It's Time to Lay Down the Law With Saudi Arabia

For way too long, we have pretended that the oil-rich Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is our ally in the War on Terror. In my view, they are playing a duplicitous game with us. The truth is that they have been playing us like a violin for too many years and spanning too many administrations.

Of course, we know the main reason that we let this nation play its game. OIL. It is to our shame that instead of developing our own oil supplies, we have allowed ourselves to continue our reliance on foreign oil-and mostly from unstable places like Saudi Arabia. The first step in letting the Saudis go is to start developing our own oil in places like Alaska. Of course, the wacko environmentalists have stood in the way. We also have deluded ourselves that the Saudis are a bulwark against other extremist forces in the region. Some bulwark.



It should be no surprise that 15 of the 19 9-11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. It is precisely that country where the most extreme form of fundamentalist Islam-Wahhabism-is practiced.

In addition, it is Saudi money (oil money no less)that is funding extremism world-wide. It is the Saudis who fund construction of mosques in the West, many of which preach radical extremism and hate toward non-Muslims. Saudi money also funds madrassahs and Islamic schools in the West that teach the same messages. That includes right here in the USA, for example, the school the Saudi Embassy has sponsored in Fairfax County, Virginia, from which known terrorists have sprouted.

This is how the Saudi government plays its double-game; they go along with a lot of US requests, they have their own enforcement against extremists in-country-who seek to overthrow the corrupt regime. They also make their little deals with the extremists hoping in exchange that the King and all the princes and sultans can stay on their thrones and in their palaces, flying off to the West in their private jets to go shopping and do all the things they stone or behead their own citizens for doing in Saudi Arabia. Thus, money goes to pay for the activities that result in new generations of Middle Eastern youth to grow up and hate America and the West. It's like a big circle, a big game. And the sad thing is that our government and every other government knows it. Yet, there is always "the Big Picture" or some other strategic excuse for playing this game.

The recent Clinton Foundation disclosure of millions of dollars in Saudi contributions surprised no one. Jimmy Carter and his feckless Carter Peace Center also rakes in millions from Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern interests. No surprise that Carter is so anti-Israel. Not to be partisan, I'm sure that both Bushes have gotten big money from them as well. GW was awfully cozy with the King and that double-dealing weasel Prince Bandar, who was ambassador to Washington for ages.



And so, because of this "special relationship" with Saudi Arabia, we have to allow them to fund radical schools and mosques in our own country even as we educate most of that country's university age youth here in America. It would be nice if we could find out how much they are giving to our universities as bribes to set up Middle East studies departments dominated by radical professors like Khalid Rashidi at Columbia (an old friend of Barack Obama, by the way), who see as their main occupation to turn US public opinion against Israel. In addition, how much does Saudi Arabia funnel to the various Muslim Student Associations across the US? How about organizations like CAIR?

It is high time for a US president to lay down the law to Saudi Arabia. No more radical mosques and schools on US soil. Either you are with us or against us as someone once said. Had our leaders any foresight, we would have been now prepared to tell the Saudis to drink their oil. Instead, we have to see "the Big Picture".



Which I just don't get.