Saudi Arabia's Identity Crisis
TAHERI, AMIR
Saudi Arabia's Identity Crisis A strategic partnership unravels BY AMIR TAHERI Riyadh In Saudi Arabia, it is the end of the lunar month of Safar and the beginning of summer, which will last...
...More ominous, the Islamic charities, some of which have been accused of raising funds for terrorist operations, continue to function unhindered...
...In a clear signal that he was serious, the crown prince told a delegation of the reformers that he envisaged a major review of the role played by the Consultative Council, the kingdom's appointed 120-man parliament...
...The government's promised efforts to "dry up" terrorist funding are in their early stages, according to sources...
...The shah was a loner with only about 50 close relatives...
...And Abdullah's policies enjoy little support among the estimated 12,000 members of the royal family...
...In the 1980s they were partners in stopping the spread of the Khomeinist revolution from Iran to other Muslim countries...
...Prince Walid bin Talal, a Amir Taheri is an Iranian-born journalist based in Europe...
...A hotel in Jeddah has just hired its first Saudi porter...
...Many Saudis see Rumsfeld's visit as a historic parting of the ways for two traditional allies...
...But one thing is certain: The family and its hangers-on have a keen instinct for survival and would unite at the first whiff of real danger...
...So close did the two countries become that Washington consulted with Riyadh even on issues such as defeating communism in Nicaragua and El Salvador...
...Thus, the crown prince has published an ambitious plan for reforming all Arab states, and he has offered to secure the recognition of Israel by all Muslim nations in exchange for the establishment of a Palestinian state...
...The country's importance as a strategic prize is certain to increase in the coming years as it develops newfound reserves of natural gas...
...Among those who escaped were 18 members of the bin Laden family who had been working or studying in the United States...
...In the 1980s the SauAs the hope of landing easy, plum jobs in the government fades, some Saudis are beginning to take up menial jobs previously reserved for foreign "guest workers...
...We will get through this one too...
...As for the rest, only Allah knows what lies in store...
...Washington retaliated by imposing stiff visa rules for Saudis, reversing a policy under which the kingdom had been among a handful of favored nations...
...Abdullah was put in charge of running the country in 1995, at a time when King Fahd was believed to be terminally ill...
...This year, however, most wealthy Saudis will stay at home...
...The Americans now have Iraq and no longer need us," says Abdul-Muhsin al-Mualaa, a businessman...
...Prolonged tension with Washington is sure to harm investment prospects further...
...In an important symbolic gesture, the United States made Prince Khaled bin Sultan, a nephew of King Fahd, deputy commander in chief of the allied forces...
...Some Saudis call for "urgent action" to repair relations with the West in general and the United States in particular...
...Most want no change at all...
...In 1991 a decision was made to use the acronym KSA for Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in obvious imitation of the USA...
...Some reformers dismiss the proposed measures as too little, too late...
...In one of those paradoxes of politics, this birthplace of Islam had developed into the most pro-American of all Muslim countries...
...No one knows the extent of bin Laden's actual popularity in Saudi Arabia...
...For many of them, Osama is a family secret...
...The feeling of uncertainty has just been deepened with the announcement by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld that soon almost all the American troops will be withdrawn from the kingdom...
...But Abdullah has won popularity by curbing the government's lavish habits, projecting an image of pious austerity, and above all, playing the Islamic card—normalizing ties with Iran, strengthening relations with Syria, and taking a tough anti-Israeli stance...
...Falling oil prices and loss of market share are blamed, while the real explanation is the economy's failure to grow beyond a meager 2.2 percent per year since 1990...
...Another third of its oil income goes to buy weapons and service the debts incurred in the 199091 war to liberate Kuwait...
...We are the backbone of society...
...Saudi Arabia's identity crisis comes at a time when trouble is brewing on other fronts...
...nephew of the king, boasts that he is the single biggest foreign investor in New York City...
...The "special relationship" came to an abrupt end when it turned out that 15 of the 19 terrorists who took part in the September 11 attacks were Saudi citizens, some from prominent and wealthy families...
