I think the Saudis get it...
I may have mentioned this before, or I may not have, but I get newsletters from a group called aboutsaudiarabia.net on a fairly regular basis which include information regarding major political actions by the Saudi government. It's interesting because this is not a pro-American group, rather it is a decidedly pro-Saudi, pro-Islam group so I feel that I can get past a certain element of jingoism that filters through in the American media in regards to the affairs of other countries.
Today, the King of Saudi Arabia, King Fahd, released a statement offering terrorists a last chance to surrender and be offered fair treatment by the government. "If the rational accept this, they will find safety. And if the arrogant reject it, then by God, tolerance will not prevent us from striking them with all the power we derive from our reliance on God Almighty."
Personally, I love how this is worded. It uses the same Islamic fundamentalist language to communicate to these people who use their religion as an excuse to do pretty much everything their religion prohibits. I can't have more respect for a man who intends to bring security and prosperity to his country and truly seems to understand the problems in his way. He understands how the terrorists think and clearly understands how best to motivate them. Calm discussion and diplomatic compromise which many Americans, and certainly those countries who seem to stand contrary to America on every issue, seem to think is the ideal simply does not work. You can't ask crazy people willing to take a knife and saw off the head of an innocent and hold it up before cameras, blood oozing from the wound, to negotiate rationally. These people need to be dealt with authoritatively and as King Fahd implies, violently and with extreme prejudice.
I would have loved to see our own President release this statement, however our President seems to lack the understanding of the role of leadership necessary to take a stand on an issue. Rather, our President plays politics, spending more time trying to figure out how best to place his ass crack firmly on the center of the fence, rather than showing a little intestinal fortitude and taking a stand. Real leadership is inspirational and motivational precisely because it does inspire and it does motivate, and Bush seems to do neither. He speaks slowly, attempting to assume a certain air of dignity destroyed by the Clinton escapades. He uses and even tone and a Shatner-esque delivery that is so halting that any feeling behind the words is lost. How can you inspire your audience if it looks like you're waiting for the next line on the teleprompter?
As I said before, King Fahd seems to truly understand terrorism and how to deal with it, and I think it's because he is seeing it every day in his country, whereas the last time we saw it in ours was three years ago. I've spoken with people who lost family in the bombing on the internet, and even they seem to have forgotten, lost in the Denial stage of grieving having pushed the entire thing from their mind. They want to go on living their lives and not worry about it, but what pisses me off is that those terrorists don't forget why they did it. They're out reminding themselves daily, and they're pissed as hell, and entirely delusional. President Bush may understand that, but he can't seem to make us understand that, whereas this Saudi king seems to be perfectly capable of reminding his people.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is real leadership.
"I see pride. I see power. I see a badass mother, who don't take no crap off of nobody." Bush needs to take a good look in the mirror and tell himself that until he can tell the swing voters, and the Kerry supporters that, and if he does, he'll find that the war will swing 180° and we'll be winning instead of losing...
Today, the King of Saudi Arabia, King Fahd, released a statement offering terrorists a last chance to surrender and be offered fair treatment by the government. "If the rational accept this, they will find safety. And if the arrogant reject it, then by God, tolerance will not prevent us from striking them with all the power we derive from our reliance on God Almighty."
Personally, I love how this is worded. It uses the same Islamic fundamentalist language to communicate to these people who use their religion as an excuse to do pretty much everything their religion prohibits. I can't have more respect for a man who intends to bring security and prosperity to his country and truly seems to understand the problems in his way. He understands how the terrorists think and clearly understands how best to motivate them. Calm discussion and diplomatic compromise which many Americans, and certainly those countries who seem to stand contrary to America on every issue, seem to think is the ideal simply does not work. You can't ask crazy people willing to take a knife and saw off the head of an innocent and hold it up before cameras, blood oozing from the wound, to negotiate rationally. These people need to be dealt with authoritatively and as King Fahd implies, violently and with extreme prejudice.
I would have loved to see our own President release this statement, however our President seems to lack the understanding of the role of leadership necessary to take a stand on an issue. Rather, our President plays politics, spending more time trying to figure out how best to place his ass crack firmly on the center of the fence, rather than showing a little intestinal fortitude and taking a stand. Real leadership is inspirational and motivational precisely because it does inspire and it does motivate, and Bush seems to do neither. He speaks slowly, attempting to assume a certain air of dignity destroyed by the Clinton escapades. He uses and even tone and a Shatner-esque delivery that is so halting that any feeling behind the words is lost. How can you inspire your audience if it looks like you're waiting for the next line on the teleprompter?
As I said before, King Fahd seems to truly understand terrorism and how to deal with it, and I think it's because he is seeing it every day in his country, whereas the last time we saw it in ours was three years ago. I've spoken with people who lost family in the bombing on the internet, and even they seem to have forgotten, lost in the Denial stage of grieving having pushed the entire thing from their mind. They want to go on living their lives and not worry about it, but what pisses me off is that those terrorists don't forget why they did it. They're out reminding themselves daily, and they're pissed as hell, and entirely delusional. President Bush may understand that, but he can't seem to make us understand that, whereas this Saudi king seems to be perfectly capable of reminding his people.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is real leadership.
"I see pride. I see power. I see a badass mother, who don't take no crap off of nobody." Bush needs to take a good look in the mirror and tell himself that until he can tell the swing voters, and the Kerry supporters that, and if he does, he'll find that the war will swing 180° and we'll be winning instead of losing...
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