weapons of mass murder to Saudi King's for six decades.      

Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon with King Saud (1957)

The shipment of weapons from the U.S. to the House of Saud continues to this day.  Textron Inc. is in the process of filling an order for 1,300 cluster bombs to be sent to the Islamic regime by next year.  

In short, the relationship between the owners of the U.S. and the owners of Saudi Arabia is very profitable for them.  If people start spreading ideas that question the Islamic regime the lashing will begin.

Don't expect a feel-good ad campaign to come out of the west about protecting free speech in the mid-east kingdom.  They couldn't care less about "democracy", "freedom" or "human rights" when it comes to the 20,000,000 citizens of Saudi Arabia.