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Conversing with the Saudis [Editor's note Jim Dillard is a commercial airline pilot. His jet left just behind one of those hijacked on 9/11. His plane was forced to an alternate field and ordered to land because there was fear it might also have hijackers aboard. A veteran with strong beliefs in the principles on which America was founded, Dillard was among the leaders lobbying Congress and the President to arm pilots, an effort just recently approved.. [The following is his recent exchange with Saudi officials at the Royal Saudi Embassy in Washington, DC.]
From: Jim Dillard
Sent: Sunday, November 24, 2002 6:44 PM To: Royal Saudi Embassy, Washington, DC
Cc: Distribution
Subject: "With Friends Like These -- Part XXXIX" Gentlemen at the Saudi Embassy, In the USA we have an old saying that goes as follows: "What goes around, comes around." For the nation of Saudi Arabia, who provided fifteen out of nineteen of the terrorist murderer hijackers on September 11, 2001, yours is about to "come around." I wish I could wish you good luck, however, you're not deserving of any such platitudes. Regards, Jim Dillard From: Information Office Mail (Saudi Embassy)
To: Jim Dillard
Sent: Tuesday, December 03, 2002 1:31 PM
Subject: RE: "With Friends Like These -- Part XXXIX"
Thank you Jim.
Saudi Arabia most certainly did not 'provide'
most of the 9/11 hijackers. Your message makes it sound like
the 9/11 hijackers were sent as agents of the Saudi Arabian
government to attack the US. Come now. If that were
the case, the US would have immediately closed its embassy in
Saudi Arabia.
Although the majority of the 9/11
hijackers were Saudi Arabian, they do not represent mainstream Saudi
Arabia any more than men like David, Koresh [sic], Jim Jones, the
Unabomber or Timothy McVeigh represent mainstream America.
These are men with twisted ideologies who have done terrible things,
and we strongly condemn their actions.
The 9/11 attacks were planned and
carried out by Osama Bin laden's Al-Qaeda network. Now who
exactly is this network comprised of? It has members from over
60 countries, including a couple from the US. Osama Bin laden
specifically included Saudis in his 9/11 mission because one of his
goals is to drive a wedge in US-Saudi relations. I am sure
Osama Bin Laden could easily have recruited Pakistanis, Afghanis or
people from any number of countries for his 9/11 terror assignment.
Saudi Arabia certainly does not
support any of its citizens who have joined Al-Qaeda. If it
did, they would not have felt the need to move to Afghanistan.
Osama Bin Laden himself is originally Saudi Arabian, so why isn't he
operating out of Saudi Arabia? Because he knows we would never
allow such activity. Although Al-Qaeda dislikes the US, they
dislike Saudi Arabia even more. They would love nothing more
than to see the overthrow of our government. We would never
support them or anyone of their ilk.
There have been plenty of
journalists throwing daggers at Saudi Arabia lately, but their
articles are full of misnomers and outright lies. These
journalists have their own political agendas. Saudi Arabia has
had a great relationship with the US for the past 70 years.
We look forward to the next 70 years. We are not about to
let any twisted terrorists, or journalists with vendettas, drive a
wedge in that relationship.
Best regards. From: Jim Dillard
Gentlemen At The Saudi Embassy,
Thank you for your response below. It must be terribly
burdensome for your office to take the time to respond to e-mail
inquiries from American commoners such as myself. Especially
given the number of recent US television appearances by your boss
Mr. Adel al-Jubeir, the Crown Prince's Foreign Policy Advisor, as he
comically attempts to convince the United States that the Saudi
government is suddenly and quite ferociously "cracking down"
on members of the Saudi Royal Family who support terrorism. Yes,
the same Saudi Royal Family which continues to function as the world's
primary financial sponsor of Islamic fundamentalist Wahabbist
terrorism.
I must admit to my alligator tears today as I watched Mr. al-Jubeir
on The Fox News Channel during his almost compelling appeal for
sympathy. A viewer might nearly be lead to believe the Saudi
Royal Family had suffered a fate even worse than the victims of
the World Trade Center attack, given Mr. al-Jubeir's carefully
rehearsed and conspicuously scripted Manhattan-PR-Firm spin.
Again, almost.
Upon viewing Mr. al-Jubier today and after reading your response
below, I felt compelled to add a new word to our ongoing
discussion on Saudi Arabia's nefarious behavior. That word is sophistry.
As you continue to provide subterfuge denying Saudi complicity in the
bankrolling of worldwide terrorism, yet more evidence is revealed
on a daily basis further implicating the very people you so
disingenuously attempt to defend. I congratulate your government
for stooping to diplomatic levels heretofore thought unimaginable
with Mr. al-Jubier's revelation today of the so-called "Saudi
crackdown." My goodness, how the Saudi Royals must be
shaking in their (Gucci) boots!
As I read your typically duplicitous discourse below, a few facts come
to mind. Like the fact that fundamentalist Wahabbist Islam,
which preaches venomous hatred of Jews, Christians, Western ideology
and...well...the West, is the official religion of Saudi
Arabia. The same Wahabbist hatred which is being preached by
mullahs and funded by the Saudi Royal Family on a worldwide
basis. Indeed the very same Wahabbism practiced by Osama
bin Laden and al Qaeda and the same Wahabbism practiced by the fifteen
Saudi terrorists who attacked the United States on September 11, 2001.
The same al Qaeda responsible for the recent Bali bombing and
last weekend's terrorist attack in Mombassa. How, I wonder, was
al Qaeda able to afford the two SA-7b surface-to-air missiles shot
at the Israeli 757 departing Mombasa? Yes, the same al Qaeda
terrorists the Saudi Royal Family is paying to keep out of Saudi
Arabia. The exceedingly bad news for the Saudis is that the
world now knows you're shaking you're finger and winking at the
same time.
As you try to argue that the fifteen Saudis terrorists you sent us on
September 11, 2001 were some sort of aberration, I would remind you
that the overwhelming majority of the nearly thousand terrorist
prisoners being held at Camp Delta in Guantanamo Bay are
Saudi citizens. In the vernacular of the States, "it's time
to come to Jesus." You, the Saudis, must
decide whether to continue supporting hateful Wahabbism and
funding worldwide terrorism through that religion, or to join
us in the fight against terrorism. So far you've not
convinced us of the latter. But rest assured, you cannot have it
both ways. The game is over.
Regards,
Jim Dillard
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