There’s something more than a little unseemly about one American President after another going to Saudi Arabia to kiss the ring of King Abdullah.
This is a kingdom where “women continue to face severe discrimination in law and practice,” says Amnesty International’s latest annual report.
This is a kingdom where “torture and other ill-treatment of detainees were widespread and systematic,” but who are we to talk?
This is a kingdom where, according to Amnesty International, “human rights activists and peaceful critics of the government were detained or remained in prison.”
This also happens to be a kingdom that finances the most reactionary madrassas around the world.
And, as if we needed bin Laden’s new tape as a reminder, this is a kingdom that supplied 15 of the 19 mass murderers on 9/11.
It was hard to stomach watching Bush palling around with King Abdullah all those years. And it was equally hard to stomach watching Obama salute “the long history of friendship” between the United States and Saudi Arabia and debase himself by saying he was there “to seek his Majesty’s counsel.” Hell, less than a week ago in Riyadh the government conducted a public execution that featured a beheading followed by the crucifixion of the man’s body.
What a friendship to uphold.