saudi arabia 9/11

Let’s Talk About Saudi Arabia

by

All wars require casus belli, ostensible justifications. After all, despite humanity’s long history of vicious warfare, interstate combat often requires a government distant from its working class to motivate its people to kill and die for distant institutions and esoteric ideologies. That said, Washington doesn’t exactly have a strong track record of honesty regarding its rationales for war. Few Americans know or care much for their own history…

– Maj. Danny Sjursen, USA (ret.)

One of the most horrible features of war is that all the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting…It is the same in all wars; the soldiers do the fighting, the journalists do the shouting.

– George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia

It’s fall 2019, and nearly twenty years into a series of disastrous and murderous forever wars sold to the public as a necessary response to 9/11, we’re being instructed to prepare for another one. Replace the Q with an N at the end of IRA and you know what I’m talking about. Of course, this shouldn’t surprise anyone considering much of the U.S. foreign policy establishment has been actively scheming for some invented justification to take out Iran (and many others) for decades.

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.

The War Economy – CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Warns About Job Loss if the U.S. Stops Arming Saudi Arabia

by

screen-shot-2016-09-09-at-10-04-57-am

Ladies and gentlemen, it appears the long anticipated moment of peak mainstream media stupidity may have finally arrived.

This is what passes for journalism in America today.

The Intercept reports:

Sen. Rand Paul’s expression of opposition to a $1.1 billion U.S. arms sale to Saudi Arabia — which has been brutally bombing civilian targets in Yemen using U.S.-made weapons for more than a year now — alarmed CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Thursday afternoon.

Blitzer’s concern: That stopping the sale could result in fewer jobs for arms manufacturers.

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.

“Getting Things Done” – The Brother of Hillary Clinton’s Campaign Chair is a Major Lobbyist for Saudi Arabia

by

Screen Shot 2016-04-19 at 4.24.57 PM

Although scores of us in the alternative media world have been discussing the obvious links between Saudi Arabia and the attacks of 9/11 for many years, this reality has only now started to enter the mainstream consciousness due to a recent report on 60 Minutes.

But that’s not the only reason Saudi Arabia has been in the news as of late. In an extraordinary act of blackmail, Saudi officials have warned the U.S. government that it could be forced to sell $750 billion in U.S. assets if a specific piece of legislation currently circulating in Congress becomes law.

The New York Times covered the threat on Friday:

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.

Saudi Arabia Sentences Journalist to Five Years in Prison for Insulting the Kingdom’s Rulers

by

Screen Shot 2016-03-26 at 1.39.27 PM

Over the weekend, I published a post titled Al Jazeera Presenter to Saudi Ambassador – “Why Support Democracy in Syria but Not Saudi Arabia?” in which the Saudi Ambassador claimed subjects of Saudi Arabia don’t want or need elections because they are so enamored with the absolute monarchy’s management of society. Yes, and I just had lunch with the Easter Bunny.

Here’s the clip if you missed it:

Not that you need additional evidence demonstrating the ridiculousness of his answer, but I’ll provide some anyway. Reuters reports:

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.

Al Jazeera Presenter to Saudi Ambassador – “Why Support Democracy in Syria but Not Saudi Arabia?”

by

Screen Shot 2016-03-26 at 1.39.27 PM

This past week, Al Jazeera presenter Mehdi Hasan sat down with Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the UN. He asked him a very pointed question regarding why he supports democracy in Syria but not in Saudi Arabia.

It’s a great question, and let’s just say the answer was not at all convincing.

Too much media these days merely serves as public relations for the status quo. What Mr. Hasan does in this interview is exactly what journalists are supposed to be doing, but very rarely do in these United States:

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.

UK Inquiry Finds Gulf “Allies” Sustaining ISIS in the Face of Oil Price Collapse

by

Screen Shot 2016-03-10 at 9.01.05 AM

Although the extent to which oil-related funding has sustained ISIS over the past couple of years is highly contested, it’s undeniable that the collapse in prices has had a negative cash flow impact on the terror threat du jour. As such, how’s the group sustaining itself in the fact of such a major cash crunch? According to a UK inquiry, we can thank donations from America’s Persian Gulf “allies.”

Of course, none of this will be surprising to Liberty Blitzkrieg readers. I’ve been pointing this out for a very long time. In fact, evidence was already piling up two years ago, as can be seen in the following excerpts from a piece published in June 2014 titled, America’s Disastrous Foreign Policy – My Thoughts on Iraq:

But in the years they were getting started, a key component of ISIS’s support came from wealthy individuals in the Arab Gulf States of Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Sometimes the support came with the tacit nod of approval from those regimes; often, it took advantage of poor money laundering protections in those states, according to officials, experts, and leaders of the Syrian opposition, which is fighting ISIS as well as the regime.

“Everybody knows the money is going through Kuwait and that it’s coming from the Arab Gulf,” said Andrew Tabler, senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Studies. “Kuwait’s banking system and its money changers have long been a huge problem because they are a major conduit for money to extremist groups in Syria and now Iraq.”

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has been publicly accusing Saudi Arabia and Qatar of funding ISIS for months. Several reports have detailed how private Gulf funding to various Syrian rebel groups has splintered the Syrian opposition and paved the way for the rise of groups like ISIS and others.

Fast forward two years, and not much has changed. The Guardian reports:

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.

