Kissinger Tells a Joke

Found here, p. 458, in a discussion of the Arab boycott and a problem that developed in getting up contracts with Saudi businesses to tighten or U.S.-Saudi relations

Minutes of the Secretary of State’s Staff Meeting

Washington, February 26, 1975, 8 a.m. 

MR. ROBINSON: We have the Saudi Arabian Commission meeting starting here in a few minutes. We have run into a problem. The problem is developing over the exclusion of Jews from any of these contractual arrangements. We are going to have to try to work it out. And I think there are solutions. But it is going to create— 

SECRETARY KISSINGER: Like what? Like Faisal converting? That way he can also go to Jerusalem...

...SECRETARY KISSINGER: Get that word around, will you, McCloskey. We are against discrimination on the grounds of race and religion. 

MR. ROBINSON: It is going to be a problem.

Of course, as Kissinger should have known, and Sadat's 1977 visit later proved it, there was no problem with the King visiting Jerusalem.

There is, however, still is a problem with Jews visiting Mecca, not to mention the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

__________

P.S.

Two pages later, we read:

Congressman Waxman, who was not a member of the House Foreign Armed Forces Committee, got onto the Committee’s tour of the Middle East apparently solely to raise the question of visas for Jews. He asked King Faisal why Jews were not permitted freely into the Kingdom and the King asked why they would want to come. Most Jews, said the King, support Israel.

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What the Grand Mufti's Successor Told Prince William (And What Saudi Arabia & Jordan Told Israel)

As reported (in Arabic) at Arab21:

Akrama Sabri reveals to Arabi 21 details of his conversation with Prince William

The head of the Supreme Islamic Committee in the occupied city of Jerusalem and the preacher of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Sheikh Ekrema Sabri, revealed the details of what took place between him and Prince William Duke of Cambridge during a visit last Thursday to the Al-Aqsa Mosque about a week ago.

"Jerusalem belongs to Muslims and Christians, a Palestinian city occupied by the Israeli occupation that is trying to Judaize it, and the Al-Aqsa Mosque belongs to Muslims alone and has nothing to do with the Jews," Sheikh Sabri said.

Sabri told "Arab21" that he had addressed William so: "Britain has historically harmed the Palestinians, and this damage still exists. Britain must remove this damage, because the Balfour Declaration was a disaster for the Palestinians."

On the response of the British Prince to this talk, Khatib al-Aqsa said that the prince "listened, and stressed that Britain's foreign policy is still considered the city of Jerusalem occupied, and did not agree to the American decision on the occupied city of Jerusalem," when US President Donald Trump acknowledged Jerusalem "the capital of Israel," he said.

That theme, of "Judaization", is expressed in an analysis provided by an expert on sites of sanctity, Dr. Najih Bkirat, whose title is Director of Religious Education in Jerusalem, when he elucidated on the "three dimensions behind the daily incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque" in Al-Watan's July 2 issue. 

Claiming that about 16 thousand settlers had "stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque" since the beginning of this year until the beginning of June, and expecting more during the next six months, "especially with the exploitation of Jewish holidays, as well as the so-called 'destruction of the alleged temple'", he said in a press statement: 

"We are facing a phenomenon that has beyond it and that the war of intrusions launched on the Aqsa Mosque can be read in three dimensions. First, removing holiness from all Islamic manifestations and Arab buildings, to replace the "alleged structure" Islamic and remove the place [Al-Aqsa]".

"The second dimension of the incursions, is the process of  'Jewish settlement, a settlement of human worshipers and worshipers and the people of the mosque, "by increasing the number of settlers, which provides them with special rules to guard them and welcome them to encourage them to break into the daily.

...the third dimension, which is the most dangerous, is the conflict over sovereignty and administration, meaning that "despite the presence of Arab tutelage [that is, Jordan's custodianship] and management of the Haram with the presence of more than 500 employees inside and outside the sacred compound, there are attempts to take sovereignty not only outside the gates, but to move to the stage of managing the place, under the pretext of taking care of the intruders, which will entail interference in the administration of endowments and the management of guards, in addition to many other departments.

What also irks them is activity at the Bab al-Rahma [the Golden Gate] Cemetery - the setting of an iron wall south of the cemetery on an endowment land tract overseeing al-Husaini Hill.

For those who follow me, this language of storming, Judaization, taking-over, et al. is almost as incendiary as Hamas kites.

