Change I CAN Believe In

  According to the Wall Street Journal, Barack Obama plans to continue the American relationship with Saudi Arabia by signing a deal worth around 60 billion dollars. The package does not include building hospitals nor any other form of humanitarian aid. The 60 big ones is for arms, specifically tactical aircraft and helicopters. Also discussed are upgrades to the Saudi navy and missile defense departments in an effort to ally Arab states against former American pal Iran. This exercise makes me ill to the pit of my stomach.

  In the past we have allied ourselves with a host of nations that have become our enemies; the aforementioned Iran is among them, as well as Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Many of the largest Western deals have involved arming militaries that eventually used the same arms against our brothers and sisters or to oppress their own people. The Yugoslavs fought against humanity and allied forces armed with $200 million worth of American-made weaponry, terrorizing and butchering their own and also arming Iraq. The Shah fought with American weapons against the Ayatollah, but then the Ayatollah fought against US-ally Iraq with those weapons. The Iraqis and Afghanis continue to use American weapons against us after being given them to fight Russia and Iran. Huge American-financed armies are now killing our people and it must come to an end.

  Saudi Arabia is NOT a friend of the West. We recently remembered those killed on September 11, 2001; people of all faiths and many nationalities that were incinerated or crushed to death by terrorists. Like it or not, 15 of the 19 suicide bombers were Saudi nationals and the operation was financed by Saudi nationals.

  In the subsequent war, terrorists received much material support from Saudis, who also financed the Tamil Tigers and continues to finance Hamas. The Saudi royal family-financed al-Haramain Charitable Foundation finances al-Qaeda in Southeast Asia and has been shut down in Bosnia, Azerbaijan, Albania, and Somalia for funding terrorist organizations. They also fund IIRO, which has documented links to both Usama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri ; as well as the World Assembly of Muslim Youth, whose Virginia office has Abdullah bin Laden as a past director. All of these organizations are headed by current Saudi Cabinet members. Saudi Arabia comprises about half of Hamas' bankroll to this day.

  Now WHY would this "friend" of ours support extremism? It's quite simple really- because the spread Saudi Wahhabism is the goal. This bastardized sect of Islam pits Saudis against moderate Muslims worldwide. Wahhabism is the perfect ideological base for terrorism because it involves oppression of any peace-loving Muslim. While your Muslim neighbour may drive herself to her executive job and deal with the affairs of her children, in Saudi Arabia she would be arrested and tortured for daring to assert herself as a human being of equal standing. This is a backward nation that has and continues to execute gays and rape victims, forbids women the right to vote or drive, and mandates that women be covered from the time of her puberty until an often too-early death.

  We know about Saudi Arabia. Our dealings with the Saudis stretch back to the Cold War era and must come to an end. We must say no to this arms deal and prohibit Western companies from acquiring Saudi interests, as in the case of Rupert Murdoch's pending deals with Saudi media companies. We must not sell our news outlets and other interests to the Saudis, as their influence can pollute the impartiality of news. (A Saudi prince is the second-largest shareholder in Newscorp, parent company of fox News)

It is hypocritical to have concern over terrorism whilst financing its proliferation. I know that it is against our nature to allow the Saudis and Iranians to scrap on their own terms, without arming the both of them, but we need to keep our noses out of this and abandon the Saudi regime. We do not need their oil- the crops we grow for them now could be used to fuel our vehicles anyways- they are not the West's prime source of the dirty fuel. There are plenty of nations that prosper without ANY dealings with Saudi Arabia, and the United States must add itself to the list.

  It is on Mr. Obama's shoulders to deliver us from evil instead of delivering weapons to a nation that requires subservience of its citizens and adherence to a philosophy that barely resembles the religion it is founded upon. Finally refusing to play ball with a regime that endorses inhumanity would be the kind of change that we all can believe in.