[Vision2020] Saudi Arabia: Free and Fair Elections?

[Tbertruss at aol.com]

Sunil et. al.

One of the idealistic ostensible goals of the US occupation and war in Iraq 
is to bring a stable democracy to Iraq, to bring them "freedom," a word which 
means what?  If they want to have an Islamic government where Islam is the 
ruling religion, then if we offer them "freedom," why do we not allow them to 
choose this?  And if they resist the western style democracy we are trying to 
establish, is it morally right for the US to kill those who resist our goals in 
the name of "freedom?"  How ironic that as the US attempts to pacify the warring 
factions in Iraq, we resort to brutality and abuse which are the very 
conditions we claimed to be saving them from.  There was a reason why Saddam was a 
brutal dictator besides lust for power, sadism and corruption.  It was a means 
of holding a country together with factions ready to incite civil war.  

While the Bush administration paints the insurgents as foreign terrorists, 
many are Iraqis people who are resisting a foreign power occupying their country 
by force.  We would do the same!  And the Sunnis will not accept rule by the 
Shiite, which is what may happen with the majority Shiite likely to be mostly 
in control of a so called "democratic" Iraq.  Get ready for US Iraq occupation 
of Iraq to extend for decades!

But really, many Iraqis know why we are there: we want their oil.  How 
obvious.  Yet this rationale seems to be forgotten in this election year with the 
idealistic talk of bringing democracy to the world, stopping terrorism, etc.  I 
read a quote from a resistance fighter who said just that, that the "US 
cowboys want to steal our oil."  And I have yet to hear a good counter argument put 
forward when it is pointed out that Saudi Arabia has a fundamentalist Islamic 
dictatorship that denies human rights, treats women as virtual slaves, yet as 
long as Saudi oil flows with guarantees to the West, are we bombing them to 
establish freedom and democracy?  Why do we not hear from the Bush 
administration a cry for Saudi Arabia to have free and fair elections, to free their women 
from the oppression they are under, a life that American's would find 
appalling?  And if we show tacit support for the oppression in Saudi Arabia as long as 
the oil flows our way, then should we not question whether freedom and 
democracy is our real goal in Iraq?  Or is it future guaranteed access to the second 
highest known oil reserves of any country in the world, with a military 
presence in the heart of the middle east to protect the oil?  

This is so obvious I feel silly pointing it out.

Ted Moffett
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