In the meantime, Haaretz reports:

Jordan, Saudis and Palestinians Warn Israel: Erdogan Operating in East Jerusalem Under Your Nose; Israel is 'sleeping at the wheel,' they caution

And Israel Hayom has it so:

In bid to buy influence, Turkey hands out money in east Jerusalem

Turkey wants a foothold.  It is suggested to cut that short.

And Amit Segal on Channel 10 TV just now, as I am writing, informs us that MKs will be allowed to ascend the Temple Mount.  Confirmation: once-every-three-months.

I am guessing if Jordan keeps quiet, Netanyahu will bump Turkey out of Jerusalem entirely, including sponsoring Temple Mount interference.

^

Temple Mount Tempest

Jordan, whose state-directed news agencies have employed language of incitement against Israel over it permitting Jews to visit the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, visit - not pray - now has another antagonist over the holy site:

Amman is reportedly frustrated with Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman’s new agenda, namely his desire to strip the Hashemite Kingdom of its custodianship over the Temple Mount, according to the Haaretz daily.

On Friday, there was this in Jordan:

Hundreds of Jordanians took to the streets of downtown Amman on Friday in protest against the decision by US president Donald Trump to relocate the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. 

Waving Jordanian and Palestinian national flags and carrying banners, the protesters denounced the Trump’s decision and expressed their solidarity with Jerusalem...

“God willing, the Zionists will leave the city. Jerusalem will definitely be liberated.” 

Jordan is the recognized custodian of Jerusalem's Islamic holy sites and Christian ones too, as per self-pronouncement and the 1013 agreement signed with the Palestinian Authority. * And Saudi Arabia of the Two Mosques of Mecca and Medina.

While researching for this post, I discovered something of a "of a "Wow. Just wow!" quality.

An official Jordanian Royal lie:

"On 21 August 1969, a painful incident took place in Al Aqsa Mosque, when a Jewish extremist barged into the holy site and set it on fire."

He was Christian.

Rohan. Denis Michael Rohan.

Oh, and as for any "frustration" in Jordan-Saudi Arabia relations, besides rumors, I did find this:

Jordan has banned the import of frozen poultry from Saudi Arabia following the outbreak of a highly pathogenic avian influenza virus.  The precautionary measure seeks to protect the country’s poultry stock and also protect public health, the Ministry of Agriculture, which placed the ban, said.

The only other item that relates to the "frustration" perhaps is in Rami Khouri's piece.  He used this language therein:

Saudi threats and intimidation

a heavy-handed power play to force Palestine and Jordan to follow Saudi orders.

crude but brutal political message to Jordan's King Abdullah and Palestine's President Mahmoud Abbas on how to behave on the Jerusalem issue and regional alignments.

*
The Hashemite attention to Jerusalem was not limited to restoring Islamic holy sites. It also involved building colleges, religious schools and centres to safeguard heritage, including:

The Dawa and Religious Studies College in Jerusalem, established in 1978
The Islamic Sciences College in Jerusalem, established in 1975
The Islamic Sciences College in Qalqilya, established in 1978
Al Aqsa Secondary School for Islamic Jurisprudence, established in 1958
A school for Islamic jurisprudence in Jenin, established in 1975
The Islamic Jurisprudence School in Hebron, established in 1962
The Islamic Jurisprudence School in Nablus, established in 1962
The Islamic Archaeology Department in Jerusalem, established in 1977
The Islamic Heritage Revival Department in Jerusalem, established in 1978

^

Apartheid in Palestine - 1935

In mid-August 1935, the Amir of Saudi Arabia visited the territory of the Mandate of Palestine.

Since the Hashemites and the Saudis were not exactly friendly * with each other, the Saudis having kicked the Hashemites out of their country - the reason they ended up in something called Transjordan - the event was momentous, in its proportion.

In the report, this event of August 14 caught my eye:

No Jews permitted in the Amir's company.

_________

Here:

^

GraphicZionism: Obama Confronts Saudi Arabia

.

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Saudi Arabia Supports Jewish Temple Rebuilding

Well, that's what this idiot says on Iranian TV.

First, he claims no archeological evidence of "any Jewish heritage around Jerusalem" (1:27-29).  Second, at 1:48, that Jews are from Khazar.

