The National Review
April 25, 2002

One Question for Abdullah
An American-Saudi ordeal.
By Kate O'Beirne

http://www.nationalreview.com/kob/kob042502.asp

Pat Roush would be extremely grateful if President Bush would ask Crown
Prince Abdullah how her kidnapped daughters are doing in Saudi Arabia when
the two leaders meet in Crawford. In 1986, when Aisha was seven, and Alia
was three, the American girls were abducted from their home in the Chicago
suburbs by their Saudi father. Over the past 16 years, their mother has seen
them once, in 1995, for two hours. "Don't leave me, Mama. Take me home,"
said her older daughter. Alia, who no longer spoke English, asked her
mother, "How old am I?" Pat Roush has learned that Aisha, now 23, is married
and expecting a baby, and last she heard their kidnapper was looking for "a
rich husband" for 19-year-old Alia. Her mother doesn't know if her second
daughter is yet married.

Although Pat Roush's relentless efforts over the years led to the creation
of an office in the State Department intended to advocate on behalf of the
littlest American citizens snatched to foreign countries, and to enactment
of the International Parental Child Abduction Act in 1993, the years ticked
by for her own daughters. "This is no longer a children's issue," Roush now
explains. "My daughters are now American women being denied their birthright
as U.S. citizens." Aisha and Alia would need a male relative's permission in
order to be permitted to leave their Saudi prison. "[The Bush
administration] is so concerned about Afghan women's rights," Roush told
WorldNetDaily, "What about American women's rights?"

Since the girls were kidnapped, their father's parents have both come to the
U.S. for medical care. In 1988, the abductor himself traveled on a
diplomatic passport to accompany his father, who worked for the royal
family, for surgery at the Cleveland Clinic. Roush had warned the FBI to
keep an eye on the clinic, where her former husband's father had previously
been treated, but father and son returned to Saudi Arabia with no questions
asked. No federal agency has provided meaningful help to this heartbroken
mother, who accuses the State Department of sympathizing with the Saudi
government rather than her and her American daughters over the years.

A single American diplomat, then U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Ray Mabus,
was a "big hero" to Roush when he refused to grant visas to her husband's
relatives unless her daughters were returned. But he left his post in 1996,
before the girls were freed. His successor, former Senator Wyche Fowler,
told Pat Roush he had no time to talk with her, and lifted a hold on the
extended families' visas.

On Wednesday morning, Pat Roush signed a book contract which will enable her
"to tell the world about the sweet deals and special relationship between
the U.S. and Saudi Arabia" that have made her a stranger to her daughters.
We wouldn't want to be undiplomatic, but maybe President Bush can gently ask
the crown prince if 19-year-old Alia is married. Her mother would like to
know.

And if she had the two daughters, we'd be hearing the same song from her Saudi husband.  I have little sympathy for people that make lifelong committments and then break them.  Her problems are self-made.

Hey "Norm"  that's a real nice holier-than-thou complex you have going.  Did it ever cross your mind that not all divorces/splits are both parties fault & IT STILL DOESN'T MAKE KIDNAPPING KIDS OK?

Let's see, 2 American girls get kidnapped, & you think it's mom's fault b/c (even though you don't know the full story) she MAY have split up or divorced dad.  Nice...

National Review?  Who are they? Conservatives?

[:P]  DaMan

Yeah, conservatives.

I've heard this story repeated more times than I care to remember.

Maybe we should just pass a law requiring any woman engaged to a Saudi to sign a release saying she is aware that she is marrying an asshole and leave it at that.

Yeah, a new law, that's the ticket, a new law...

Seems like the norm in Saudi/American divorces. Saudi dad kidnaps kid(s) and takes him/her/them to our "ally" Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia refuses to assist parents in getting their kids back, or even seeing them. Says something for NOT marrying a Saudi national and then being surprised...


Scott