November 14, 2005

Jeopardize "Special Relationships" with Unsavory Allies?

It's common knowledge here in Washington, D.C. that Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are little more than allies of convenience for the United States in the war on terror. The Saudis will remain as such until we can find a viable energy alternative that would eliminate our reliance on the Royal Kingdom's vast oil deposits. Likewise, relations with Pakistan will remain warm and fuzzy because the alternative to current President Pervez Musharraf is too frightening to even fathom: a nuclear-armed, Taliban-like Islamist theocracy with a burning hostility towards the West. And, like the U.S., both the Saudi and Pakistani regimes have a vested interest in battling al-Qaeda. Ironically enough, although the current Saudi and Pakistani regimes have done a bang-up job at exporting radical Islam throughout the globe, they're looked on as infidels by their own radical Muslim populations. Apparently, they just aren't extreme enough. Go figure.

In any event, the Bush administration maintains that both regimes are doing an admirable job in the war on terror. This despite Saudi Arabia's ongoing financial support of Hamas terrorism and Pakistan's apparent unwillingness to apprehend Osama bin Laden, who, most believe, is holed up somewhere along the Pakistan/Afghan border. This comes as no surprise for two reasons. Number one, Pakistan's military and its intelligence services are infested with Islamic radicals who harbor strong pro-bin Laden sentiments. Number two, Musharraf fears that if he captures or kills bin Laden--or, even worse, if he allows U.S. forces onto Pakistani soil to do it--he'll inflame the Pakistani public (which, you guessed it, is also strongly pro-bin Laden). Musharraf has already seen two attempts made on his life--he's in no mood to see a third.

All of this leads me to two deeply troubling reports from today concerning our two "friends." First, there's Pakistan, where Christians are under siege and churches are being burnt by mobs of irate Muslims after a rumor circulated that a Christian desecrated a Koran. Then there's Saudi Arabia, where a Christian man has been sentenced to 40 months in prison and 750 lashes for "mocking religion" after he discussed the Bible and praised Jews.

Would it be too much to ask President Bush and/or Secretary of State Condi Rice to respond publicly to these latest anti-Christian outrages? Or would that jeopardize our "special relationship" with these two unsavory regimes?

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