Then, Saab Shaath, "author and Middle East expert" (??), talking from Belfast to Press TV, said

Saudi Arabia has always provided support for the Zionist regime’s anti-Palestinian moves and “offered under-the-table support for Israel in their alliance against Syria.”

His conclusion?  Saudi Arabia "will go as far as supporting the destruction of the Al-Aqsa mosque" (3:27) and so the report there is that:

Saudi Arabia is supporting the Israeli regime in its plan to replace the holy al-Aqsa Mosque with a temple

Rational, considered thinking.  Insightful analysis.

Amazing.  More delusional that John Kerry, by far. 

Who is this guy?

^

A Middle East Morph

Israel?

"We were lied to, things were hidden from us," he said. "The problem is not with the deal struck in Geneva but how it was done."

Nope,

Saudi Arabia angry at the US:-

A senior advisor to the Saudi royal family has accused its Western allies of deceiving the oil rich kingdom in striking the nuclear accord with Iran and said Riyadh would follow an independent foreign policy.
Nawaf Obaid told a think tank meeting in London that Saudi Arabia was determined to pursue its own foreign and policy goals. Having in the past been reactive to events, the leading Sunni Muslim nation was determined to be pro-active in future.
Mr Obaid said that while Saudi Arabia knew that the US was talking directly to Iran through a channel in the Gulf state of Oman, Washington had not directly briefed its ally.
"We were lied to, things were hidden from us," he said. "The problem is not with the deal struck in Geneva but how it was done."

Another Obama success story.

^ 

Are You A Jewish Archaeologist?

I wonder, could Jewish archaeologists apply to this?

a session on “The Archaeology of Southern Arabia and Her Neighbors ” at the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) Meetings in Chicago, November 14-17, 2012.../covering a wide spatio-temporal swath from the Paleolithic to the Present centered on the Arabian Peninsula but including neighboring areas such as The Horn of Africa, East Africa, and South Asia. Contributions might be tied to the region thematically (e.g., pastoral nomadism, domesticates, or
agricultural strategies), methodologically (e.g., landscape
archaeology, or satellite imagery technologies) or through ancient contacts such as trade along The Red Sea, Persian/Arabian Gulf or Indian Ocean.

The deadline for submissions is February 15, 2012.

more information can be found here

Even if it is in Chiocago, you never know with those Saudis.

^

Saudi Arabia Eyes

There's I Only Have Eyes for You, and Bette David Eyes, and New York Eyes and there's When Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.

Now, there's

Saudi Women with Sexy Eyes May Be Forced to Cover Them Up

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi women with attractive eyes may be forced to cover them up, the news website Bikya Masr reported, in a move that could mark the latest repressive measure taken against women by the Islamic state.

A spokesperson for Saudi Arabia's Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (CPVPV), Sheikh Motlab al Nabet, said the committee had the right to stop women revealing "tempting" eyes in public.

Women in Saudi Arabia already have to cover their hair, and, in some regions, their faces while in public. If they do not, they face punishments including fines and public floggings.

Anyone for lyrics?

^

The Wrong Way To Lose Your Head Over A Woman

Reported:

Saudi beheads man for sexual assault

A Saudi man was beheaded on Friday in Tabuk in the ultraconservative kingdom's north after being convicted of sexually assaulting another man's wife, a statement from the interior ministry said.

Adel bin Mohammed Assiri forcibly entered the man's apartment and assaulted the man's wife, hitting her, photographing her naked and attempting to rape her, said the statement carried by the official SPA news agency.

His execution brings to 32 the number of people beheaded in Saudi Arabia this year, according to an AFP tally based on official and human rights group reports.

^

Is This An Islamic Joke?

How many female Saudi Arabians can fit behind the steering wheel of a car?

None, but 5 arrested for trying.

^

The Hot Desert Sun Can Scramble One's Brains

This is the view of Prince Turki al-Faisal, a leading figure in Saudi Arabia's royal family:-

"In the public sphere," he said, "there are journalists whose view is so distorted by the neoconservative mantle -- or, as I call it, 'burqa,' that they wear -- that they cannot see that the call for independence from Middle East oil is a canard that defrauds the average consumer of energy by promising him clean energy, which is nonexistent, and to pay a higher price for that energy regardless of the abundant availability of the secure source of energy that comes from the Middle East -- and at a cheaper price."

