Uncle Tom Obama Bows Down to the Massa

UPDATINGS 4-6-2009 & 4-9-2009

Is it fair to call Obama an Uncle Tom just because he bowed to the king of Saudi Arabia, a country where slavery was not outlawed --on paper-- until 1962 and continued there in practice? Obama seems to have gone farther in obeisance to the Saudis than previous American high officials. But actually he is only going in the same direction as they did --but farther. After all, John Foster Dulles, a State Department veteran and secretary of state for Pres. Eisenhower, bestowed an expensive pistol on King Saud of Saudi Arabia who visited the United States in 1957. Presidents George Bush I & II were both very considerate of and compliant with Saudi desires and demands. But I don't know that either of them ever bowed down to a Saudi royal. In that way, Obama may be the first. Certainly that is Change that we can believe in.

Here is a still photo of Obama bowing down, taken from the back [hat tip-Flopping Aces]. If you want to be sure that Obama is the one bowing down, if you want see him approach King PastaFazoolah, watch the video showing the scene at the G20 meeting before and after Obama's craven bow [From Michelle Malkin].

John Foster Dulles testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committe in February 1956 on the issue of why the United States was selling war planes to Saudi Arabia but not to Israel. He also justified the US Army policy of not sending Jewish soldiers in the US Armed Forces to bases in Saudi Arabia. Senators had criticized the fact that:

"the agreement for the US airbase at Dhahran permitted Saudi Arabia to exclude any 'objectionable' individuals. The United States was required to submit a detailed list of the names and identities of personnel and employees. Dulles. . . went on to explain why American Jews could not be assigned to an American base. There was an audible gasp when he said that Saudi Arabia practices 'very rigorously certain religious doctrines, and they have felt for a long time --it goes back centuries-- a very particular animosity toward the Jews because they credited the assassination of Mohammed to a Jew' [actually, to a Jewess said to have poisoned him]. Dulles later revised his testimony to read:
'a very particular animosity toward the Jews since the time of Mohammed.' While the Secretary [JFDulles] personally disapproved such practices, we had to recognize that Saudi Arabia was an 'ally.' "'We perforce accomodate ourselves to certain practices they have which we do not like; they perhaps accomodate themselves to certain of our idiosyncrasies which they do not like, but on the whole they have a pretty arbitrary rule, largely dictated by the strict tenets of the Moslem faith.'" [I L Kenen, Israel's Defense Line: Her Friends and Foes in Washington (Buffalo NY: Prometheus 1981), pp 127-128].

What is bizarre nowadays is that the medieval religious bigotry of Islam in general and the Saudi kingdom in particular now enjoy the approval and patronage of what is called the "Left." The catering to and fawning over Arab kings that typified the State Dept, the Republican Eisenhower administration and the US oil companies that were partners in ARAMCO in the 1950s is now identified as "leftist." The Islamic laws that govern life in Saudi Arabia have not much changed in the last fifty years since the heyday of the Dulles brothers, John Foster and Allen, but today it is all done with the approval of the "Left."

On the US Treasury's financial support or hidden foreign aid for Saudi Arabia through the Foreign Tax Credit, see here & here. See our previous posts on Saudi influence in the West here & here.

Can anyone who is intelligent, knowledgeable and serious take seriously the walt-mearsheimer claim that Israel controls Washington policy toward the Middle East??

It is also of interest that Dulles, no friend of Israel as should be clear from the above, traces Arab/Muslim hatred of Jews back to Muhammad. He does not blame it on "occupation" or the Arab refugee problem or any other alleged offense of the State of Israel. Today, of course, anti-Israel [read: Judeophobic] propaganda and psywar have become much more sophisticated.
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More commentary on the Bow and obeisance to the Saudis: here & here & here & David Pryce-Jones here, & a stong Washington Times editorial here.

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UPDATING 4-6-2009 & 4-9-2009 --- John F Kennedy was photographed in a friendly scene with King Saud arriving at the White House in a US Army helicopter. JFK is not bowing however [see here]. On the other hand, Prez George Bush II bows down before the present king, Abdullah, down to only a 30 degree angle approx. [see here from Little Green Footballs] and perhaps only to let the king place a medal or decoration on a ribbon around his neck, whereas Obama's bow is deeper, about 90 degrees. I now have to be slightly more charitable to Obama about his sycophancy, his toadying, to the Saudis --after all, his forerunner, George II did too, apparently not as deeply-- but my conclusion about Saudi influence in Washington is reinforced.