...He wants Washington to deliver a solution to the Palestinian conflict before demanding the kingdom's help in other fields...
...That view is disputed by others, who insist that Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz, who is effectively in charge of day-to-day policy, has been right to steer the kingdom away from an open alliance with Washington...
...In it the blind sheikh condemns American intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq as "a war by the Infidel against Muslims," and states, "Any Muslim who cooperates with the Infidel is an apostate...
...This year it has fallen to just under $6,000...
...Even if they disapprove, they are not prepared to denounce him from the heart...
...More significant, a restaurant in Mecca has become the first in the kingdom to employ women to wait on tables...
...The bin Laden clan consists of several thousand members at all levels of society and has links of blood or marriage with the ruling family...
...So violent were some of these attacks that Crown Prince Abdullah had to call in some of the religious leaders and publicly warn them against "exaggeration and excessive remarks" during Ramadan and on other religious occasions...
...Now she comes to ask me why Americans are killing Muslims...
...Then there are the lavish subsidies that the government provides for public services, delivered free or below cost...
...A small minority wants to go "the whole way towards a constitutional monarchy...
...One common feeling is that the leadership has not yet recovered from the shock of September 11 and its aftermath, including the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq...
...Traditionally, wealthy Saudis spend at least part of that period abroad, while the less well-to-do trek to the cool oases of the Ta'ef region on the Yemeni border...
...Saudi investment in the United States is estimated at $300 billion...
...He has also announced some populist measures, designed to counter the Islamist threat to the regime...
...Saudi Arabia spends almost a third of its oil income to employ the estimated 5.6 million foreigners who work there...
...But the foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, a nephew of the king, dismisses the current tension as "a rough patch...
...Saudi Arabia's Identity Crisis A strategic partnership unravels BY AMIR TAHERI Riyadh In Saudi Arabia, it is the end of the lunar month of Safar and the beginning of summer, which will last until October...
...As the FBI proceeded to arrest suspects, hundreds of Saudis in the United States were rounded up and thrown into prison...
...And that translates into rising unemployment, especially among young Saudis with college degrees...
...But it has been left with no coherent foreign policy and a sense of domestic unease...
...Crown Prince Abdullah has tried hard to attract foreign investment, especially in the energy sector, so far with limited success...
...It sits upon almost a quarter of the world's known oil reserves, and experts regard the recently developed fields of Shiba as "an almost endless source" of cheap oil...
...Many top American firms, from Disney to Citicorp, have major Saudi shareholders...
...The ruling family may have weathered yet another storm...
...The kingdom is drifting," says a Western diplomat...
...What is clear, however, is that, with one or two exceptions, almost no one has dared condemn him in public...
...This is the season of juicy dates from Qas-sim, washed down with cups of Arabian coffee...
...It is a pity that the king is unwell and apparently not fully informed about what happens," says a senior Saudi on condition of anonymity...
...Thousands of Saudis went to fight the Communists in Afghanistan or to raise funds and procure arms for the Afghan mujahedeen...
...In any case, the Saudi economy is so open that anyone can send as much money as he likes anywhere in the world without the government learning about it...
...They feel they are no longer welcome in their favorite destination, the United States...
...Also, we know how to survive...
...di per capita GDP was around $18,000 a year...
...And a fatwa (religious opinion) by the sheikh Hamoud al-Shuaibi is distributed under the counter in many shopping malls and teahouses...
...They can look forward to a shortened work day of just 4 hours, followed by a 10hour siesta...
...The "strategic partnership" between Washington and Riyadh began in the 1940s, when the United States first established a military presence in the kingdom...
...It is as if the ground has fallen under our feet...
...Once the oil industry's need for continuous investment has been met, there's not much left to spend on new development...
...The fact that women are not allowed to drive cars or leave home alone means that the kingdom has to employ almost a million guest workers to drive family cars on simple errands like taking the children to and from school and shopping...
...Or they've decided to wait and see "what happens next...
...But what exactly is "this one...