If that sounds weird to you, let's quote him some more:

...[he] called Israel "a drain on the United States, and not an asset" Friday while accusing the Obama administration of a blatant pro-Israel bias in its Middle East policy.

"Within the makeup of this administration, ladies and gentleman, there are officials who rationalize, excuse, and condone Israeli intransigence while seeking to put more pressure on the Palestinians to concede even more," Mr. Al Faisal said, in a speech to the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations. "These same officials believe that the Palestinian problem is not the root cause of Arab and Muslim antagonism to the United States. It is these officials who propose that the Netanyahu government should be rewarded for its intransigence rather than sanctioned."

..."Saudi Arabia," he said, "agreed with other Arab states to give peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine a chance -- more than once -- under the United-States-negotiated partial colony freeze. The United States failed to stick to its assurances and, to add insult to injury, offered the Netanyahu government more money, arms, protection from U.N. sanction, and, shamefully, the stationing of Israeli troops on Palestinian territory -- as if this territory were part of the United States' sovereign lands. And this was to get him to extend the partial freeze for a few more days. Now that the Netanyahu government has rejected that offer, we are waiting to see what else the United States will offer."

And he went on:

He said that throughout history, the United States had shown "its capability to bring Israeli craven ambition to heel in many instances."

"However -- and there is always a however as well when dealing with the United States -- there has grown over the years a web of very tight and strong strings that bind the U.S. to her client state, Israel."

^

Temple Mount Sacred to Muslims?

Good resource:

...For Muslims, Jerusalem is thought to be sacred for two reasons: First, Muslims were initially commanded to pray toward Jerusalem. But when the Jews refused to convert to Islam, Muhammad changed the prayer direction toward Mecca. Second, Muslims believe that Muhammad ascended to heaven and back from "the Rock" which much later after his death was interpreted to mean what is today the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.

Interestingly, Islamic sources from the first 50 years or so after Muhammad's death make clear that Jerusalem had absolutely no holy status for Muslims.

Some centuries later, Ibn Taymiyya (1263–1328) another important Muslim cleric with an encyclopedic knowledge of the Koran and Hadith, wrote extensively about Jerusalem, and how there were only two holy cities in Islam – Mecca and Medina...

Ibn Taymiyya went to great lengths to explain that the veneration of Jerusalem in nothing more than the "Judaization" of Islam...

Later, Ibn Taymiyya discussed the first caliphs and showed that when they ruled over today's Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel, neither they nor any of the early governors nor any clerics made any attempt to build any structure over the Rock on the Temple Mount...How then, Ibn Taymiyya reasoned, could we who never knew them nor Muhammad have the right to disagree? There is no way we could know more about Islam than they. We therefore have no right to sanctity al-Aqsa because they did not do so.

In order to further strengthen his argument against Jerusalem's sanctity, Ibn Taymiyya wrote that during Muhammad's night journey to heaven from Jerusalem, there is no mention of the (Temple) Rock in the story. Therefore, since the Rock is not even mentioned, it has no importance in Islamic tradition.

...So how did Jerusalem become holy in Islam?

Read on.

No One Is Perfect

This was brought to my attention:-

Ghazi Algosaibi, Saudi Arabia's consummate statesman and liberal writer, died Sunday at the age of 70 from stomach cancer, relatives said. A former ambassador to Britain, Algosaibi often represented his country at international forums and was known for his poetry and liberal religious views in an overwhelmingly conservative country that banned his writings.

Did he do anything really worthwhile that we should commiserate?

Well,

...He also served in the high-profile post of ambassador to Britain from 1992-2002...Algosaibi was close to the kingdom's ruling family...Algosaibi spoke out against terrorism and extremism and called for democratic reform in the kingdom, while recognizing that it needed to be a very gradual process...

Not bad.

Wait!

There's also this:-

Algosaibi also came under fire in 2002 when, as an ambassador to Britain, he wrote a poem praising Palestinian suicide bombers at the height of the second Palestinian uprising. In the poem titled "The Martyrs," Algosaibi said the bombers "died to honor God's word." Under criticism from Jewish groups, Algosaibi defended his poem and accused Israel of committing war crimes.

More on his support for suicide-bombing:

In his verse, Algosaibi singled out Ayat Akhras, a Palestinian girl who blew herself up in occupied Jerusalem last month and killed and wounded many Israelis. He addressed her as saying: "The gates of heaven were open for you."

