Saturday Ponderings

I know this is suppose to be a politics free zone , but there are some things that cannot and should not be ignored. This is one of those things.
Another American has died. I am greatly saddend and sympathize with his family. There seems to be no end to the horrors that man will visit upon his fellow man. As we have all borne witness to of late, Muslim extremist are not alone in their willingness to perpetrate horrorific acts of violence upon those in their custody. We have been operating our own little shop of horrors in that tragic part of the world. In fact, truth be told, our prisons right here in the US are no models humane treatment.
The death of Paul Johnson is tragic. No more so however than the death of any other human being. Do I hold President Bush, or Donald Rumsfield, or even Dick Cheney responsible? No I do not. Paul Johnson was a civilian. He made a choice. He knew full well what the dangers were and still he chose to place himself in harms way. I don't know and won't even attempt to guess at what his reasons were. They were his own. He paid the ultimate price. Now his family will pay as well. I can't say that I know how they feel. I hope I never do.
Frankly I am surprised by the shock that many people are expressing. Why? Haven't we seen what people are capable of? Not just those people either. No, we haven't beheaded anyone, but American hands are not clean. Just this week an American CIA operative/contractor was indited for the murder of an Iraqi prisoner. It's time for all of us to wake up. Pull our heads out of the sand and take a good look around us. We are at war. Not just in Iraq but around the world. Our government has made some bad decisions and not just the current administration. There was a time when we sold arms to into that part of the world so that they might fight and kill amongst themselves. Little did we know just how the idea "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" would come back to haunt us.
We have continued to embrace Saudia Arabia as our "friends" in the Middle East. Yet two separate polls (one on CNN and one on MSNBC) show that 50% of Saudi's are not unhappy with the acts of the terrorist against westerners. 50%! The other 49% probably think the terrorist aren't doing enough! We know that Osama Bin Laden is a member of the Saudi royal family. In the days following September 11th, when all air traffic was grounded 5 private jets were allowed to leave this country. These jets were quietly slipping members of the Bin Laden family out of the United States. No one knows for sure who was on those planes. No one can say for certain that Osama himself wasn't among those given free passage. We will never know how many of the guilty escaped during those dark days. Why?
Why were these people not rounded up and held for questioning? Who better to question and interrogate than the family of the man we believed responsible? Why were they not shipped off to GIMO? I believe we all know the answer. Because they are filty rich and they have friends in high place in this country. No matter what they might have known, or may know now, they will never be confronted or held responsible. For this, I do hold the leaders of our country responsible. They have failed us. They continue to fail us everytime they shake hands, play a round of golf, sit down to a dinner, or do business with the royal family of Saudi Arabia.
We are at war in the Middle East. It is time our government held the leaders of Saudi Arabia responsible. Just the same as we did in Afghanistan and Iraq. Just because they are wealthy beyond our imagination does not allow them to escape the same concequences as any country harboring terrorist. They have lied to us, they have abused our generosity. They have allowed the continued teaching of hatred of all Christians,and Jews, and they are allowing terrorist to flourish within their borders. It is time to evict them from the good old boys club. It's time to say put up or shut up. Don't tell me they don't know where Osama is. He's 6'4" and requires kidney dialysis at least once a week. Why is it that they can 'suddenly' kill two top Al Qeada operatives after Paul Johnson was killed? How do we know who was actually killed? Are we suppose to just take their word for it?
Personally I subscribe to the belief that the friend of my enemy is my enemy as well. How about you?
Okay rant over, stick a fork in me, I'm done.