Here is a reason to be thankful. Be thankful that your daughter doesn't live in Saudi Arabia where a young victim of a gang rape was recently sentenced to 90 lashes for being a victim. That's right. She was the victim. Her crime was surviving the rape.
She appealed her sentence and word got out to the rest of the world. What did the Saudi Court do?
In a fit of "compassion" it more than doubled the number of lashes she is to receive to 200 and, if she survives the whip, she will serve 6 months in jail. That is the nature of compassion in the backward Kingdom of Saudi Arabia--the land where 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers and 41% of the foreign fighters killing our troops in Iraq were born.
How did our crack State Department react? Here is the transcript. Sean McCormick is the State Department's spokesman.
QUESTION: A very quick question also from this morning. Your comment, please, on — in reaction to the young Saudi woman having her sentence more than doubled the –Be thankful that in less than a Year McCormack and his craven boss, who is utterly unwilling to stand up to the House of Saud, will be looking for work. The transcript was provided by Think Progress.
MR. MCCORMACK: Right, yeah. I saw the news reports and I guess the first thing to say is, while this is a judicial procedure, part of a judicial procedure overseas in the courts of a sovereign country, that said, I think that most would find this relatively astonishing that something like this happened. So while it’s very difficult to offer — you know, offer any detailed comment about the situation, I think most people would really be quite astonished by the situation.
QUESTION: Would you like the Saudi authorities to reconsider it or do you encourage them to do that?
MR. MCCORMACK: Look, you know, again, I can’t get involved in specific court cases in Saudi Arabia dealing with its own citizens, but most — I think most people here would be quite surprised to learn of the circumstances and then the punishment meted out.
QUESTION: Does that mean that the State Department is astonished by it, too?
MR. MCCORMACK: I’ll leave the answer where it –
QUESTION: Well, what does “most people” mean? I mean, most of who?
MR. MCCORMACK: I would just leave — I don’t have anything else to offer.
Thankfully, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards have all decried the Saudi abuse. The Muslim American Society Freedom called the court ruling “a clear violation of the compassion and mercy taught by the religion of Islam.”
No word on whether the Republican candidates are willing to say that punishing the victim of a forcible gang rape is something Republicans find repugnant.
I have a 19 year old daughter. I thank God she doesn't live in Saudi Arabia. Happy Thanksgiving.
