Another Week, Another Saudi Outrage

The list of Saudi outrages being perpetuated against American citizens and American interests continues unabated. But, before looking at the latest outrages, lets look at a few previous ones.

Let's see--how about supplying Islamic extremists in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere, with support for their extremist religious schools, where the primary subject taught, is hatred of Westerners? What about supplying money for Islamic terrorists in the form of charitable donations? Then there’s the obstructing of American justice by refusing to allow American FBI agents access to the suspects in Saudi custody, during the Khobar Towers bombing investigation. How’s that for an outrage?

If that last one is not enough to make you flip your lid, comes now the King of Saudi Arabia with an offer of amnesty to terrorists suspects. Amnesty? Yes. Amnesty;--for terrorists. The King is offering an amnesty to those who turn themselves and their weapons in during the next 30 days. Presumably this will include the people who murdered Paul Johnson, an American citizen who was working in Saudi Arabia, and who was  beheaded by Islamic terrorists.

Amnesty.

Amnesty from a government who just a week or so ago, was telling everyone that Saudi Arabia does not “negotiate” with terrorists. But of course an offer of amnesty is just that, an offer to negotiate some kind of a deal with terrorist suspects. This offer is supposed to be from King Fahd but was delivered on his behalf by Crown Prince and de facto ruler Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, on Saudi state television. It’s hard to tell how much input the king had in this case, since he is purportedly very ill and may not even be in the country. In any event, SA’s PR flacks are not in the habit of putting out much information about the Saudi Royals.

But why, exactly, are the Saudis doing this? Does either the King or the Crown Prince really believe that members of any terrorist group now operating  in Saudi Arabia will actually turn themselves in to the authorities there? If so, they must be living on another planet.

In the amnesty speech the King says his government  will crack down on any remaining terrorist organization or member of such an organization operating at the end of the 30 day period.

What is that supposed to mean? Why can’t they crack down now, one might ask. The reason is obvious, they don’t, because they can’t. They can’t because it is unclear how much the Saudi security forces have been infiltrated by people sympathetic to the goals of the terrorists. In fact the Saudi rulers give every indication that they are running scared. They’re weak politically. Just listen to the sort of news conferences their representatives give on CNN or C-Span every once in a while. They don’t really seem all that confident. It’s clear they don’t trust their security forces, at least not completely.

And even if the security forces, (the police and so forth) , are loyal, they appear to be incompetent. During a recent shoot-out with terrorists, the Saudi authorities allowed some suspected terrorists to simply slip away. What this means is, that those who escaped will learn by their experience with the Saudi police; they will rearm and regroup. Then, fortified by their successes, they will come back at a later date and murder another American worker.  You can count on it.

Speaking of beheadings and terrorists, the Saudi authorities have not yet found the body of Paul Johnson, their latist victim.   That’s another outrage, against both the living and the dead. Despite the fact that 15,000 security forces were supposed to be searching for Mr Johnson, these same security forces have so far been unable to find his body. They brag that they killed the perpetrators of Mr Johnson’s murder, in a shoot-out, but they are unable to find his body. How is that possible?

Unless , of course, the authorities aren’t looking too hard, or are just not looking at all, or are delaying the search until the perpetrators get away. Chances are looking very good, that the murderers simply got away due to corruption or incompetence on the part of the Saudi police. 

Mr Johnson was kidnapped on June 12, murdered on June 18 ( we think) and as of June 26, nobody seems to know where his body is. This, despite reports from Saudi officials earlier, that Mr Johnson’s body had been found. It has not, so far as anyone can tell. Which means further sorrow for Mr Johnson’s family. How can they plan for funeral services if they do not have his remains?

First his beheading by terrorists, which is bad enough, then the Saudi authorities put out contradictory information concerning his remains, which causes even more suffering for his family, then,  to top things off, the Saudi government offers an amnesty. An amnesty for the very same people who murdered Mr Johnson in the first place.

At least one thing is clear:

America has two enemies in Saudi Arabia, the Islamic terrorists and the Saudi Monarchy.

Punditwalla--




.