by Ludwig Watzal
The beheading of Western hostages by the terrorists of ISIS or the Islamic State (IS) is vicious but not an unusual practice in countries considered close Western friends or allies. Take Saudi Arabia as an example, which is nearing the status of the State of Israel as an „indispensable“ US ally. There exists, however, a significant difference between the two: Israel is considered a Jewish democracy or a democracy sui generis, Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, is the most fundamentalist, radical and gruesome Islamic regime the world has ever seen. How can the US be on good terms with both regimes?
The various US governments are well informed about the machinations of the radical Saudi Arabian regime. They took it gratefully, when it served their interests, when Western secret services together with the Saudis laid the foundations for Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. The American side is fully aware of the establishment by Saudi Arabia of Islamic schools worldwide and the indoctrination provided in these schools that serves to spread their Salafist and Wahhabite version of Islam. In addition to this ideological campaign, Saudi Arabia and other Islamic regimes on the Arabian Peninsula have invested billions of U.S. dollars in upgrading the Al-Nusra Front, IS and, on top of all that, to build a terrorist infrastructure against Syria and Iran, which they designate as enemies of Islam. These terror organizations kill all „infidels“, including Shiite Muslims, but primarily Christians, Yazidis, Alevis and Kurds. They destroyed and expelled the ancient Christian community of Maaloula in Syria, and desecrated all their churches and monasteries.[1]
Al-Qaeda has been founded by the CIA, Hamas was tolerated by the Israeli intelligence, and al-Nusra Front and ISIS are creations of the Saudi, Qatari and American intelligence agencies. Not President Bashar al-Asad has to go, as President Obama used to say, but rather King Abdallah of Saudi Arabia and his rotten ilk on the Arabian peninsula. His regime is the spiritus rector of terrorism against Syrians. Speaking of beheadings: They are on the agenda in Saudi Arabia. This year, 30 people have been beheaded there. No Western outcry was heard.
One can distinguish between the legality of beheadings. Saudi beheadings are carried out under the rule of law, although obscure, i.e. after a trial, whereas the other beheadings are outright murders. Are Western victims worth more than Saudi Arabian? Capital punishment is to be opposed, but is not limited to Saudi Arabia. In many of US American states it’s on the agenda, too. But crucifixions and beheadings are the trademark of ISIS. Why not attack the original first before one deals with the copy
Saudi Arabia and the US have a long „friendship“ that was very close during the reign of George W. Bush. The Saudi Ambassador, „Bandar Bush“, was a frequent guest and political consultant at the White House. After leaving the US, he became chief of the Saudi intelligence. He was finally removed from office by the Saudi regime, after he went in February 2014 to Russia in order to bribe Russian president Vladimir Putin with a billion US dollar weapon deal and to threaten him to send terrorist to the Winter Olympics in Sochi if he does not withdraw his support for the Assad regime.
After the Saudis and the other Islamist regimes have created terror groups like ISIS or al-Nusra Front in Syria and Iraq, why should the United States and some „willing“ Western Allies pull the chestnuts out of the fire for these undemocratic and totalitarian regimes? The US administration should let the Saudis fight it alone, like the Saudi ambassador to Great Britain in an op-ed in the New York Times full-bodied announced.[2] The used political rhetoric indicates that he even acts as a megaphone of the neocons, certain Zionist circles and their rubber stamps in the US Congress, which are very critical of Obama’s policy towards Syria and Iran.
Much more important is that the US government comes to terms with Iran over the imaginary nuclear threat. The mullahs, in contrast to Saudi Arabia or even Netanyahu, represent the most reasonable and responsible-minded Muslim regime in the Middle East. They would be a great asset for US interest in the region, although the US administration can’t be politically trusted by the Iranian mullahs. The Iranian government under President Mohammad Khatami have repeatedly extended the hand of reconciliation to the different US administrations, but the US has slapped on the outstretched hand. In order not to upset Binyamin Netanyahu, the Obama administration believes, despite all evidence, that Iran pursues a secret nuclear program.
On September 29, 2014, the Saudi Arabian human rights activist Samar Badawi testified before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to the situation of the role of women and that of human rights in general in Saudi Arabia. Martin Woker of the Swiss daily „Neue Zurcher Zeitung“ conducted an interview with her, in which she described the dismal situation of women and human rights in here country. Although she knows that the Saudi regime may punish her for the outspokenness, she called a spade a spade. Her husband, the human rights lawyer Walid Abulkhair, was sentenced to 15 years in prison on tenuous charges. He was arrested on the basis of new anti-terror legislation. To the support of terrorism by the Saudi regime, she said the following: „They (meaning the regime) have created the ‚Islamic State‘. They are the major financiers of terror. They have imprisoned peaceful activists and sentenced them to years in prison. It is a natural thing that something like the IS emerges. The result of this violence is that violence. We, and with us all Saudi human rights organizations, reject violence.“[3] Why doesn’t the Obama administration get rid of this evil and rotten Saudi regime?