Beheadings and Floggings ‘R US'
the Funders of 9/11 were the Best Friends of Bush and Cheney
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| The Saudi regimes barbaric method of execution |
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| Cruelty is the Saudi way |
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| Floggings are the Saudi way of dealing with dissidents |
There are but 2 words that sum up Western countries
hypocrisy when it comes to the question of war, democracy and human rights in
the Middle East and beyond. They are SAUDI ARABIA.
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| Western talk of women's equality stops at the door of Saudi Arabia |
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| When it comes to being flogged women have achieved equality |
Saudi Arabia is a state of relatively recent
creation. Formally declared in 1932 by
Ibn Saud after a 30 year campaign to conquer and unify the whole of Arabia - the Hejaz, Nejd and and other areas of Arabia. The British abandoned Sharif Hussein of
Mecca, the previous Hashemite ruler, as they supported Saud, whose ideology was that of the austere Wahhabism
(named after Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab, Saudi Arabia
was first a de-facto British protectorate and then, with the discovery of oil
by Standard Oil [Arab American Oil Company] in 1938 it fell under the
domination of the United States.
Britain, having abandoned as Ibn Saud of the Hejaz moved to
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| Ronald Reagan led the way in US support for the Saudis |
The
ideology of Wahhabism, which has spread its American sponsored tentacles into much
of Sunni Islam via Al Quada, Isis and the Taliban, uses the Quran to legitimise
the severest forms of repression in defence of the Saudi state. Use of alcohol will result in someone being flogged
in Saudi Arabia but when abroad the Saudi royals indulge themselves in western
casinos and with the finest wines.
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| Obama and King Abdullah |
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| Like father like son - the senior Bush leads the way |
As
we saw when Tony Blair moved to end the Serious Fraud Office investigation into
the BAE arms use of bribes to gain weapon sales in Saudi Arabia, [see How Blair put pressure on Goldsmith to end BAE investigation the Saudi regime is endemically corrupt.
Literally billions of pounds of Saudi wealth go into paying for the
luxury life-style of its royal rulers, money stolen from the people of Arabia
and the Arab East.
Yet someone who
steals a loaf of bread to feed his family can suffer the amputation of a limb
or what is termed cruxifiction, whereby one leg and one arm are severed. It’s no surprise that, in an instance of
reality mocking satire, Saudi Arabia has now secured an important role in the
UN Human Rights lobby. See U.S. StateDepartment “Welcomes” News That Saudi Arabia Will Head U.N. Human Rights Panel
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| A mass hanging |
The
mock horror of Western politicians at Isis’s use of beheadings is belied by the
fact that the Saudi state murders its own nationals (& foreign workers)
through the use of the same method of execution. Fiercely opposed to equality for women, it
forbids women to even drive a car, it is flattered by the West as a ‘moderate’. Prince Charles is always a welcome guest to
the Saudi royals and Queen Elizabeth has made the trip to Saudi Arabia on more
than one occasion. In 2015 more than 100
people have suffered medieval barbarity of beheadings but you won’t get a word
of condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s crimes against its own and the Yemeni people
from Cameron or Obama.
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| Bush and Abdullah - the American fight for democracy in the Middle East |
Saudi
Arabia is the main bastion of reaction in the Arab states and invaded Bahrain
to help defeat the forces of liberation during the Arab Spring. It is also a close ally with Israel. Saudi Arabia and Israel were fully in support
of the Syrian invasion of Lebanon in 1977, to prevent the Left winning the
civil war and found no incongruity in supporting the fascist Christian Phalange.
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| Sentences of 1000 strokes are not uncommon |
Below
is an article giving 10 reasons for opposing the Saudi monarchy and also
included are pictures showing how close the alliance with western imperialism
is.
Tony
Greenstein
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| Charles and Camilla find themselves very much at home with the Saudis |
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| The Clinton's feminism is infinitely adaptable |
By
Medea Benjamin
During the discussion on the Iran nuclear deal, it has
been strange to hear U.S. politicians fiercely condemn Iranian human rights
abuses while remaining silent about worse abuses by U.S. ally Saudi Arabia. Not
only is the Saudi regime repressive at home and abroad, but U.S. weapons and
U.S. support for the regime make Americans complicit. So let’s look at the
regime the U.S. government counts as its close friend.
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| Cruxifiction - a Saudi speciality |
1. Saudi Arabia is governed as an absolutist monarchy
by a huge clan, the Saud family, and the throne passes from one king to
another. The Cabinet is appointed by the king, and its policies have to be
ratified by royal decree. Political parties are forbidden and there are no
national elections.
