by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
On September 11th, 2001, citizens of the world watched in horror as the United States came under attack from a terrorist organization. Thousands of lives were lost as four passenger airplanes came crashing into buildings as well as into a field in Pennsylvania. It was an unimaginable horror that ushered a reluctant world into the new reality of terrorism.
The terrorists on 9/11 were nineteen young men, fifteen of who whom were citizens of Saudi Arabia. Their organization was known as al-Qaeda, and its leader was Osama bin Laden, himself a Saudi Arabian from a prominent family.
President George W. Bush's first concern after he finally made it back to the White House after hop-scotching across the country in Air Force One trying to avoid the terrorists himself, was to move swiftly to get all of the prominent Saudi Arabians, including some members of the royal family who were in the United States at the time of the attack, safely out of the country. Bush and his government did not want those prominent Saudis, some of whom had business ties to the Bush family, being within reach of angry Americans seeking retaliation.
Now, nearly twenty years later, the United States is once again struggling with a situation in which its strong ally and trading partner, Saudi Arabia, stands accused on the world stage of committing an awful crime. This time a Saudi journalist who was a permanent resident of the United States was apparently murdered in a grizzly manner in the Saudi Arabian embassy in Turkey where he went to have some diplomatic paperwork accomplished. It now looks as though the man was able to record his own murder on his smart watch and transmit it outside of the building to allies.
Saudi Arabia has done a dance of denial with a backdrop of changing stories ever since the journalist's disappearance two weeks ago - and they have been joined in that dance by their man in Washington, Donald John Trump, who also has business ties to the Saudi government. Trump even sent his secretary of state, grinning Mike Pompeo, to Saudi Arabia to meet with the country's leaders and try to determine what happened. So far the only clear result is Trump's reluctance to cast any blame whatsoever on the Saudi royal family or the country's government (essentially the same group of individuals) for the disappearance and likely death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Donald Trump, a man who is ready to send the U.S. military.to our southern border to protect the country from a ragtag convoy of jalopies inching north through Mexico, does not want to rush into any finger-pointing when it comes to Saudi Arabia. Where the Kingdom is concerned, Trump does not want anyone to be labeled as "guilty" before they are found that way in a court of law - and, of course, some people will never be answerable in any court - and Donald Trump knows that all too well.
Money and power continue to have the same noxious odor.
Citizen Journalist
On September 11th, 2001, citizens of the world watched in horror as the United States came under attack from a terrorist organization. Thousands of lives were lost as four passenger airplanes came crashing into buildings as well as into a field in Pennsylvania. It was an unimaginable horror that ushered a reluctant world into the new reality of terrorism.
The terrorists on 9/11 were nineteen young men, fifteen of who whom were citizens of Saudi Arabia. Their organization was known as al-Qaeda, and its leader was Osama bin Laden, himself a Saudi Arabian from a prominent family.
President George W. Bush's first concern after he finally made it back to the White House after hop-scotching across the country in Air Force One trying to avoid the terrorists himself, was to move swiftly to get all of the prominent Saudi Arabians, including some members of the royal family who were in the United States at the time of the attack, safely out of the country. Bush and his government did not want those prominent Saudis, some of whom had business ties to the Bush family, being within reach of angry Americans seeking retaliation.
Now, nearly twenty years later, the United States is once again struggling with a situation in which its strong ally and trading partner, Saudi Arabia, stands accused on the world stage of committing an awful crime. This time a Saudi journalist who was a permanent resident of the United States was apparently murdered in a grizzly manner in the Saudi Arabian embassy in Turkey where he went to have some diplomatic paperwork accomplished. It now looks as though the man was able to record his own murder on his smart watch and transmit it outside of the building to allies.
Saudi Arabia has done a dance of denial with a backdrop of changing stories ever since the journalist's disappearance two weeks ago - and they have been joined in that dance by their man in Washington, Donald John Trump, who also has business ties to the Saudi government. Trump even sent his secretary of state, grinning Mike Pompeo, to Saudi Arabia to meet with the country's leaders and try to determine what happened. So far the only clear result is Trump's reluctance to cast any blame whatsoever on the Saudi royal family or the country's government (essentially the same group of individuals) for the disappearance and likely death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Donald Trump, a man who is ready to send the U.S. military.to our southern border to protect the country from a ragtag convoy of jalopies inching north through Mexico, does not want to rush into any finger-pointing when it comes to Saudi Arabia. Where the Kingdom is concerned, Trump does not want anyone to be labeled as "guilty" before they are found that way in a court of law - and, of course, some people will never be answerable in any court - and Donald Trump knows that all too well.
Money and power continue to have the same noxious odor.
No comments:
Post a Comment