PhotoDude.com

Fri. Dec 06, 2002

Mixed Saudi Messages

Mixed Saudi Messages – The first message is the crafted one: “Saudi Arabia launched an unprecedented public relations offensive this week that was hard for the American public to miss. Savvy spokesman Adel al-Jubeir [...] Al-Jubeir insisted that his country has been unfairly maligned by U.S. critics who paint the Saudis as fair-weather allies in the war on terrorism because they resist pleas to crack down on anti-American fanatics. Even so, he announced tepid new steps to stem the flow of supposedly charitable Saudi money that winds up with al-Qaeda.”

“Yet, the most important message from al-Jubeir was left unspoken: Saudi Arabia is extraordinarily sensitive to U.S. public opinion.”

It’s unfortunate the only way they address that sensitivity is via what is now becoming a semi-regular PR campaign of spin and/or damage control. And even that is falling apart: “Saudi Arabia’s latest public relations problem may be with its public relations firm. Three of the founding partners in the Washington firm, Qorvis Communications, have announced that they are leaving, and associates say their departure reflects a deep discomfort in representing the government of Saudi Arabia against accusations that Saudi leaders have turned a blind eye to terrorism.”

They claim they’ve been doing all they can to disrupt terror financing, then they say they’ll do more. They claim they’ve been completely cooperative in the investigation of the 9-11 attacks, and then we hear their top cop say, “ ’We know that the Jews have manipulated the Sept. 11 incidents and turned American public opinion against Arabs and Muslims,’ [Saudi Police Minister] Prince Nayef was quoted as saying [...] ’We still ask ourselves: Who has benefited from Sept. 11 attacks? I think they (the Jews) were the protagonists of such attacks,’”

“Nayef’s remarks echoed rumors that have been heard in the Arab world since the attacks — but this time they are attributed to the man in charge of Saudi investigations into the attacks.”

Most reassuring. Three fourths of the hijackers as well as their leader are of Saudi origin, but the man heading the investigation says the plot originated with the Jews. There’s your “complete cooperation” from “our Saudi friends.” There’s no need for introspection of any type, philosophically or judicially, when you have the Jews as a convenient whipping boy for all the world’s troubles, including the cancer in your backyard.

And the messages keep on coming: “Russian security officials suspect that the Chechens who seized a Moscow theatre in October had wealthy Arab sponsors in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states and have sought Washington’s support in finding the financiers. Senior officials say they have traced a series of telephone calls from the gunmen to their ’sponsors’ in the Gulf.”

“During one call made to an unspecified Gulf state a financier asked for a video of scenes inside the theatre, and was told it could be made for a $1m fee. ’Several long telephone conversations were intercepted to Saudi Arabia, to the Emirates, and to Qatar. We can say for sure that the hostage-taking was financed from abroad, and the terrorists maintained permanent contact with their sponsors.’ [...] He added that the leader of the hostage-takers, Mosvar Barayev, and several of his fellow Chechens had planned to flee to the Gulf once the crisis was over.”

The Saudi’s stand in the noon day sun claiming dawn has not yet broken, when to the rest of of, it’s plain as day, and has been for a long time.