2. Criticizing the monarchy, or defending human
rights, can bring down severe and cruel punishments in addition to
imprisonment. Raif Badawi was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes
for writing a blog the government considered critical of its rule. Waleed
Abulkhair is serving a 15-year sentence for his work as a human right attorney.
New legislation effectively equates criticism of the government and other
peaceful activities with terrorism. The government tightly controls the
domestic press, banning journalists and editors who publish articles deemed
offensive to the religious establishment or the ruling authorities. Over
400,000 websites that are considered immoral or politically sensitive are
blocked. A January 2011 law requires all blogs and websites, or anyone posting
news or commentary online, to have a license from the Ministry of Information
or face fines and/or the closure of the website.
3. Saudi Arabia has one of the highest execution rates
in the world, killing scores of people each year for a range of offenses
including adultery, apostasy, drug use and sorcery. The government has
conducted over 100 beheadings this year alone, often in public squares.
4. Saudi women are second-class citizens. The
religious police enforce a policy of gender segregation and often harass women,
using physical punishment to enforce a strict dress code. Women need the
approval of a male guardian to marry, travel, enroll in a university, or obtain
a passport and they're prohibited from driving. According to interpretations of
Sharia law, daughters generally receive half the inheritance awarded to their
brothers, and the testimony of one man is equal to that of two women.
5. There is no freedom of religion. Islam is the
official religion, and all Saudis are required by law to be Muslims. The
government prohibits the public practice of any religion other than Islam and restricts
the religious practices of the Shiite and Sufi Muslim minority sects. Although
the government recognizes the right of non-Muslims to worship in private, it
does not always respect this right in practice. The building of Shiite mosques
is banned.
6. The Saudis export an extremist interpretation of
Islam, Wahhabism, around the globe. Over the past three decades, Saudi Arabia
spent US$4 billion per year on mosques, madrassas, preachers, students, and
textbooks to spread Wahhabism and anti-Western sentiment. Let's not forget that
15 of the 19 fanatical hijackers who carried out the 9/11 attacks were Saudis,
as well as Osama bin Laden himself.
7. The country is built and runs thanks to foreign
laborers, but the more than 6 million foreign workers have virtually no legal
protections. Coming from poor countries, many are lured to the kingdom under
false pretenses and forced to endure dangerous working and living conditions.
Female migrants employed in Saudi homes as domestic workers report regular physical,
sexual, and emotional abuse.
8. The Saudis are funding terrorism worldwide. A
Wikileaks-revealed 2009 cable quotes then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
saying, "Donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of
funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide … More needs to be done since Saudi
Arabia remains a critical financial support base for al-Qaeda, the Taliban,
Lashkar e-Tayyiba and other terrorist groups." In Syria the Saudis are
supporting the most extreme sectarian forces and the thousands of volunteers
who rally to their call. And while the Saudi government condemns ISIS, many
experts, including 9/11 Commission Report lead author Bob Graham, believe that
ISIL is a product of Saudi ideals, Saudi money and Saudi organizational support.
9. The Saudis have used their massive military
apparatus to invade neighboring countries and quash democratic uprisings. In
2011, the Saudi military (using U.S. tanks) rolled into neighboring Bahrain and
brutally crushed that nation's budding pro-democracy movement. In 2015, the
Saudis intervened in an internal conflict in Yemen, with a horrific bombing
campaign (using American-made cluster munitions and F-15 fighter jets) that has
killed and injured thousands of civilians. The conflict has created a severe
humanitarian crisis affecting 80 percent of the Yemeni people.
10. The Saudis backed a coup in Egypt that killed over
1,000 people and saw over 40,000 political dissidents thrown into squalid
prisons. While human rights activists the world over where condemning the
brutal regime of Al Sisi, the Saudi government offered US$5 billion to prop up
the Egyptian coup leader.
The cozy U.S .relationship with the Saudis has to do
with oil, weapons sales and joint opposition to Iran. But with extremism
spreading through the globe, a reduced U.S. need for Saudi oil, and a thawing
of U.S. relations with Iran, now is the time to start calling for the U.S.
government to sever its ties with the Saudi monarchs.
This content was originally published by teleSUR at
Not
only is the Saudi regime repressive at home and abroad, but U.S. weapons and
U.S. support for the regime make Americans complicit.
Medea
Benjamin is an American political activist, best known for co-founding Code
Pink and, along with activist and author Kevin Danaher, the fair trade advocacy
group Global Exchange.
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