[Peace-discuss] JFP alert: ProPublica: USG knew Saudi regime helped criminal suspects flee US, did nothing

[Robert Naiman]

*Que se vayan todos.*

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Robert Naiman, Just Foreign Policy <info at justforeignpolicy.org>
Date: Mon, Apr 29, 2019 at 11:57 AM
Subject: ProPublica: USG knew Saudi regime helped criminal suspects flee
US, did nothing
To: <naiman.uiuc at gmail.com>


[image: Just Foreign Policy]
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  *Read/share ProPublica article
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=glRgNTqH8CaZsco%2FbO%2BXjZCujh3k4AGq>:
Saudi regime helped criminal suspects flee the U.S., while USG did nothing.*



* Sign the petition for the "veto" override
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=kyWH5JEEp1G5zW2JNV2M%2FJCujh3k4AGq>,
so children in Yemen may live. *

Dear Robert,

>From 1945 until this week, every U.S. presidential Administration, whether
“Democratic” or “Republican,” has sheltered the intimate relationship of
the Saudi regime to the U.S. Foreign Policy Establishment from democratic
transparency and accountability to the U.S. public. Whether it was *Saudi
regime liability for the 9/11 attacks that killed three thousand innocent
American civilians*, or the *Saudi regime's deliberate imposition of famine
on children in Yemen*, there's been a huge asterisk next to the
Constitution, democracy and the rule of law in the United States: ”**Not
applicable if it might interfere with the intimate relationship between the
Saudi regime and the U.S. Foreign Policy Establishment*.”

Until this week, it hasn't made a meaningful difference if it was
"Trump-Pence" or "Obama-Biden" or "Bush-Cheney" or “Clinton-Gore.”
Tweedledum or Tweedledee, *the intimate relationship between the Saudi
regime and U.S. Foreign Policy Establishment has remained the same*. It’s
not that all Democrats and Republicans have agreed that the U.S. must
always back the Saudi regime to the hilt. Plenty of Democrats and
Republicans have dissented from that. It’s that *those dissenters haven’t
been allowed to change the course of U.S. policy*.

*But maybe that could change this week.* There's a first time for
everything. You never know which straw will be the one that takes down the
camel. *This week, Senate Republicans have an opportunity to do the right
thing* and *override Trump’s “veto” of the Bernie Sanders-Mike Lee-Chris
Murphy bill* to end unconstitutional U.S. participation in the Saudi
regime’s war in Yemen. And *Senate Republicans did the right thing on the
U.S.-Saudi relationship once before* – when they *voted to override Obama’s
veto of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act*, thereby enabling
9/11 families to sue the Saudi regime for complicity in the 9/11 attacks.

*Urge Senate Republicans to do the right thing now, overriding the “veto”
so that children in Yemen may live.*
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=APRwFF0t5h7qzzBXSqlja5Cujh3k4AGq>

News reports that *the intimate relationship between the Saudi regime and
the U.S. Foreign Policy Establishment isn’t in the interests of the
majority of Americans* keep piling up.

On Friday, *ProPublica* reported [“*Saudi Fugitives Accused of Serious
Crimes Get Help to Flee While U.S. Officials Look the Other Way*
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=oKEepRerbInjP2IOYz8nBpCujh3k4AGq>
”]:

“The government of Saudi Arabia has *repeatedly* helped Saudi citizens *evade
prosecutors and the police in the United States and flee* back to their
homeland after being *accused of serious crimes* here, *current and former
U.S. officials* said. The FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and
other agencies have been aware of the Saudi actions for *at least a decade,
officials said*. But *successive American administrations* have avoided
confronting the government in Riyadh...”It’s not that the issue of Saudi
fugitives from the U.S. wasn’t important,” said retired FBI agent Jeffrey
Danik, who served as the agency’s assistant legal attache in Riyadh from
2010 to 2012. *“It’s that the security relationship was so much more
important.*”

“American officials said *Saudi diplomats, intelligence officers and other
operatives* have assisted in the *illegal flight of Saudi fugitives*, most
of them university students, after they were charged with *crimes including
rape and manslaughter*. The Saudis have bailed the suspects out of
jail ... *arranged
their travel home and covered their forfeited bonds*, the officials said.”

 “Since late December, *Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat*, has pressed
the departments of *State, Justice* and *Homeland Security* for information
on the Saudi government’s actions in helping to repatriate Saudi students
who faced criminal charges here... ‘Are you as disturbed as I am that *Saudi
nationals have a get-out-of-jail-free card* that allows them to *commit
abuses against children, manslaughter, rape* and have no accountability?’
Oregon’s other U.S. senator, *Jeff Merkley, also a Democrat*, asked.”

*Read the ProPublica article in full.*
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=uWlCJIt65mxmyq1ahAro%2BJCujh3k4AGq>


*Sign the petition to the Senate, pressing for override of the "veto," so
children in Yemen may live.*
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=tQ8Z%2FJ5IzDKOD3YdHfn1gJCujh3k4AGq>


Thanks for all you do to help U.S. foreign policy become more just,

Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy


*If you think our work is important, please make a donation to support it. *
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