Read the Powerful Saudi Arabia Article Censored by Al-Jazeera

by

Screen Shot 2016-01-05 at 12.43.56 PM

On December 3rd, a month before Saudi Arabia carried out it largest mass execution since 1980 — subsequently setting the region on fire — Arjun Sethi wrote an article for Al-Jazeera titled: Saudi Arabia Uses Terrorism As An Excuse for Human Rights Abuses. According to Cora Currier at the Intercept:

Al Jazeera’s headquarters in Qatar appear to have blocked the article outside of the United States because it is critical of an ally of Qatar.

Naturally, this makes you want to drop everything and read it. So here are some excerpts courtesy of the Intercept:

Reports emerged last week that Saudi Arabia intends to imminently execute more than 50 people on a single day for alleged terrorist crimes.

All the convictions were obtained through unfair trials marred by human and civil rights violations, including in some cases torture, forced confessions and lack of access to counsel. Each defendant was tried before the Specialized Criminal Court, a counterterrorism tribunal controlled by the Ministry of Interior that has few procedural safeguards and is often used to persecute political dissidents. Lawyers are generally prohibited from counseling their clients during interrogation and have limited participatory rights at trial. Prosecutors aren’t even required to disclose the charges and relevant evidence to defendants.

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.

A Look Inside Saudi Arabia’s Elaborate U.S. Propaganda Machine

by

Screen Shot 2015-12-01 at 10.44.05 AM

Elements of the charm offensive include the launch of a pro-Saudi Arabia media portal operated by high-profile Republican campaign consultants; a special English-language website devoted to putting a positive spin on the latest developments in the Yemen war; glitzy dinners with American political and business elites; and a non-stop push to sway reporters and policymakers.

That has been accompanied by a spending spree on American lobbyists with ties to the Washington establishment. The Saudi Arabian Embassy, as we’ve reported, now retains the brother of Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, the leader of one of the largest Republican Super PACs in the country, and a law firm with deep ties to the Obama administration. One of Jeb Bush’s top fundraisers, Ignacio Sanchez, is also lobbying for the Saudi Kingdom.

In September, the Kingdom helped sponsor opulent galas for Washington’s business elite at the Ritz Carlton and the Andrew Mellon Auditorium. The events were attended by King Salman, along with the chief executives of General Electric and Lockheed Martin, the chairman of Marriott International, and prominent think tank officials.

– From the Intercept article: Inside Saudi Arabia’s Campaign to Charm American Policymakers and Journalists

So what do you do when you’re a barbaric monarchy with a justice system remarkably similar to ISIS, but at the same time want to remain very close ally of the U.S. government? You create a sophisticated propaganda network, naturally.

This is precisely what the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has done, and the Intercept’s Lee Fang shined some light into this very dark and slimy corner.

From the Intercept:

Soon after launching a brutal air and ground assault in Yemen, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia began devoting significant resources to a sophisticated public relations blitz in Washington, D.C.

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.

Saudi Arabia Sentences Poet to Death for “Renouncing Islam”

by

Screen Shot 2015-11-23 at 11.12.33 AM

A Palestinian poet and leading member of Saudi Arabia’s nascent contemporary art scene has been sentenced to death for renouncing Islam. 

Fayadh, 35, a key member of the British-Saudi art organisation Edge of Arabia, was originally sentenced to four years in prison and 800 lashes by the general court in Abha, a city in the south-west of the ultraconservative kingdom, in May 2014.

But after his appeal was dismissed he was retried last month and a new panel of judges ruled that his repentance did not prevent his execution.

Fayadh’s supporters believe he is being punished by hardliners for posting a video online showing the religious police (mutaween) in Abha lashing a man in public. “Some Saudis think this was revenge by the morality police,” said Kareem.

The case highlights the tensions between hardline religious conservatives and the small but growing number of artists and activists who are tentatively pushing the boundaries of freedom of speech in Saudi Arabia, where cinema is banned and there are no art schools. 

– From the Guardian article: Saudi Court Sentences Poet to Death for Renouncing Islam

If ISIS had sentenced an internationally renowned poet to death on trumped up charges of “renouncing Islam,” it would be highlighted endlessly across Western media until the public was sufficiently salivating for war against the latest CIA-invented enemy.

When one of America’s closest allies does it…not so much.

It wasn’t long ago that I commented on a separate example of Saudi barbarism related to the case of Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, a teenager sentenced to death by crucifixion for political dissent. Here’s a quick summary from that post:

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.

America’s Allies – Saudi Prince Arrested for Sexual Assault at $37 Million Compound Near Beverly Hills, California

by

Screen Shot 2015-09-25 at 10.46.11 AM


Saudi Arabia.

One of the U.S. government’s closest global allies, and a nation best known for an autocratic absolute monarchy in which women aren’t allowed to drive, beheadings take place on almost a daily basis, and where sentencing teenagers to death by crucifixion for political dissent is considered normal.

Considering the U.S. government holds the Saudis accountable for precisely nothing, it should be seen as no surprise that it’s princelings feel they have a right to behave like complete barbarians while here in America.

We learn from the Los Angeles Times that:

A bleeding woman screaming for help was seen attempting to scale an 8-foot-high wall before a Saudi prince was arrested this week on suspicion of trying to force a worker to perform a sex act on him at his hillside compound near Beverly Hills.

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.