Is it time to invade Saudi Arabia?

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If we are re-invading Iraq because the awful ISIS use medieval justice like beheadings and whipping and denigration of women and sexual and gender orientation rights, why aren’t we invading Saudi Arabia?

With their King dead, this destabilisation moment will be perfect to launch drone strikes and paramilitary units.

No?

The ever brilliant Gordon Campbell asks why Saudi Arabia isn’t perceived as the same threat as ISIS is…

For starters, compare this list of punishments to offenders recently published by Islamic State, with the almost identical list of punishments operant in Saudi Arabia, as tabulated by the Middle East Eye website.

Middle East Eye has compiled a useful chart. Blasphemy? Homosexuality? Treason? Murder? The punishment is death under both Islamic State and the House of Saud. Drinking alcohol? Slander? That’ll get you 80 lashes under IS, but is at the judge’s discretion in SA. Adultery if you’re married? Death by stoning under both IS and SA. Adultery if not married? 100 lashes under both IS and SA. Stealing? Amputation of right hand under both IS and SA. Banditry and theft? Amputation of the right hand and foot under both IS and SA. Banditry, murder and theft? Crucifixion under SA, death by beheading in SA.

Nor is this some residual, on-the-books but not actually practiced situation in Saudi Arabia. In recent weeks, the world has witnessed the repeated flogging and 10 year jail term imposed on Raif Badawi for the crime of blogging about the monarchy. Yet so far, there has been little of the global outcry we saw recently in France, about the sanctity of free speech. Je Suis Raif? Not so much. Then there was this account of an execution by sword of a woman on a street in Mecca, on January 12 which got publicised solely because it was videoed. The person who did it – the videoing, not the execution – has since been arrested.

Why is it that one form of Islamic oppression seems to be far nicer than another form?  Do we only go to war against those Islamic oppressors we don’t directly fund?

Rather than continuing to fund more and more radical fighters, couldn’t America just talk to Iran? Seeing as the Saudi’s and Iran are locked into a civil war against each other using regional proxies, couldn’t the US just sit down with Iran and straighten everything out and apologise for the whole coup thing back in the 50s?

Why is war always the answer, and why is it always the answer when there is oil?

TDB Recommends NewzEngine.com

27 COMMENTS

    • It is a good question, and I’ll endeavour to answer it! The US and its allies are fighting ISIS, and not Saudi Arabia, for the same reason they fought Saddam Hussein, the Taliban, North Vietnam, North Korea, Japan and Germany in WW2, and Germany also in WW1. All of them upset the status quo and invaded their neighbours and/or exported or harboured terrorists.

      If Saudi does that too, then perhaps they will attack them.

      You should really ask why they don’t attack Russia for invading Ukraine – the answer to that is also simple – they are nuclear armed.

      Do you really think the US is attacking ISIS because of its treatment of women and gays? Seriously?

      • SCEPTIC seems to have forgotten Suadi Arabia did invade Bahrain to prop up the dictatorship there against protests demanding more democracy, of course the Americans did nothing as their fleet is stationed in Bahrain.

        • YOGIBARE seems to think an invasion is when one government asks another for military assistance.

          The Saudi gov’t is highly oppressive of its people and has an appalling human rights record, but it will most likely retain US support so long as it behaves internationally according to accepted norms.

          • Semantics SCEPTIC,
            For government military assistance one can read a dictatorship requesting an invasion of their own country to oppress the democratic demands of the majority of their own citizens.

            • It is not semantics to see the difference between a hostile invasion and a request for assistance – but it is idiocy to equate them.

  1. The US position on Iran has a lot to do with worthless pieces of paper. These were once titles to Iran’s oil wealth, sold off by the Shah with no more mandate than Key has for his asset thefts. The revolution very properly rendered these papers worthless – but skanky American oil operators, folk like Cheney and Wolfowitz, bought up those papers at a discount, so that a regime change that emplaced a puppet in Iran would suit them nicely.

  2. The House of Saud is one ISIS sponsor – the other one is Quatar; and Osama bin Ladin came from a wealthy Saudi family. Sweet irony.

      • Good post Martyn,
        Daniel asks;
        “Then how come Saudi Arabia are building a wall to keep ISIS out?”

