According to President Bush, the Saudi government qualifies for financial aid since they have cooperated in the fight against terror. It seems that all reports that contradict this cooperation were either ignored or brushed aside. From the AFP:
“I hereby certify that Saudi Arabia is cooperating with efforts to combat international terrorism and that the proposed assistance will help facilitate that effort,” Bush said.
Under a 2005 spending bill, direct U.S. aid to Saudi Arabia is forbidden unless the president certifies that Riyadh is cooperating with efforts to combat international terrorism and that the money will help that campaign.
It is obvious that the President’s certification team has never consulted the numerous Jihad Watch reports and corresponding links which would most certainly challenge their findings.
Hughes, U.S. undersecretary for public diplomacy, is on a regional tour aimed at improving the image of the United States, widely reviled in the Arab and Muslim world over its invasion of Iraq and support for Israel.
The jizya ante has just been upped. Will the U.S. government ever view these payments in that regard? Probably not, but the issue of human rights abuses is persistent enough for the administration to query Saudi Arabia.
But ahead of her arrival in the Red Sea city of Jeddah yesterday, Hughes criticized Saudi Arabia’s human rights record.
“We are concerned, and I am going to say it in Saudi Arabia, about human rights issues in the kingdom,” she told reporters accompanying her on her three-nation tour.
Apparently, the Saudis were able to ease the administration’s concern for President Bush has waived financial sanctions against the kingdom for their modern-day slave trade.
There is more. Please read it all.