U.S. Still Supports Tyrants

As you probably know by now, there has been a virtual wave of freedom-seeking people demonstrating throughout the Middle East. Tyrants in Tunisia and Egypt have been toppled from power, and Libya is currently trying to overthrow its dictator. Thankfully, the United States has stayed out of the politics of these countries as they strive for freedom, but they did make their support known for the efforts to establish democratic governments.

But those countries, while friendly to the United States, were easy to back away from when the demonstrations started. Egypt and Tunisia have little oil, and most of Libya's oil goes to Europe. But now things get a bit more difficult for the United States. Now the striving for freedom is beginning to hit the Arabian peninsula.

When demonstrations started in Saudi Arabia, they were quickly outlawed and suppressed. That country is ruled by an absolute monarch, King Abdullah (pictured), and its citizens probably have less freedom than any other country in the Middle East. Women have no rights in Saudi Arabia -- they aren't even allowed to drive and cannot leave their home without a male relative. While men are allowed to do more, they have only the rights that the king allows them to have and those can be discontinued at a moments notice (and they don't include the right to demonstrate or talk against the monarchy).

It's pretty much the same in Bahrain, a neighbor of Saudi Arabia. But the demonstrators, even after some were killed, have been unable to be controlled by the army or security police. It has gotten so bad that Saudi Arabia has now sent its own troops into the tiny country. They are afraid that if the monarch there is overthrown then Saudi Arabia could be next.

But if you'll notice, there hasn't been any word from the United States government about Bahrain or the Saudi's sending troops in there. These countries have far too much oil and they sell most of it to the United States. That makes them our bosom buddies, regardless of how harsh or repressive those regimes have been.

The United States is addicted to oil and any country willing to sell us large amounts of oil can get away with murder -- literally. Just consider, it was Saudi citizens that destroyed the Twin Towers on 9/11 (and some of the Saudi royalty still support Osama bin Laden and his cohorts). And when all planes were grounded on 9/11 all over the United States, one plane was allowed to fly -- that carrying members of the Saudi royal family. The Saudi's have a degree of support from the U.S. government that no other country in the Middle East enjoys (except Israel).

And don't expect to hear any criticism of the Saudi government in the future either. The United States may mouth support for freedom and human rights, but that is only for countries that have no oil (or countries whose oil we think we can steal -- like Iraq). As long as the Saudi's support our oil habit they can do whatever they like, including imprisoning or killing their citizens who want freedom and human rights.

The United States can be bought, and Saudi Arabia is paying the price we demanded.

U.S. Should Stay Out Of Arab Problems

The Arab world is currently in a state of turmoil. A few days ago, the people of Tunisia tossed out their tyrant -- and his cronies who stepped in to take over for him. It's still unknown how that situation will finally shake out. Now the unrest has spread to Egypt, where demonstrators are demanding President Mubarak's removal from power.

Egypt's unrest has been going for nearly a week now and there have been more than 70 deaths. So far, the demonstrations show no sign of letting up -- in fact, they seem to be growing stronger. Mubarak has withdrawn the hated security police from the streets now and replaced them with the army (which is more respected by the people) in an effort to calm things down. So far, it has not worked. The demonstrations continue and the curfew the government imposed continues to be ignored by the demonstrators.

So far, the army has shown restraint. They are trying to protect Egypt's landmarks and treasures, but have not tried to control the demonstrators or shoot at them. It looks like the army may be trying to stay neutral in the conflict (even though a few members of the army have actually sided with the demonstrators).

For his part, Mubarak is doing his best to hold on to power. It looks like he may have given up his hope of letting his son assume power when he dies. He has dismissed his cabinet and appointed his former intelligence chief to be his vice-president (who would presumably now be the heir apparent to power). He has also promised unspecified reforms.

If Mubarak thought those pitiful moves would calm the people, he was sadly mistaken. The demonstrators have not been pacified, and there is no reason they should be. Why should they trade one tyrant for another, and the feeble promise of future changes? Frankly, it looks like Mubarak's tyrannical rule has come to an end.

Anything could still happen in Tunisia and Egypt. They could be on the road to democracy, or they could be headed for another dictatorship (either a theistic or military one). It's too early to tell. But one thing is very certain. The United States should back off and let the people of those countries determine their own fates. And if the unrest spreads to other Arab countries (like Algeria, Yemen, Jordan or Saudi Arabia), we should stay out of the internal workings of those countries also.

