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Thu. May 15, 2003

The Saudis Are Our Friends, and Our Murderers

The Saudis Are Our Friends, and Our Murderers – I feel like I’m a bit late to the story of the Riyadh bombings, but frankly, it took a 24 to 36 hours for us to get the most basic information out of the Saudi government/media … how many killed and wounded, what nationalities, and by exactly what means. Such are the wonders and efficiencies of government controlled press in a closed society.

“We say to the people of the United States, as your friend and ally, you can rely on us to do our part as we have done in critical times in the past. We will continue to hunt down the criminals, we will continue to cut off their finances and we will bring them to justice.”

Those are the words of the Saudi ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar. And they make me want to vomit all over his expensive shoes.

A Presidential envoy was sent to Saudi Arabia just to warn of impending attacks. The ambassador within Saudi Arabia pleaded for added security at the residential complexes, “on several occasions.” That didn’t draw significant Saudi cooperation, so why should we expect it now? Or ever? This is just another chapter in a long sad tale of reluctant help from a slow “friend.”

Prince Bandar says we can rely on them to do their part. But we did rely on them, in ways big and small. In the “small” terms of this one event, we warned them, we pleaded for help, and now families mourn their lost loved ones while Bandar spins in safety. And in a much larger way, we’ve long relied on them to create a society that doesn’t give birth to murderous wrath that spills out on innocents around the world, or at the very least, to examine why it does.

They have found many ways to fail us, our friends the Saudis. And now they have yet another new chance.

So, here’s the kind of cooperation we’ve gotten lately: the bombs went off Monday night, but the investigative team from the FBI and the State Department has been cooling its heels in Germany for nearly 48 hours … waiting for Saudi permission to enter the country (it came yesterday, and they finally departed this morning). And there was apparently enough concern that the FBI team was reduced from 12 to 6 members, so the Saudi’s wouldn’t feel overwhelmed by a large investigative presence.

You know how one dozen Americans can dominate an entire country simply by setting foot in it. And it is more important to not offend the Saudis than to have the manpower you need to investigate the murder of Americans. We are expected to rely on the Saudi authorities, when it’s clear some of them are nearly drowning in a river of denial.

For example, Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef said “the fingerprints of al Qaeda could be seen all over the attacks,” and then oddly added, “Foreign hands supported the attacks. This is clear from the identity of the terrorists who have received training in Afghanistan from al Qaeda.”

Foreign hands? It was 15 Saudis who plotted and executed this attack (or so claims the Saudi police), under the direction and training of a group lead by an exiled Saudi (bin Laden), whose most infamous act was also carried out mostly by Saudis (the 15 Saudi hijackers on 9-11). The place the Minister’s fellow countrymen trained does not change the fact they are his fellow countrymen, and they came home to launch their attack. You’d think someone with the title “Interior Minister” would be one of the first to clue in that this was an “inside job.” And long has been.

However, it isn’t hard to find odd sentiments expressed by Saudi Ministers over these troubling events: “Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal also said this week’s attacks, blamed on Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida terror network, were designed to drive away foreigners, but he insisted Saudi Arabia is safer now than before the car bombings.”

Indeed, it is safer, simply because 9 dangerous terrorists no longer threaten anyone. They blew themselves up, ending their careers in yet another grisly demonstration of the New Al Qaeda Math.

Allow me a cold point. I don’t mean to minimize the deaths of “two Jordanian children, two Filipinos, one Lebanese, one Swiss, [and] seven Saudis” who were killed by the bomb, or the hundreds who were injured. But we all know the attack wasn’t meant for them, Al Qaeda wanted to kill more Americans.

They got eight. To make the attack, Al Qaeda lost the future services of 9 suicide bombers. There’s 250 million Americans, maybe 50,000 of them in Saudi Arabia. This kind of grisly Death Math makes Al Qaeda almost self-destructing (though that would be too ugly a way to “take them out”). Call it a cold point, but this attack further illuminates the basic futility of their goals, as well as the decay of their capabilities.

They used to bring down multiple embassies in simultaneous attacks, rip holes in mighty US naval vessels, topple Towers in Manhattan, and gouge the Pentagon.

Now, they car bomb residential complexes within their native land, after being essentially mute during the weeks of war in Iraq.

Among the 29 victims of their murderous attack were Muslim children, fellow Saudis, random foreign nationals, and, oh, 8 Americans. That type of “collateral damage” by US forces would bring round condemnation, but with Al Qaeda, it’s just part of the plan.

But it is possible this tragedy may be the beginning of a critical mass. Possible.

