I lived in Jiddah just as I llve in the U.S.A. It is a very cosmopolitan city. Riyadh is, or was much more restrictive. Also, maybe your thinking of the Aramco compound in Dhahran. But that is just like a midwestern city with a movie theater, nice american style houses, lawns, supermarkets, concert theater, et al. You easily believe you are in the U.S.A.

My office was in the center of the city and I got up every morning, had breakfast, picked up my friend and drove to work. There were absolutely no restrictions. I am not aware of any restrictions on anyone. The oil field people had a lot of restrictions but I think that is because of what was contained in their contracts with their employers; not any restrictions imposed by the Saudi government.

We went to the market places and restaurants every evening, driving in our car. We drove to the Red Sea a few times a week to go scuba diving. When I was there they were installing red lights and the Saudis are terrible drivers. Mostly because they trust everything to fate. They more or less didn't pay any attention to the red lights and there was a big crackdown.

One of my colleagues got caught and they threw him in jail, and from what he told us it was a very, very unpleasant place. After that we checked every morning to make sure that everybody made it to work.

Just as an aside Idi Amin lived down the street and many was the time I would pass a few feet from him in the supermarket. The Saudi government apparently didn't provide him any staff or he just liked to shop for himself.

I really find it amazing the amount of misinformation that is floating around. I think there were tens of thousands of ex-patriots living in the Kingdom over many years and how these myths develop are beyond me. They just seem to arise for no reason that I can determine. I am not aware of any disinformation efforts. Americans really know so little of the world especially the Middle East. Like, Miss South Carolina, they couldn't find the Middle East on a world map.

The Saudi people are generally so laid-back it is discomforting. Everything is guided by a fatalistic attitude depending on Allah. Every time you request a Saudi to do something he responds "inshallah." Allah willing.

When I was there everyone knew that when a Saudi police officer told you "no problem" you were indeed, in deep shit.

Once I came back from Paris and had a brochure for the "Follies," which you probably are familiar with, with the girl bent over showing her backside panties while dancing. Well they did a very thorough search of my luggage and found it. I then went through about 2-3 hours of questioning. It was unpleasant.

Pornography and alcohol are very big problems for ex-pats in the Kingdom. There are many Brits there and on Friday night they love to shoot darts and drink beer. They have stills in their bathtubs or illegally smuggle gin into the country. Some get caught and it is not pretty.

Some pretty ugly stories circulated about the prices these guys paid.

In the years I lived there I never heard of the police doing anything as strong-armed as you suggest. I knew many people in the international community and it was a close-knit society and I never heard of one complaint against the police. There were concerns about the Religious Police, but as someone said, they were generally indifferent to the ex-pats.

When I was protesting the Iraqi war run-up in 2002 the DC police were extremely forceful.

During one march some people in front of me were carrying a banner comparing Bush to Hitler. The police came down on them, tore down the banner, and physically pushed them around. i felt that I was in extreme danger and never protested again. Not a mention of the incident in the MSM. And I saw some people and photographers I thought were the press in the area.

I felt extremely safe in Saudi Arabia. You didn't have to lock your doors. People were always very polite. I can't say that about where I live today. People are aggressive, always breaking in front of me, giving me the finger because I don't drive fast enough for them, etc.

I don't think the Saudi women feel that they are persecuted. I don't think they even think about driving a car. But I could be wrong. When I would catch a plane to Europe the women would immediately, after the plane took of, go to the restroom and change to western attire.

It's been going on for 7 years now.

The republicans just keep on whippin' on and humiliatin' the pathetic, sorry-assed, democrats. It's embarrassing! The repubs do anything, anytime they feel like it, and they not only do it with impunity, they just chuckle at the whining, cry-babyish, liberals. They are probably roaring over Fox New' attack on the generals because they are orchestrating it.

The sorry-assed liberals don't even try to fight back with any commitment. There is just token opposition. They are best represented by the democratic pundits who appear on Fox to defend them. True sorry-asses! These pseudo pundits are the the best representatives the democrats have against the republican powerhouse.

Kerry and Gore and Cleland, and probably hundreds of others have been made an example of, and these generals will also be diminished. They won't fight back because if they do they will only get hurt more-so, until they feel the pain.

"You don't mess with Texas" without paying a heavy penalty.

They have got the Supreme Court on their side. They have intimidated the democrats in congress to the point that they will vote in accordance with anything Joe Lieberman or Mitch McConnell desire.

What a joke! Fox News rules!