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Another American was beheaded today in the Middle East. Paul Johnson, an American engineer working for Lockheed was captured last week by Islamic militants with ties to Al Qaeda. Pictures of his beheading appeared on an Al-Qaeda backed website.

His body was later found dumped at a gas station. Witnesses noted down the vehicle licenses and alerted Saudi officials which led to a firefight killing a reputed Al Qaeda leader believed to be responsible for Johnson’s death.

The act portrays the barbaric and evil nature of Islamic militants. It depicts an act of desperation for a group with a screwed-up cause, hiding behind a religion that is losing credibility in Western society.

Call it whatever you want, the clash of civilizations, the war of the ages, the great religious war, its cause rooted deeply in the consciousness of modern day Islam, taught in mosques, accepted not only by extremists, but moderates alike. The hatred for America and Israel so intense, they are willing to self-sacrifice themselves.

The sad part is, these feelings are not foreign to an average, run of the mill, moderate Islamist. I don’t doubt millions will try to rationalize today’s barbaric act as if Americans were the cause of it.

Which leads me to another point, I don’t think Saudi Arabia has done enough in fighting terrorism at home and abroad. Of the 19 hijackers on Sep. 11, 18 of them were Saudi nationals. The Saudi government has done absolutely nothing since Sep. 11. We invaded the wrong country.

We should have attacked Saudi Arabia instead of Iraq. I think its time for the Saudi government to show the rest of the world how serious it is in fighting terrorism.

Talking about spin. Let’s not be gullible as to what governments can and will do to deceive the trusting public. Let’s assume this scenario. It’s possible, the Saudi government is aware of several terrorist groups operating in their kingdom. The beheading of Paul Johnson forced the Saudis to do something about it.

So, the Saudis attacked a cell group they have known all along, killed several of its members and one its leaders. The retaliation seem to satisfy US and Western Europe concerns, and at the same time, it makes them look good. Not an entirely impossible scenario.

Other terrorists groups continue to operate unimpeded in the Saudi Kingdom. The Saudi government doesn’t seem to have the same fortitude and determination in fighting terrorism as in the West. In fact, the Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Arab world breeds them.

Young, impressionable Arab minds have already drawn their own conclusion as to who is evil and who is to blame for all the mess. Unless perceptions in Arab world change, hatred for the US and the West will continue.

In the meantime, the US government has issued a warning to approximately 35,000 Americans living and working in Saudi Arabia to leave the country. I say we leave the country and really screw them economically. We need to change our policies to be less dependent on oil.

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