...Among those who went was Osama bin Laden, member of a wealthy Saudi family of Yemeni origin...
...We are used to our leader coming on TV to tell us what to think and how to act...
...For over a decade the kingdom played host to the largest American military presence between Europe and the Far East...
...Since 1980, an estimated 200,000 Saudis have studied in the United States, and at least a quarter of a million Saudis have visited the country every year...
...Many managed to escape the dragnet aboard specially chartered flights arranged by the Saudi ambassador to Washington, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, a nephew of the king...
...Nevertheless, audiocassettes containing vitriolic speeches by many sheikhs, notably Safar al-Hawali and Salman al-Awdah, two dissident clerics recently released from prison, still sell briskly in many cities, including the capital, Riyadh...
...As one travels around this vast kingdom, almost as big as Europe, the mood is one of quiet concern about a troubling present and an uncertain future...
...And it has played another crucial role in American global strategy: that of go-between with the Muslim world...
...As the hope of landing easy, plum jobs in the government fades, some Saudis are beginning to take up menial jobs previously reserved for foreign "guest workers...
...He insists that the USA and the KSA have too many shared interests to drift apart...
...As the site of Mecca and Medina, destination of Islam's two major pilgrimages, and host to almost six million pilgrims each year, Saudi Arabia enjoys immense prestige in the Muslim world—a prestige enhanced by the billions it spends on Islamic charities, Koranic schools, aid projects, and the purchase of patronage throughout the Muslim world...
...In addition, Abdullah has opened a dialogue with a group of intellectuals who last winter published an open letter calling for "serious reforms in the kingdom...
...Then came their joint venture in support of the mujahedeen fighting the Soviet army in Afghanistan...
...Abdullah wants the Americans to understand that they cannot have something for nothing," says another senior Saudi figure...
...Then in 1990-91, the two worked together to force Iraq out of Kuwait...
...People wonder when he will get the other things he wanted, including regime change here...
...Those who compare us to the shah of Iran are dead wrong," says a prince...
...This is what Osama bin Laden wanted," says a Saudi university teacher...
...Since then, the prospect of an early succession has receded...
...At the other end of the spectrum, Saudi Arabia is the biggest source of American energy imports...
...In the past six months, an estimated 800 state-employed preachers and muezzins (callers to prayer) have been dismissed for their "immoderate language and behavior...
...For many of us the United States has been a second home," says Yahya Al-Muqren, a businessman...
...The review could lead to the election of members and, more significant, the inclusion of women...
...By contrast, many preachers at the estimated 25,000 mosques in the kingdom pounced on the September 11 events as an excuse for lashing out against the United States and its policy of "support for the Zionist entity," Israel...
...My daughter's godfather is an American...
...In the 1960s and 1970s the two worked closely to deal with the threat of Arab nationalism, backed by the Soviet Union, and to contain the Palestinian issue...
...Over 60 years of special relationship is not damaged by occasional problems," he says...
...For Saudis, spurning bin Laden is not easy...
...There will be endless games of backgammon to play, with periodic interruptions to watch the latest news on satellite television...
...The reason...
...The bin Laden family is one of the kingdom's wealthiest, with a multi-billion dollar empire that employs some 50,000 people...
...The exceptions are Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz, the interior minister, who called bin Laden "a diseased organ that has to be removed" from Islam, and former secret service chief Prince Turki al-Faisal, a nephew of the king, who has branded the fugitive "an arrogant coward...
...That sentiment is not shared in the mosques and the shopping malls...
...For the time being, many Saudis will have to sweat the summer out at home...
...We are a large, very large, family linked to many clans and tribes...
...Since September 11, however, we have been receiving conflicting signals from different princes...
...We survived the challenge of Nasser and communism and the threats of Khomeini and Saddam Hussein...
...It is the fact that an extremist and violent version of Islam, symbolized by bin Laden, seems to have seduced part of the kingdom's golden youth...
...A hotel in Jeddah has hired its first Saudi porter...
Vol. 8 • May 2003 • No. 34