He also attacked the U.S. as saying: "We complained to the to the idols of a White House whose heart is filled with darkness."

A well-known poet and diplomat who served in London for 10 years, he said in his poem: "May God be the witness that you are martyrs...You died to hnour [sic] God's word... (You) committed suicide? We committed suicide by living like the dead."

Oh well, no one is perfect.

Seems that his justification for terror is this:

Ghazi Algosaibi, Saudi Ambassador to London said that he "would be very glad to modify" his view of Palestinian freedom fighters, if the Board of Deputies of British Jews "has the moral courage to refer former Israeli prime ministers, Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir and the present one, Ariel Sharon, as terrorists and the Israeli actions in Jenin as war crimes.

"If and when the Board of Deputies has the moral courage to refer to these notorious terrorists as terrorists, and the actions in Jenin of the Israeli government as war crimes, I would be very glad to modify my view of Palestinian freedom fighters," said Algosaibi in a statement, a copy of which was obtained by Gulf News, in response to a letter he had received from the Board of Deputies about his poem Martyrs published in the London-based Al Hayat Arabic daily recently.

"Menachem Begin was responsible for the cold-blooded murder of about 200 innocent Palestinians, mostly women and children in Deir Yassin. [actually maybe 115 were killed, in a fight in which 5 Jews were killed and 40 injured, after Jewish neighborhoods had been fired upon from the village] Yitzhak Shamir was a notorious murderer of innocents, and would have been hanged if the British Mandate Government caught him," the statement read. [depends if the innocents were British Mandatory officials or others, of course]

"Ariel Sharon is guilty of genocide. He was found to have 'personal responsibility' [actually, indirect responsibility but what does he care] by the Kahan Commission for murder of 2,000 [The exact number killed by the Lebanese Forces militia is disputed, with estimations running from 800 according to international sources to 3,500 according to Palestinian sources (the red cross body count was around 400, but is likely not to include all or even most of the dead bodies).[citation needed]

It is regarded as a reprisal for the Damour massacre by Palestinians a few years earlier [2], which personally impacted Elie Hobeika [3]. The view of the Sabra and Shatila killing as a revenge for the Damour massacre was asserted by the prominent writer Samir Khalaf[4], by New York Times writer Thomas Friedman [5][6], and by author B. Gabriel who wrote that "Palestinian militiamen started the killings in 1976, long before the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacres. Beit Mellat, Deir Achache, Damour."] innocent Palestinians in Sabra and Shatila," the statement added, referring to the Israeli massacre in the two Palestinian refugee camps during the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

The statement held Sharon "responsible for the murder" of a similar number of Palestinian civilians in occupied Palestinian lands. "His destruction of Jenin would make Attila the Hun proud," said the statement. [are we still arguing the number of inflated dead?]

Commenting on accusing Palestinians of being terrorists, Algosaibi said: "And while we are on the subject of terrorism, I am most curious to know your view of Samson of the Old Testament. Was he a suicide terrorist?" [silly, he was captured by the Philistines who had been raiding the Jews]

(Kippa tip: BT)


- - -

A Hot Female In the Saudi Kingdom

1. That's Maureen Dowd of the New York Times, (the one with the shorter neck):



2. A fashion safety warning:



3. Instructions:






Sources:

1

2

3


- - -

Saudia Arabia Has A Problem

Sometimes I get inquiries why I include items of fashion on my blog if it is mainly a political blog.

Well, sometimes it become relevant:-

Saudi Arabia's religious police have arrested 10 "emo" women for allegedly causing a disturbance in a coffee shop, Al-Yaum newspaper reported on Saturday.

The coffee shop owner in the eastern city of Dammam called the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice to complain after the young women, dressed and made up in the "emo" fashion, apparently began disturbing other clients.

The religious police then called their parents to come and collect the women, and to sign pledges that the girls would not repeat their ostensibly offensive un-Islamic behaviour and dress.

'Emo'?

The trend is characterised by wearing skinny black jeans, tennis shoes, colourful T-shirts bearing the names of emo bands, heavy make up and sharply chopped and sometimes radically coloured hair-dos.

Emo = "emotional hardcore"

Emo has been associated with a stereotype that includes being particularly emotional, sensitive, shy, introverted, or angst-ridden. It has also been associated with depression, self-injury, and suicide.

