Incarcerating Saudi Impunity

Abraham Lincoln once said “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.”

The Khashoggi conundrum is the case in point. Lies, innuendos, disambiguation encircle the horrendously tragic death of an unsung hero who had the moral courage to walk and talk where angels fear to tread.

Two weeks elapsed before even the first physical investigation of the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul was launched. Until then and continuing today, leaks, whisperings, muted conspiracy theories have been floated and the world remains in suspense as to what actually transpired. One thing however is clear: the Saudis carefully planned and orchestrated this heinous crime as attested by available evidence with the Turks.

POTUS and his State Secretary questioned the Saudi monarchy and elicited responses designed only to buy time, hoping the brouhaha will disappear in due course. This clearly and eminently suited both staunch allies.

The US Administration chooses to dilly-dally on the brazen effrontery of its Middle East ally for its fear of loss of much-needed economic ties but, importantly, as an ally, in implicit conjunction with Israel, to help in the demolition of the supposedly rogue regime of Iran. Also, POTUS has not acknowledged that of the billions of Dollars of US arms sales to Saudi Arabia, a large portion is used to kill and maim thousands of innocent children in its war with Yemen. Underlying all that is happening in this bizarre, mind-boggling  Khashoggi murder, is the realm of the underworld of self-serving political intrigue, impunity and a thorough disdain for the Rule of Law.

The House of Saud is the Keeper of the Holy Mosques, where Muslims from around the Islamic world congregate as pilgrims to offer prayers for, among others, world peace. It is painfully sad for the Islamic world to see the House of Saud complicit in atrocities that are cruel and inhumane. Its Salafist/Wahabist ideology of strict Islamic behavior has given rise to a spate of highly fundamentalist rogue offsprings that have killed, maimed and otherwise destroyed hundreds of thousands of innocent lives and injected terror the world over.

This is certainly not what peaceful Islam is all about. This essay is not an indictment of Saudi Arabia alone, but also of those other self-acclaimed (super) powers that seek to befuddle the world with impunity, in many cases for hegemonic reasons.

Never in recent history has the level of morality sunk so low as to force people to turn away from fully acknowledging and confronting injustices. One is reminded of the Biblical story of Cain and Abel. After Cain had murdered his brother Abel, God asked him where his brother was. Cain answered, “I know not; am I my brother’s keeper?” Clearly, despite endowed with intellect, man has forgotten that we are all part of God’s creation, and therefore part of a shared humanity and must behave as such.

The world should not rest until the culprits and co-conspirators of Khashoggi’s grizzly murder are brought to punitive justice. The day will surely come when the chickens come home to roost. Then, the House of Saud will come crumbling down and hopefully replaced by a new, democratic and truly peaceful Islamic regime.

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