        Answer -Their name of the game is deception/diversion

        Deception/diversion of course is to show they are building a wall, but perhaps it a fortress to keep any enemy at bay no matter weather it is Saudi public who rebel one day?

        The middle east and some Eastern cultures are full of those who choose deception/diversion as a weapon of war as the vietcong did when we thought we had a friendly ally we had an enemy.

        While in the military in 1964 we were advised of this when packing us off to war. (Vietnam)

    • Interesting,
      When I pointed this out several days ago my posts were modded out.
      So now we can admit the saudis support ISIS. Does that mean we can mention israel as well or is that too much?
      Please advise.

  3. Don,t forget that 15 of the 19 hijackers in the 9/11 attack were citizens of Saudi Arabia and yet Bush attacked Iraq. Ok so Saddam was a ruthless tyrant and not very nice to the Kurds but join the queue he wasn’t the only despot around. Mind you he did a really good job of hiding those weapons of mass destruction as they still haven’t been found The USA policy in the middle East has been the most cynical, outrageous, despicable act of self righteous hypocrisy of my life time. And after a round of golf with Obama, John Key has jumped into the act like a fawning pathetic lap dog.

  4. Really is an absurd situation, if I remember correctly, the same month Foley was beheaded by Islamic State, there was a surge of beheadings in Saudi Arabia, some executed for sorcery and witchcraft. While there was outrage expressed at the execution of Foley (rightly so), there was no major media attention of the executions in Saudi Arabia.

    Considering beheadings for drug smuggling in Saudi Arabia, the Saudi government is proceeding to clamp down on “digital drugs”, “music” with binaural beats. Considering the skepticism of whether these “drugs” have any effect what so ever, demonstrates how ludicrous the country’s laws are.

    The idea this country should get involved in that region of the world is equally absurd.

  5. Simple: Don’t bite the hand that feeds you!

    The same applies to Big Brother USA, and new big boy on the block, Mainland China. Saudi Arabia may have little strategic and other influence on NZ, but hey, they got MONEY, lots of it, and import a fair bit from here.

    That is exactly what NZ governments LOVE, and “income”, money, earned from exports, and while there may be the odd flogging, chopping off of limbs, hangings, shootings or actual beheadings, also a bit “medieaval”, that is all done with not much publicity, and “hygienically”, clinically sanitised in SA.

    So the MSM is loyal to their government news and bread givers, and never reports on this. Amnesty International may have a website, but it does not get quoted what goes on in Saudi. And do NOT forget, we must “defend” our “Brothers and Sisters” in Israel, from all evil and threat.

    After all, the Saudis send students here also, “contributing” to the economy.

    This is the truth, New Zealand is a mercenary and servant state, happy to sign at the dotted line, as it pays them something, in exports, in loyalty and so forth.

    Sadly most think they are the navel of the earth here, not realising, this country has stuff all armed forces, and would be free game for any third world rogue nation, that may one day desire “territory”, but hey, we can continue dreaming, we still have “free’ education and healthcare, well, besides of the “extra” we have to pay all the time.

    Rest in peace for another night’s sleep, as you will not do harm and can only do better tomorrow. Oh, Barack, you are so good, we will play another round when I am back in Hawaii, says Master Key, the snowballer now, at the Swiss resort, throwing one at Eagleson, for fun that is. And the Royals have Loyal Andrew, the arms trader, a good man, he may have had his bit of “fun” when younger, so why do harm to him.

    All is good in Aotearoa tonight, all is good, have a good sleep all.

    • SA also exports funding and building of mosques worldwide. Also the slow but now effective message to infiltrate western countries to instil Muslim beliefs and law. They have exported and trained terror networks, and now some of these groups are threating their own borders, hence the wall under construction.

  6. Interesting opinion piece by Paul McGeough, Fairfax Australia, and also on Stuff.co on Saudi Arabia regarding their jurisprudence.

    He says “Homosexuals? Kill them! Adulterers? If they’re married, stone them to death; if they are unmarried, a lashing will do. A thief? Chop off a hand or a foot.

    But best of all, both the Saudis and IS get off on a good beheading. According to Human Rights Watch, there were 87 beheadings in Saudi Arabia last year – and they’re off to a great start this year, with 11 beheadings already and still two Fridays left in January”.