But, then again, there's always Rima Faikh, Shiite Miss America, as a role model:

Aw Gee, There Goes Religious Toleration

Friend says Saudi cleric canceled Jerusalem visit

A Jordanian friend of a Saudi cleric said Wednesday the religious leader has bowed to pressure from the kingdom and canceled his announced visit to Jerusalem.

Saudi Sheik Mohammed al-Areefi surprised everyone when he told viewers Sunday on his Iqra television show that he would visit Jerusalem this week and film an episode of the show there to support Muslim claims to the city.

Such a visit would be unprecedented for a Saudi cleric since the kingdom, like most Muslim countries, observes a strict boycott of Israel.

The announcement set off a controversy in the kingdom, with Saudi state-owned Al-Watan newspaper on Wednesday quoting passport authorities spokesman Lt. Col. Badr Malik as saying visiting Israel is prohibited and any violator is punishable under Saudi law.

In Jordan, a close friend of the cleric said al-Areefi "revoked his plans under pressure from the Saudi government."

Saudi "Settlements"

Minority Saudi Shi'ites get land near Yemen border

Ismaili Shi'ites, a majority in the Najran area but a minority in mainly Sunni Saudi Arabia, have long complained of discrimination and poor living standards.

Saudi authorities are keen to improve security along the border with Yemen, a country they see as a possible staging post for attacks against them by al-Qaida. State news agency SPA said late on Sunday that King Abdullah had decided to allocate about 1,200 sq km (463 sq miles) to people in Najran.

Mohammad al-Askar, a leading Ismaili activist, said...40,000 Najranis were waiting for land, some of them for 20 years. "The king has answered some of the aspirations of the Najrani people. This decision will improve the living standards of Najranis," Askar told Reuters. "People in Najran have been celebrating since this morning."

...While Najran's Shi'ites are natural enemies of Sunni al-Qaida, analysts and diplomats say the land distribution should help deter them from turning to other illegal activities such as smuggling. Saudi Arabia and Yemen share a long mountainous border porous enough to be used for all sorts of trafficking, from illegal Muslim pilgrims to drugs and weapons.

King Abdullah last year removed Najran's governor after the Ismaili Shi'ites complained about efforts to settle Sunnis of Yemeni origin and give them housing and jobs in an effort to further marginalize Ismailis. Violent clashes broke out in 2000 between hundreds of Ismailis and the police in Najran.

Last week, some 181 Ismaili citizens asked the new governor, a son of the king, to pacify the impoverished area by ending discrimination and improving living standards. Saudi media have reported plans to improve Najran infrastructure and the government is setting up an industrial hub in nearby Jizan province to create jobs in the relatively poor south.

The NYTimes Cautiously Admits Promoting Gross Stupidity

The New York Times highlights this story today:-

The emergence of a former Guantánamo Bay detainee as the deputy leader of Al Qaeda’s Yemeni branch has underscored the potential complications in carrying out the executive order President Obama signed Thursday that the detention center be shut down within a year.

The militant, Said Ali al-Shihri, is suspected of involvement in a deadly bombing of the United States Embassy in Yemen’s capital, Sana, in September. He was released to Saudi Arabia in 2007 and passed through a Saudi rehabilitation program for former jihadists before resurfacing with Al Qaeda in Yemen.

His status was announced in an Internet statement by the militant group and was confirmed by an American counterterrorism official.

“They’re one and the same guy,” said the official, who insisted on anonymity because he was discussing an intelligence analysis. “He returned to Saudi Arabia in 2007, but his movements to Yemen remain unclear.”

The development came as Republican legislators criticized the plan to close the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, detention camp in the absence of any measures for dealing with current detainees.

So, we have Saudi Arabia "rehabilitating" terrorists of the Al Qaeda-type who originated in Saudi Arabia?

Helloooo?

From my perspective, seems the US has this 'fix' on Saudi Arabia, okay, so call it oil, that clogs up its vision of security, democracy and cultural freedom.

And the US still wants to go with that Saudi Arabia peace plan for Israel?

Maybe your own backyard needs tending?

Oh, And By The Way...

The NYTimes has a gushing story today on four young woman and their rock band in Saudi Arabia.

And deep inside the text, one can find this, without comment:-

In Saudi Arabia, churches are not allowed, and Muslims who convert to Christianity can be executed.

Well, rock their heads.