Bush Supports Dictators While Selling Democracy

[struggle4progress]

<snip> The odds are that, if your country floats on a sea of oil of any size, it is probably being ruled by some sort of brutal dictatorship. If your country sits on a sea of oil and also helps the Bush administration in its “War on Terror,” then the bloody dictator in charge can pretty much do what ever he wants to his own citizens, secure in the knowledge that America will not interfere with pesky notions, such as human rights, voting, democracy, freedom of the press, or political dissent. This is true, even if some of these same citizens should mysteriously disappear and then turn up later in a mass grave. <snip>

Saudi Arabia does have an army, but it is never issued live ammunition for the constant fear of a coup. The Royal Family also uses much of its petrodollars to pay off the notorious Wahhabi sect of Islamic fanatics with good jobs and teaching positions at Islamic schools for terrorists who hate Americans. <snip>

The United Sates fought the first Gulf War to replace the solid gold fixtures in the Kuwaiti king’s bathroom, looted by renegade Iraqi troops in the initial invasion. Kuwaiti citizens of all military ages cheered on the attacking Americans from numerous European discos. <snip>

Muslims still loyal to Osama Bin Laden dot the countryside. Most of Pakistan’s northwest territories are not controlled by the Pakistani federal government, but a loose group of clans, warlords, drug smugglers, and the assorted bunch of bandits. <snip>

http://www.altpressonline.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=363