Khalaf Al-Harbi

Okaz



SOME Saudis who returned from Iraq told tragic stories of their torture and mistreatment in prisons there. We spoke about this issue several times before and asked the Foreign Ministry to exert every possible effort to rescue the Saudis in Iraqi prisons from the awful situation they are facing there.



However, let us ask a simple question and look for an honest answer: Did these Saudis go to Iraq for tourism, higher education or family visits? Or have they gone there to participate in a destructive war before coming back to do the same in our country given an opportunity?



A recent video clip on the social media showed a number of Saudi youths who belonged to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) joking and playing after they had occupied the food warehouses of the Iraqi army. The video also showed Saudi youths on a boat carrying arms and exchanging jokes as if this Arab country has become an open arena for terrorists.



There may be two purposes behind the broadcasting of this video. The first is to show the large number of Saudis fighting with the ISIS.



This move will serve the objectives of both the Iraqi government and its ally Iran. It will also support the claims that the government is confronting terrorists who came from outside, not Iraqi nationals who are revolting to regain their rights.



The second purpose of the video is to attract more young Saudi fighters by showing them that the situation in Iraq is not that bad and that they can come and join them. Regardless of your attitude toward the warring factions in Iraq, you should put yourself in the place of the Iraqis and try to understand their reaction when they watch their country burning in the hands of these foreign terrorists.



You should ask yourself: How will you react when you see a group of foreigners coming to your country to kill and destroy while exchanging jokes in complete disregard for the bloodbath they have created? How will you treat them when you catch them?



Note that we are not talking here about a country that pays any attention to the concept of human rights. We are rather talking about a country that came out of a bloody totalitarian rule and fell into a chaotic sectarian rule that is bloodthirsty.



In such a country, how do you expect the terrorists will be treated when they are caught killing and then joking?

Young Saudi terrorists who today have no regard for the pain of the Iraqi people will cry for help tomorrow when they are caught. They will ask their government to come and save them from the Iraqi prisons.



I will not dispute those who say it is the duty of the government to help its citizens abroad under any circumstances but we have to be fair and realize the consequences of their actions on others. We should not only focus on what is happening to them in the Iraqi prisons, but think about what they have done there.



We should stop for a minute and think of the poor victims these young Saudi terrorists have killed in cold blood. We should also think of the innocent victims who may fall in our country when these terrorists are released from the Iraqi prisons and return home.