The United States has a past policy of trying to interfere in other countries and trying to dictate to them what kind of government they should have. This has never worked out well, and Iraq and Afghanistan are perfect recent examples of that. Usually we just create a lot of bad feelings and insure we have another enemy rather than a possible friend.

Take Iran for example. Years ago they had a thriving democracy. But it was a leftist democracy that wouldn't let American corporations take advantage of them, so our CIA overthrew their democratic government and installed the Shah -- a pro-Western tyrant. This led directly to his overthrow years later, which resulted in the current theistic autocracy there and insured they would consider the U.S. to be an enemy.

Will the coming governments of Tunisia and Egypt (and maybe some other Arab countries) be our friend or our enemy? I don't know (and neither does anyone else). But there is a much greater chance of them being a friend if we stay out of their business. And it has the further advantage of being the right thing to do. Wouldn't it be nice to do the right thing for once instead of the corporate thing?

McCain Doesn't Understand Arab Anger

Yesterday, McCain showed that although he has military experience, he doesn't understand the situation in the Arab world and in Iraq any better than Bush did. He either misunderstands the situation or he's just outright lying about it.

Still smarting from his statement about leaving troops in Iraq for 100 years, McCain yesterday predicted the United States would achieve a victory in Iraq by the year 2013. I don't know what gives him the idea that any kind of victory can be achieved there -- even in another five years. There is absolutely nothing that shows any progress has been made. Why would that change just because another five years passes?

He predicted that because of this victory, most United States troops could be withdrawn by 2013. Note that he said most, not all troops could be withdrawn. He still wants to leave some troops in Iraq indefinitely. Why? To protect the interests of the big oil companies?

This just shows he really doesn't understand what is driving the Arab anti-Americanism, and indeed the terrorists also. Has he really bought into the Bush fiction that they hate us for our freedom? I thought even he could see how silly that idea was, but maybe I was wrong.

The Arabs don't care if we're free or not. What they do care about is American troops stationed on their soil. That was the major reason for 9/11. It was a retaliation by the terrorists for American troops being stationed in the Arab world.

If we had left Iraq a couple of years ago, the Iraqis might have settled their differences by now. But as long as we are there, the war against American troops will continue. There can be no victory because the reason they fight us is simply because we are there. If troops are left there, there will be no peace.

McCain is trying to make people believe he is different from Bush, but he's not. He shares the neocon belief that military power can achieve a victory in Iraq. If Bush couldn't do it, why should we believe McCain can do it following the same policy?

McCain has swallowed the Bush lie that we're trying to save the Iraqis. We are not. All we are doing by having troops there is inciting further violence. If McCain is elected, the war and the killing will just continue unabated as it has since 2003.

The Arabs don't hate Americans. They hate America trying to push them around with it's military power.

Arab World Hates Us (What A Surprise!)

The administrations of Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton reached out to the Arab world and began to make friends there. For the first time, Arabs started to feel like they might be treated fairly by America. Even Bush's short war to kick Iraq out of Kuwait didn't seem to damage this, since most Arabs didn't feel Iraq should have invaded Kuwait.

But it looks like the current Bush administration has destroyed most of the good will the three previous administrations had created. According to a new poll done by the University of Maryland and Zogby International, 8 out of 10 Arabs now have a negative view of the United States.

Most Arabs don't approve of our actions in Iraq either. While George Bush (and John McCain) are trumpeting the wonderful success of Bush's troop surge in Iraq, the Arab world doesn't agree. Only 6% of Arabs believe the surge has improved conditions in Iraq.

In fact, a solid majority of Arabs believe if the United States would just withdraw their troops from Iraq, the Iraqis would be able to settle their differences. They see the U.S. as an impediment to peace in Iraq.

But if the Arabs hate us, who do they like? According to the poll, the three leaders most respected by Arabs are Hassan Nasrallah (Hezbollah), President Bashar al-Assad (Syria) and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (Iran). Why? Because these leaders are perceived by Arabs to be the only leaders standing up to oppose America.

Perhaps even more troubling is the Arab view of Iran. Bush believes Iran to be the biggest threat to peace in the region. But while the Iranians are not Arabs, the Arabs don't view them as a threat. In fact, a majority of Arabs think it would be a positive thing for Iran to develop a nuclear bomb.

Bush claims he invaded Iraq to bring democracy to the Arab world. Whether he's telling the truth or not, it hasn't worked out that way. All he has done is turn the Arab world against us. A few of Arabia's dictatorial leaders may still like us (like the Saudi King), but the vast majority of Arabs now hate us.