    None of this is new or even hidden, its extreme brutality. Don’t we do business with the country that does this? And if so what is NZ’s rationale again for contributing to this latest round of fighting evil, who is the bad guy again, I can’t tell anymore.

  7. martyn, this last sentence says it all.

    ‘Rather than continuing to fund more and more radical fighters, couldn’t America just talk to Iran? Seeing as the Saudi’s and Iran are locked into a civil war against each other using regional proxies, couldn’t the US just sit down with Iran and straighten everything out and apologise for the whole coup thing back in the 50s?
    Why is war always the answer, and why is it always the answer when there is oil?”

    Obama said in his first pre election speech before his first reign as President of US, said exactly the same logic.
    From memory he said (my words) “I will as President usher in a new era of global peace by going and talking directly with leaders of the countries like Iran, and North Korea that pose threats for us to deal with, and not merely carry on engaging in war, as we have seen the disastrous results of this way.”

    • Obama talks a fine talk but remember he is/was a protege of Zbigniew Brzezinski author of “The Grand Chessboard“.

      “Presidents don’t have power, their purpose is to draw attention away from it.” – Douglas Adams

      • True – THAT IS E-CLECTIC.

        I don’t believe politicians as very few actually have any moral fabric any more.

  8. The U$ is ” invading ” Iraq again to protect its oil interests. U$ companies dominate Iraqi oil production in agreement with the puppet Iraqi regime. The likes of Obama and the U$ fascist state couldn’t care less about ISIS’s pathetic atrocities! Your essay’s premise is mistaken accept as irony. 500,000 children died in Iraq because of sanctions in the 90s. The invasion led to another million deaths. ISIS are playpen kiddies ( Really! )compared with the U$ terrorist state Key loves to cosy up to.

  9. Yep looking at this record in hindsight old Saddam Hussein while an evil bastard was probably no worse than this mob.
    Therefore why Iraq and not Saudi Arabia? Perhaps one may ponder that if one increases the role of the plutocrats / elites how far off the mark World System Theory is.
    The tributes being paid to the recently deceased leader of the parasitic Saud clan by western leaders is best described as stomach churning.
    I have been a supporter of Obama but his kowtowing to the Saud’s has greatly diminished his ethical credibility. The “pragmatic” will cite regional stability, oil supply, financial stability and so on but one fails to see what the real payoff has been in supporting these people.
    Daily we see articles expressing concern at the disengagement of the young and others in the democratic process with abandonment of principles such as this what else can be expected?
    In addition to abandoning the economics of self, the tangible support of human rights by at the least ostracising and preferably stronger measures of this vile, misogynistic enemy of human rights ruling clique and its clerical fellow travellers may bring relief to the wests existential angst.

  10. You ask @ Martyn .

    ” Why is war always the answer, and why is it always the answer when there is oil? ”

    Maybe these guys can help with the answer to that question .

    Israeli Arms Industry . Al Jazeera doco’ .

    http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/witness/2014/05/lab-20145475423526313.html

    Slater/Whaleoil being paid by the Israeli foreign office to promote Israeli foreign policy here ?

    Israeli special unit squashed in a timely manner by Ch Ch earthquakes ?

    The Dark Little Lord jonky-stien and his Warner Bros connections ?

    War over oil . Oil required to war ? Win,win ?

    Personally , I don’t give much of a fuck what the various waring factions are doing to each other there. Sure , it’s awful etc but I have to say I only get deeply concerned when I see NZ getting itself in an increasingly poliarised position, wedged between the US of Israel, ( Lord Dollar be thy name ) and the sandy cluster fuck the Muddle East is .

    My personal feeling is that we should keep our mouths shut , our heads down and hope to Christ the mad bastards don’t notice us as they stride around, their dicks in one hand and a gun in the other .

  11. Well said sleeping hobbit and jay…. …enough to make ones blood curdle having to endure their continuous filthy lies….the pharmaceuticals must be loving it… all the xtra blood pressure medication that is needed by the truth seekers.

  12. The title of this article reveals an attitude of patronage: Basically ordinary kiwis are stupid provincial idiots obsessed with paying of their greedy landlord and drinking beer and watching cricket and rugby brawls and stupid neanderthal fights between Ryder and Cameron Slater. No wonder National are in clover if your attitude is accurate!

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