17 January 2008
Democracy is great and sometimes it even works in the U.S. It seems to be working less as the Bush administration continues to make inroads into our Constitutional rights. We see Bush traipsing around the Middle East in his mission to spread freedom and democracy throughout the world. Once weapons of mass destruction were not found in Iraq, this was one the excuses he used to continue the war in Iraq. On his visit to Saudi Arabia he offered to sell them $20 billion dollars of sophisticated weapons. Saudi Arabia is supposed to be our number one ally and protect us from hostile forces, but the situation there is so bad that we may no longer have troops stationed there. It appears that next to North Korea, Saudi Arabia has the fewest democratic leanings.
The way Middle Eastern countries are governed has been in place for centuries. Why is Bush pushing ideals that are falling on deaf ears? We really have no influence or political capital for changes in that part of the world. Once again everything comes down to oil. The royal family is corrupt and constitutional reforms promised almost ten years ago have not been realized. It seems to me that Bush is there to beg for an increase in oil production as we watch our economy slow down. The Saudis have their own economy problems so why should they care about ours? Because of our need for oil Saudi Arabia escaped being named in Bush’s “axis of evil.”
The U.S. flew relatives of Osama bin Laden out of the U.S. after 9/11 and 15 of the 19 named plotters for the attack were from Saudi Arabia. Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran were blamed for protecting people liable to launch attacks on the United States. The cozy relations between the Bush family and the Saudi royal family are well known. Somehow I smell a rat, oops. sorry Mr. President, a slip of the tongue. Since Bush has done little to move the U.S. away from Saudi oil dependency. His trip to Riyadh shows how badly his efforts to promote democracy have failed.
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