You all ready for a full blown rant? I hope so ‘cause that’s what’s coming next—you’ve been warned.
In July of this year the Bush administration announced their approval of a $20 billion arms sale package to Saudi Arabia. 20 billion dollars worth of weapons of mass, and individual, destruction happily turned over to the homeland of Osama Bin Ladin and the majority of the 9/11 hijackers. It seems like a no-brainer to me…but as our current leaders have proven again and again their policy is all about the Benjamins, and the Saudi’s are nothing if not rolling in cash.
So why bring this up now? Well, it has something to do with an appalling report in today’s BBC.
A nineteen year old woman, gang-raped by 14 men, was sentenced to 90 lashes for breaking gender segregation laws. In other words, she shouldn’t have been where the men could rape her in the first place. When she appealed the sentence, the judge upped it to 200 lashes and 6 months in jail. Makes sense, I mean how in God..er..uh..Allah’s name, could she have been so “criminal” as to get in a car with a man she wasn’t related to. It probably had nothing to do with the fact the Saudi women are not allowed to drive. Or vote. Hell, Laura Bush just made a trip there in an effort to convince Saudi women that it’s ok to discuss breast health (ie cancer) with their doctors.
This near total oppression of women thing sounds vaguely familiar.
Wait, wait…it’ll come to me.
I know—isn’t this the kind of thing we’d expect from say…the Taliban? Those ultimate evil baddies who represent everything truly good Americans are opposed to. If I remember correctly, improving conditions for women was one of America’s great rationalizations for invading Afghanistan six year ago. But apparently, so long as you’re an ally (even a dubious one) with cash to burn, then women’s rights are immaterial.