England Lowers Her Flags To Grieve The Death Of A Muslim Tyrant

(Photo AFP via Yahoo)

Things just keep deteriorating. The UK is flying flags at half staff in a show of respect, mourning, or in memoriam, for Saudi Arabia’s recently departed King Abdullah. I can’t help wondering what George Orwell would think of the language that is being used to describe the man. With thanks to Drudge, here’s a report from AFP in London, via Yahoo News:

London (AFP) – The government’s decision on Friday to lower British flags following the death of Saudi Arabia‘s King Abdullah has stirred controversy, with critics pointing to the kingdom’s poor human rights record.

Poor human rights record? How about non-existent? How about barbarically savage? Floggings. Beheadings. Amputations. Mysogyny. Don’t try to kid me. It’s all about Islam in the magical kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Tributes from world leaders have poured in for the late monarch, seen by some as a cautious moderniser in a turbulent region, but criticised by others as not having done enough to reform an absolute monarchy adhering to a severe form of Islam.

Some world leaders, huh? Leaders of what? And is there really a gentle form of Islam? I’d like to read the gentle version of the Quran, or the non-radical version of the Hadithe. If I could just find them.

Saudi law, which forbids women from driving and punishes apostasy with death, is derived from Wahhabi Islam, an ultraconservative sect whose clergy have provided Saudi rulers with religious legitimacy.

That punishment for apostasy is nothing new. It’s been around for about 1,400 years, give or take a few.

“Your flag flying insults every woman in the United Kingdom, HOW DARE YOU,” tweeted former Conservative lawmaker Louise Mensch.

Lawyer and journalist Glenn Greenwald tweeted: “UK orders flags flown at half-mast for King Abdullah. Will return to lecturing the world about democracy tomorrow.”

The case of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, who has received 50 lashings as part of a 1,000-lash punishment for insulting Islam, has triggered a global outcry and focused attention on Saudi laws.

Ahem. It’s not just Saudi laws at issue here. It is the entire body of law which comprises the Shariah, Muslim law, which provides for such barbarism. And King Abdullah was a good, faithful Muslim ruler, true to the tenets of Islam. Ask any of his subjects who were beaten or had their limbs amputated. You won’t be able to ask the ones who were beheaded or stoned to death.

Conversion to Christianity is punishable by death, for example, prompting many online commentators to lambast Westminster Abbey’s decision to also lower its flag out of respect for Abdullah.

The flag has also been lowered on the Houses of Parliament, following a statement from the Department for Culture Media and Sport calling for the Union Flag and other national flags to be flown at half-mast.

Oh, weep for England, America. She’s in her dying throes. But who will weep for us here in the USA when we arrive at the same state of affairs?

“He will be remembered for his long years of service to the kingdom, for his commitment to peace and for strengthening understanding between faiths,” British Prime Minister David Cameron said in statement.

Ah, yes. Our dear useful idiot, David Cameron. How can you utter those words, Mr. Cameron? Do you know what happens in King Abdullah’s land if one is caught with a Holy Bible in a public place? If one is caught conducting a Christian worship service?

Ruth Davidson, who leads Cameron’s Conservative party in Scotland, tweeted: “Flying flags at half mast on gov buildings for the death of Saudi king is a steaming pile of nonsense. That is all.”

For the record, David Cameron is not any kind of conservative. He is a spineless apologist for the ongoing crimes against humanity committed by the world’s most intolerant religion and theo-political ideology.

Saudi Arabia is one of Britain’s top arms customers, and is lauded by Britain and the United States as a key Arab ally in the fight against terror.

Indeed. The Fight Against Terror. And if you look far enough through those stolen Wiki-Leaks cables (remember them?), you’ll find one in which a certain member of the U.S. State Department expressed concern that the ongoing Saudi government funding provided for Al Qaida jihad operations against U.S. military personnel might become public knowledge. And I guarantee you George Orwell would be smiling over that one.

BOOKS BY JOHN L. WORK

About John L. Work

John Lloyd Work has taken the detective thriller genre and woven an occasional political thread throughout his books, morphing what was once considered an arena reserved for pure fiction into believable, terrifying, futuristic, true-to-life “faction”. He traveled the uniformed patrolman’s path, answering brutal domestic violence calls, high speed chases, homicides, suicides, armed robberies, breaking up bar fights, and the accompanying sporadic unpredictable moments of terror - which eventually come to all police officers, sometimes when least expected. He gradually absorbed the hard fact that the greatest danger a cop faces comes in the form of day-to-day encounters with emotionally disturbed, highly intoxicated people. Those experiences can wear a cop down, grinding on his own emotions and psyche. Prolonged exposure to the worst of people and people at their worst can soon make him believe that the world is a sewer. That police officer’s reality is a common thread throughout Work’s crime fiction books. Following his graduation from high school, Work studied music and became a professional performer, conductor and teacher. Life made a sudden, unexpected turn when, one afternoon in 1976, his cousin, who eventually became the Chief of the Ontario, California, Police Department, talked him into riding along during a patrol shift. The musician was hooked into becoming a police officer. After working for two years as a reserve officer in Southern California and in Boulder, Colorado, he joined the Longmont, Colorado Police Department. Work served there for seven years, investigating crimes as a patrolman, detective and patrol sergeant. In 1989 he joined the Adams County, Colorado Sheriff’s Office, where he soon learned that locking a criminal up inside a jail or prison does not put him out of business. As a sheriff’s detective he investigated hundreds of crimes, including eleven contract murder conspiracies which originated “inside the walls”. While serving on the Adams County North Metro Gang Task Force and as a member of the Colorado Security Threat Intelligence Network Group (STING), Work designed a seminar on how a criminal’s mind formulates his victim selection strategy. Over a period of six years he taught that class in sheriff’s academies and colleges throughout Colorado. He saw the world of crime both inside the walls and out on the streets. His final experiences in the criminal law field were with the Colorado State Public Defender’s Office, where for nearly two years he investigated felonies from the defense side of the Courtroom. Twenty-two years of observing human nature at its worst, combined with watching some profound changes in America’s culture and political institutions, provided plenty of material for his first three books. A self-published author, he just finished writing his tenth thriller.

View all posts by John L. Work →