Here within this thing we haven’t found a better name for than “the Blogosphere,” I can point you to an amazingly wide spectrum of people who believe our relationship with the Saudis is quite sick, for reasons ranging from terror support, to endemic corruption, to the spread of Wahabbist fundamentalism, to their abysmal human rights record, and on and on. You can find fringe theories ranging from official Saudi support and collusion in the 9-11 attacks, to Bush family entanglement with the Saudi Royals, to whatever Michael Moore dreams up to put in his next movie.

What you won’t find is anyone willing to honestly state, “our relationship with Saudi Arabia is normal, and everything’s just fine.” You’ll find exceptions within the Bush administration, the Saudi Royals, and the former US ambassadors suckling the Royals’ teat while spreading the party line on the news networks. But that’s about it.

The Saudi Royals are not our friends, not in the traditional sense of one who is in some way a kindred spirit. Democracy? Freedom of speech, press, or religion? Equal rights for women and minorities? We share no common values, save one; Oil, and the money that flows from it.

Well, maybe … just maybe … we now have a tiny patch of new common ground. Is it enough to build on?

I think it largely depends on how well the Saudis read the winds. In the past, even in the heated weeks after 9-11, it seems their attitude was that they would pay public lip service to righting the wrongs that generated the ill winds, but behind the curtain the behavior would remain the same, just more discreet. However, it’s hard to maintain that fiction when it is your morgues and hospitals filling up with the results of your policies.

And those winds are getting uglier, as people of all stripes begin to catch on to the contradictory philosophies underlying Al Qaeda’s supposed Jihad. And talk about it: “They want to get rid of all the Westerners there, and then all the rest of the foreigners, Muslim though all those Indians and Indonesians and Malaysians might be. The Usual Bunch of Cretins are Arab supremacists just like the Nazis were ’Aryan’ supremacists.”

It’s not just Westerners like Andrea. Indeed, when asked about the fact they’d killed a bunch of Australians when they were targeting Americans, Ali Imron, the Bali bomb-maker, said “Australians, Americans, whatever – they are all white people.”

And for at least today, the Ali Imron’s of the world also hear it from the Arab News: “Those responsible are the new fascists. Merciless, cold and full of hate, with a demented vision of Islam, they declared war on humanity for the thoroughly un-Islamic goal of separating and insulating the Muslim world from the rest of humanity, as part of which they hope to terrorize Westerners into leaving the Kingdom. They have no qualms about killing anyone who gets in their way; they spread hatred and resentment, not peace; yet they have the blasphemous effrontery to claim that they do Gods work.”

“...We cannot say that suicide bombings in Israel and Russia are acceptable but not in Saudi Arabia. The cult of suicide bombings has to stop. So too has the chattering, malicious, vindictive hate propaganda. It has provided a fertile ground for ignorance and hatred to grow.”

Amazing how fundamentalist terrorists killing fellow innocents within your own homeland can focus one’s mind on the enemy. We’ve got a bit of experience at that here, and there are some who argue that until it happens to your home, you can’t fully understand.

Yes, I know this isn’t the first time the Saudis have experienced terror attacks on their soil. But I think it may be the first time they’ve realized … “we’re the target, too.” It remains to be seen if that realization instills a resolve we haven’t seen from them in the past.

But I’ve felt for some time, while the continental US is far from invulnerable, we are a much tougher target now. And Al Qaeda is a much much weaker entity. I think that means future strikes will be limited to softer targets, in countries where they can move about and operate with relative ease. Frankly, I thought that meant Europe could be a likely target.

However, now Saudi Arabia has found out, they are perhaps the softest target of all.

I think it would have been a strategic mistake for Al Qaeda to attack Europe, but this could be a bigger one. Al Qaeda has been quite mute/impotent for some time, despite many promises to the contrary. Clearly weakened, what they need most is a new “safe harbor,” so they can recruit and rebuild. It could be that they’ve chosen to husband and channel whatever resources they have into destabilizing the Saudi Royals. They’d be willing to do that, even if it emptied their tank, if they felt they had a good chance of achieving that primary goal.

If they are truly trying to take over the Saudi pond, they’ll have take on the Big Fish, and it is a Fish of a Different Color. Unimpeded by pesky things like a Bill of Rights, Constitution, open borders, a prying press, or reelection campaigns, if this Fish feels cornered and threatened, it can do pretty much as it pleases within the borders of its pond.

If the Saudis make a sincere and concerted effort to wipe out the “viper in their midst,” their means could make the American Approach look almost, well, European.

If.

But the reality is that the motivations and actions of the Saudis are as muddled and obscured as ever. Whether they claim to be our friend. Or vow to murder us.