On 9/11/2001, I was on a work assignment in Saudi Arabia. I was teaching a course on weapon systems that their military uses for surveillance. I work for a major defense contractor and I had previously lived and worked in Saudi Arabia for several years during the early 1990s (during the Gulf War). I have lived through their hypocrisy and cynicism about their ways versus ours and how we are the evil that is plaguing the world.

On 9/11, I was teaching a class when one of my students returned from a scheduled break and informed that the World Trade Centers in NYC had been bombed. Reflecting back to the previous attack on the WTC, I hoped and prayed that people were not injured. I never once thought that the events that took place were anywhere near as devastating as they were. Upon returning to my villa, after class, I then learned of the extent of the attack on our nation.

The next day in class, I endured questions and comments that ranged anywhere from sympathy for the dead and wounded to statements that inferred that we deserved the attack because of our support of Israel. Needless to say, I was outraged with the latter comments and refused to continue to instruct the students that held this position.

In Saudi Arabia, the general consensus was that we deserved the attacks for our support of Israel.

It was only upon my return to the USA, did I find out that the majority of the terrorists were Saudis. And on a more outrageous note, I found out that at least three of the terrorists were former members of the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) and had been trained on surveillance systems that we here in America sold to them to protect their country (and continue to do so to this day).

We need to break our ties with these people before we give them any more systems and training that would further compromise our own security here at home.