Violent Means
‘THE White Houses obsession with Iraq in the aftermath of 9/11 has always been somewhat bizarre, given that most of the hijackers were from Saudi Arabia.
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| ‘Can I do a rap with Posh next time?’ |
That is, of course, until you scratch the surface and realise the extent of the contacts between President Bush and his coterie and the House of Saud.
But the faces of two Saudis dominate the front page of this mornings Telegraph.
The first belongs to a certain Osama Bin Laden, who yesterday released a tape in which he offered Europe a truce if it abandoned its alliance with America.
The terms were, says the paper, clearly designed to drive a wedge between Europe and America.
They were immediately rejected as absurd by the Europeans, but one doesnt suppose Bin Laden will be too concerned.
After all, the White House is doing a pretty good job driving a wedge between the two continents as it is.
The second Saudi face belongs to Rania al-Baz, a TV presenter who was beaten unconscious by her husband because he was furious that she answered the telephone.
Domestic violence happens of course in every country in the world, but the paper says Rania allowed pictures of her severely battered face to be published to break the taboo on domestic violence in the kingdom.
I want to use what happened to me to draw attention to the plight of women in Saudi Arabia, she said.
Dima al-Sulaiman, director of the National Home Health Foundation, said that abuse of women was a common problem in a country where maltreatment starts from childhood.
And Dina Arif said: Saudi men think that violent behaviour is the way to solve problems.
The same could be said about their friends in Washington.’
Posted: 16th, April 2004 | In: Broadsheets Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
