With Friends Like This . . .

If you can't count on your friends, who can you count on?

Seems the Saudi Embassy quietly provided a passport and transit out of the U.S. for the wife of a terror suspect -- after she was subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury.

Federal law enforcement officials are properly outraged. State Department officials reportedly expressed surprise by the move. The FBI earlier confiscated her and her children's passports, but the Saudi got them new ones, then told the U.S. about the departure the day after she left the country. She was still under subpoena, but no date was set for her testimony.

Asked why the embassy would provide passports to a material witness, a Saudi spokesperson said, "You get a grand jury subpoena, you can't sit here for a year doing nothing."

Listen up, it's very simple. Our country, our rules. If a person is subpoenaed to testify, they sit tight until called. It's not up to the person or a foreign country to determine how long a witness should be available.

The Saudi government already has a mottled record when it comes to helping the U.S. in its anti-terror efforts. If the government or the country's clerics aren't actively funding radical Islamic, fanatically anti-American groups and schools, it is less than forthcoming in helping our overseas investigations. Now this. They are good, however, at taking out multi-million ad campaigns to tell us how much of a friend they are in times of need.

Do you think the Saudis would be so nonchalant about the rule of law if it were their laws being undermined or circumvented by foreign nationals?

Nah. Not a chance.

© Copyright 2003 Keith Jameson. Last update: 2/5/2003; 9:32:51 AM.