U.S.: To hell with you and the camel you rode in on

The United States has sent a tough message to Saudi Arabia that did not rule out abandoning the kingdom's oil sector.

U.S. officials said the Bush administration has warned that Americans would not stay in Saudi Arabia unless the kingdom takes significant steps to protect them. The officials said the warning came in wake of the Al Qaida beheading of Lockheed Martin engineer Paul Johnson on June 18.

Fewer than 30,000 Americans live in Saudi Arabia, with many of them working in the defense and oil sectors. More than 5,000 Americans were said to have left the kingdom over the last year and many more were said to planning to leave for the summer.

This is excellent news, especially in light of this:

Saudi opposition sources said Saudi security commanders knew of the location of Al Qaida chief Abul Aziz Al Muqrin at least three days before he executed a U.S. hostage.

The Washington-based Saudi Institute said Saudi authorities knew of the whereabouts of the Al Qaida cell that abducted and threatened to kill Lockheed Martin engineer Paul Johnson. But the institute said the Saudi government decided not to move until Johnson, captured on June 12, was executed.

"The Saudi government knew the location of a number of the terrorists but waited until they killed American hostage Paul Johnson before moving against them," the Saudi Institute said in a statement on Tuesday.

The institute has been regarded as a liberal opposition group that relayed accurate information on Saudi Arabia and its security system, Middle East Newsline reported. The institute was said to have sources in Saudi security agencies and government.

I'm shrugging cuz this is no surprise. It didn't matter that Paul Johnson had lived in Saudi Arabia for ten or more years. What mattered, where the rubber meets the road, is that he was not Muslim; therefore, his life had no value in the eyes of the Muslims inhabiting the country he loved. The Saudi attitude, so what if another infidel bites the dust? He had a chance to become one of us, and he didn't.

It was not just governmental policy that is behind the official indifference to the life of a non-Muslim. It is Islamic teaching as found in the Koran. No amount of lies about not understanding Islam and its Koran will change the fact of what's in that bloody book.