Cultivating distrust of Saudi Arabia
Reported by Chrish - June 22, 2004 -
The anger and outrage over Paul Johnson's murder are understandable and widely shared. However, it is not seemly for a journalist to seek to stir the emotions of his audience, as Shep Smith appears to be doing (June 21, FNL 3pm EDT).
He once again hides behind "viewers who have emailed" to say that the Saudi representative who is denying police complicity in the abduction "doesn't pass the stink test". Shepard refers to Adel Al-Jubeir, alternately described as Saudi Crown Prince advisor and Top Saudi Foreign Affairs advisor, as the "American mouthpiece". Shepard and his guest, former CIA operative Wayne Simmons, (3:23 edt) build an excited case for mistrust and anger against the Saudis, going back to (but not limited to) the "17, or 14" (it was 15 of the 19) hijackers of 9/11.
Obviously the events of the week in Saudi Arabia have our attention, but why so completely and so vehemently? Are we not watching Iraq because things are going from bad to worse there, and there's just no way to spin it anymore? And why has it taken almost three years to get suspicious of the country of origin of the perpetrators of 9/11? Why now?
Shepard Smith goes so far as to envision a change in government there - "the only thing worse than Saudi Arabia without the royal family is Saudi Arabia without the royal family" and speculates that the US will be spread so thin we will have to reinstitute the draft. This kind of "what if" "analysis" is nonsense and only fuels the fears of his audience. Hm, do you think he already knows that?
