If We Are \u201cFighting for Democracy\u201d, Then Why Are We Arming and Financially Supporting Dictatorships Throughout the Middle East?<\/i><\/p>\n
Western and Israeli leaders call Syrian leader Assad a dictator.<\/p>\n
Fair enough. He and his father have ruled Syria since 1971<\/a>.<\/p>\n But what about Saudi Arabia? The Saudi royal monarchy has been ruling that region for hundreds<\/i> of years<\/a>.<\/p>\n Wikipedia notes<\/a>:<\/p>\n Due to its authoritarian and theocratic<\/b> rule, the House of Saud has attracted much criticism during its rule of Saudi Arabia. Its opponents generally refer to the Saudi monarchy as totalitarians or dictators<\/b>.<\/p>\n There have been numerous incidents of demonstrations and other forms of resistance against the House of Saud.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n All surviving males (including Utaybi himself) were beheaded publicly in four cities of Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n While the Saudi royal family pushes the most strict and fundamentalist form Islam, the Saudi royal family\u2019s debauchery<\/a> and corruption<\/a> is legendary<\/a>. The monarchs \u2013 while pushing strict Wahabism as the official state religion \u2013 don\u2019t practice it.<\/p>\n Similarly, Qatar has been ruled by one family monarchy for over 150<\/i> years<\/a>:<\/p>\n Qatar has been ruled as an absolute and hereditary emirate by the Al Thani family since the mid-19th century.<\/p>\n CBS News includes Qatar on its list of \u201cThe world\u2019s enduring dictators<\/b>\u201c, noting<\/a>:<\/p>\n Like many of its neighbors, the controversial host of the 2022 World Cup<\/a> in soccer is accused of many human rights abuses<\/a> when it comes to its foreign workers, like setting them up in squalid labor camps separate from society, confiscating their passports upon arrival, and giving them a general lack of rights. That said, Amnesty International reports<\/a> only sporadic instances of torture and abuse by state security forces. As for Sheikh Hamad\u2019s dictatorial bona fides, The New York Times writes<\/a>: \u201cWhile Qatar calls for democracy outside its borders, democracy here is provisional at best. While there are municipal elections, and women can vote in them, the country has a Parliament building but no Parliament \u2014 or any other political institution, for that matter \u2014 that can challenge the royal family\u2019s grip on power.\u201d<\/p>\n Similarly, Bahrain has been ruled almost continuously by the Al Khalifa royal monarchy since 1820<\/a><\/i>.<\/p>\n Bahrain also makes CBS News\u2019 list of \u201cworld\u2019s enduring dictators\u201d. CBS noted<\/a> in 2011:<\/p>\n Uprisings in the late 1990s as well as right now have been fueled as much by resentment from the repressed, poor Shiite majority against their privileged Sunni rulers as anything else. In both uprisings, accusations against the government of gross human rights violations and protester murders<\/a> have been plentiful. At least 11 demonstrators have been killed so far this year. Most recently, Bahraini security forces stand accused of indiscriminate abduction and torture of dissidents<\/a>.<\/p>\n Things have gotten worse since then. Three-time Emmy award winning CNN reporter Amber Lyon reported on her first-hand experience of the systematic torture and murder of peaceful protesters by the government of Bahrain<\/a>. But she was fired by CNN for doing so \u2026 while CNN accepted payment from the Bahraini monarchs to run a fluff propaganda piece<\/a> about them.<\/p>\n Indeed, the U.S. government has supplied substantial military support<\/a> to the Saudi, Qatari and Bahraini dictators.<\/p>\n The U.S. Federal Reserve also bailed out the Arab Banking Corporation of Bahrain<\/a>.<\/p>\n Why is the U.S. backing the dictators in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain?<\/p>\n Because the U.S. backs the Sunni Muslims<\/i><\/b> against the Shias<\/a>. The leaders in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain are Sunni<\/i> Muslims \u2026 while the leaders in Syria, Iran and Lebanon are Shia Muslims.<\/p>\n Yup \u2026 the U.S. is involved in a religious war<\/a> \u2013 between the two factions of Islam (and is actually backing the most violent elements) \u2013 as part of a geopolitical strategy to exert control over the natural gas market<\/a>.<\/p>\n Indeed, the U.S. is liberally backing Al Qaeda and Muslim Brotherhood (both Sunni) terrorists<\/a> in their fight against Shia Muslims \u2026<\/p>\n \u2026 And in their fight against Christians and atheists<\/a>.<\/p>\n