Arab Muslim is fourth largest owner of Conservatives' Favorite Channel
International politics is often like a chess game, but at times it's more like the 3-D chess that Kirk and Spock played in "Star Trek." People who come across as friends are really enemies, and enemies are often friendly with people they portray a sworn rivals.
In Craig Unger's book "House of Bush, House of Saud," he details the long-standing ties between the Bush family and the Saudi Arabian royal family. These ties go back almost 60 years and through two generations of both families.
Many journalists argue that these ties were the reason why we did not launch military attacks against Saudi Arabia, even though nine of the 9-11 hijackers were Saudi nationals. Unger also points out that just after 9-11 Prince Bandar, the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the U.S., was allowed to round up members of Bin Laden's family and ship them out of the country. This is also mentioned in Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9-11." In addition, Unger also says that Prince Bandar had advanced warning of the invasion of Iraq, before even then Sec. of State Gen. Colin Powell.
The Bushes and the Sauds have a lot in common, apart from oil. Both are powerful, dynastic families and they have both exploited religious fundamentalists to further their causes. (George H.W. Bush serves on the board of the Carlyle group along with Obama Bin Laden's brother.) Unger argues that the Sauds have played both sides of the field. They have funded Wahabi fundamentalists at home and abroad, and at the same time kissed up to the 'decadent' West. Tea Baggers like to play up images of Obama bowing to foreign leaders, but seem to have forgotten Dubya kissing and holding hands with Saudi King Abdullah.
This is one of Osama Bin Laden's main bones of contention, and he is right. The Saudi royal family is notoriously corrupt and decadent. While they ban women from driving in their country and make them wear the hijab, they are infamous for whoring and gambling in Europe. The Sauds were highly embarrassed by 9-11. Unger argues that the Saudis prefer that fundamentalist Muslims wreak havoc in America, instead of launching a revolution at home. In his book Unger cites several cases of Saudi money ending up in terrorists hands.
The Bushes' and the Sauds' real agenda is to support the oil industry and keep the money flowing. And this might explain why Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal is the fourth largest stake holder of FOX News, the American propaganda channel that vigorously supported the war.
According to Think Progress, his 7 percent stake, makes him the largest stakeholder, outside the Murdoch family. But here is where it gets really bizarre. FOX News guests are renowned for their inflammatory comments about Arabs and Muslims and the war on Terror. Critics of FOX have also implied this is the reason why FOX News hosts are big-time global warming deniers. Of course a billionaire Saudi prince, who made his money from oil, would have a vested interest in shooting down global warming science which blame fossil fuels for climate change.
Bush tapped into the Fundamentalist wing of the GOP, by proclaiming himself a born-again Christian, who also had no trouble killing thousands of innocent people. At the beginning of the War on Terror, he referred to the war as a "crusade" and Osama Bin Laden as "the Evil One," language designed to appeal to Evangelicals. Some Evangelicals believed that Bush was anointed by God, and it was impossible for a true Christian to vote Democrat. Writing in a Salon.com article, titled "Battle of the Bushes," Unger says, "On the other hand was his son George W. Bush, a radical Evangelical poised to enact a vision of American exceptionalism shared by the Christian Right, who saw American destiny as ordained by God and by neoconservative ideologues, who believed that America's "greatness" was founded on "universal principles" that applied to all men and all nations -- and gave America the right to change the world."
Many Americans believe that the War on Terror is the opening skirmish of Armageddon, a final struggle between the Christian West and the Muslim East. There have been reports of gun makers inserting Bible verses into scopes of guns sent to Iraq. And Erik Prince, founder of the notorious Blackwater security company, is a fundamentalist Christian, who saw the Iraq war as a Christian holy war against Muslims. Last year, a GQ article reported that some American soldiers in Iraq had painted Christian verses on the sides of their tanks. The article also explains stated that Bush received war briefings with Bible verses sprinkled in them.
I wonder how Conservatives, who see the war in religious terms, like the idea of a heathen Muslim owning a large stake in their favorite news outlet? And it's also bizarre that an Arab owns a channel that spends much of its time demonizing Middle Easterners. But this goes to show that both the Bushes and the Sauds see the war as a battle over resources, and use religion as a smoke screen to divert the attention of the masses.
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