Dr. Ali Alyami, Director of the Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia
This afternoon I am going to the Rayburn House Office Building, to a meeting on: The State of Reform: Human Rights, Democratic Development, and Individual Freedoms in Saudi Arabia and the Arab Gulf States, as the guest of Dr. Ali Alyami, Director of the Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia.
[I met with Dr Alyami when I was in Washington and have kept in touch ever since. He is a great democratic and tireless worker for the cause.]
A few weeks ago Dr. Alyami granted me an interview – which I am posting here because there isn’t a lot of interest elsewhere. Later I will be posting about meeting his Egyptian colleague Tarek Heggy, also an advocate for liberty in the Middle East and the activities of the Center.
Saudi Arabia is the elephant in the room in the War on Terror. The Kingdom, while nominally an ally and friend of the United States, it is the major supplier of funds and volunteers for global jihad against the West and the United States.
The unhealthy relationship between US political elites and the Saudi royal family is a scandal waiting to break – that never does. The execrable Michael Moore made the relationship between the Saudi royals and the Bush family a major focus of his propaganda-piece Fahrenheit 9/11 but interestingly, though it seems that this would be one of President Bush’s major vulnerabilities, Democrats failed to pick up on it as an election issue. The most likely reason is that the corruption of our political processes by Saudi money is a bipartisan issue which neither side wants to talk about.
