Shared "British-Saudi" Values
The current UK visit of Abdullah ibn al-Saud has received much
criticism from politicians and commentators, especially due to the "red
carpet" treatment he has received from the government. This was
epitomised by the praise he received from Foreign Office minister Kim
Howells who flattered his guest by referring to the "shared values"
between Britain and Saudi Arabia.
There has been much debate about defining British values in recent years. The sad fact is that what successive British and Saudi governments share is the common value of putting their interests ahead of their espoused principles. Indeed, they have a common interest in maintaining the colonial relationship between Britain and the Muslim world, a relationship that soils both parties, embarrasses the British public and causes real hardship, oppression and resentment iin the Muslim masses.
It is for this reason that Muslims desire to see the return of the Islamic Khilafah to rid the region of the despotism enjoyed largely by defence contractors, oil companies and the Saudi ruling class alone. It is for that reason that they look upon the western support for these tyrants with such distaste.
We have compiled a list of examples that demonstrate the common values shared by British and Saudi governments of the past and present. There is a striking convergence of interests:
1. The UK and Saudi leaderships are working hand in hand in the so-called war on terror - which most Muslims view as a war on Islam - which has resulted in the death, torture and false imprisonment of innocents.
2. The UK and Saudi leaderships actively co-operated with the US in the invasion of Iraq that has led to hundreds of thousands dead, a refugee and humanitarian crisis with the very real prospect of the conflict spilling into Turkey and the division of Iraq.
3. The UK and Saudi leaderships agreed in the UN to attack and invade Afghanistan
4. The UK and Saudi leaderships agreed for UK and US planes to use Saudi air bases to attack Iraq during the period of sanction and to enforce the no-fly zone following the Gulf war in 1991
5. The UK and Saudi leaderships sent armies as part of the coalition that fought in the first Gulf War in 1991.
6. The UK and Saudi leaderships have collectively plundered the strategic energy resources of the Muslim Ummah including the Yamamah Defence Programme
7. The UK and Saudi leaderships obstructed the formal investigation by the Serious Fraud Office into corruption and bribery in multi-billion pound defence order contracts between the two countries
8. The UK and Saudi leaderships both spy upon the Muslims when they go for pilgrimage to Mecca
9. The UK and Saudi leaderships have been active to promoting the formal political recognition of Israel in the Meccan accord.
10. The UK and Saudi leaderships worked to incite Arabs to rebel against the Ottoman Khilafah state ultimately resulting in its destruction in 1924, and are actively working to see that the Khilafah does not re-emerge.
We hope that others join us in calling for the end to these unethical and hypocritical relationships between western governments and despotic regimes in the Muslim world. Not by invading the countries and taking direct control, as with Iraq, but by simply ending their chronic interference.
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