Saudi Arabia Spin

We have been living in harmony with Saudi Arabia for longer than most of us can remember or even care. Only geopolitical buffs would be aware that the Saudis were sitting on 60% of the world’s known oil reserves, and that the US is more dependent on the cheap oil produced by the Saudis than any other country because we use more. However, the industrial economies of the world are also dependent on the oil of the Arab states and if those oil fields were rendered useless by Islamic insurgents, the economies of the world including the US would be devastated.
The administration spin machine spreads the myth that Saudi Arabia is politically stable, their borders are secure, their police efficient, reliable and tough and their population well educated and well fed. In actual fact the Al Saud family that rules the kingdom is constantly threatened by the radical religious fanatics, i.e. the Muslim Brotherhood and the Wahabis, a dangerous organization of religious extremists. The kingdom is “protected” by a well organized and very well trained police force, many of whom were trained in the US. They have a very strong military force with the latest hardware purchased here in the US and the military personnel were also for the most part trained in the US. A small segment of the population is well educated and well fed whereas 30% of the young males are unemployed. These are the men who are recruited for suicide attacks. Fifteen of these Saudis along with four others hijacked the commercial jets that destroyed the World Trade Center on 9/11. Despite administration spin no Iraqis were involved in this suicidal mission. Soldiers who volunteered for the military to avenge 9/11 by killing Iraqis have been deceived by Washington and the Pentagon. It is now clear that it was administration spin that deluded our fighting forces into believing that the Iraqis were responsible for 9/11. If we are looking for answers, perhaps we should look more closely at the manner in which the State Dept issued visas to young Saudi men.

Since we and the Saudis are strange bedfellows, the State Dept allowed young unemployed Saudi men to apply for tourist visas at a designated travel agency in the capital city of Saudi Arabia (Riyadh). They were not required to apply at the US embassy and as long as they paid their fees and presented a valid passport, they could buy an airline ticket to the US and they were on their way. It was called “Visa Express”. But their visas were illegal since the men were classified as immigrants who had no intention of returning home. They had no job, no money and no family. Obviously they intended to remain in the US. As Bob Baer points out they could work in a 7/11 and be better off financially than in Saudi Arabia. So fifteen unemployed Saudis bent on a suicidal mission were allowed into the US illegally, thanks to the State Department. Furthermore, in view of the history of Saudi “terrorism”, where was the political know-how of the State Department? Osama bin Laden was a well known Saudi. The Saudis were involved in hundreds of terror atrocities in many different countries, i.e. the Khobar Tower barracks bombing, the bombing of the Cole, the National Guard barracks and the hijacking of a plane to Iraq to just name a few. The State Department did not pressure the Saudis for any real investigation of these events. They were considered merely aberrant behavior and accepted the Saudi government’s affirmation that they were seriously combating terrorism, which was of course a lie. They were doing absolutely nothing. At the same time the fifteen potential hijackers were being recruited.

So as it turns out the kingdom of Saudi Arabia is in deep trouble. Corruption is rampant, birth rates are high and per capita income is down by 60% or more. Unemployment is 30%. And the very rich members of the Saudi ruling family of which there are many are wanton and wastrel. In fact the regime is so unstable that it fears that it will be overthrown by the religious fundamentalists and therefore it is funneling huge amounts of dollars (hundreds of millions) to the fanatics as protection against a possible coup that would end the monarchy. From 1996 on, Saudi money was actually supporting Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda as well as many other extremists in the Middle East. The Saudi kingdom is so unstable that its oil reserves are liable to attack by fanatics and thereby becoming a real threat to US political and economic interests in the Persian Gulf. The situation has not changed. In fact there is a continuing power struggle within the ruling family regarding corruption and control of money and a ceaseless crisis revolves around staying in power.

After 9/11 spokesmen for the Saudi regime invoked repeatedly the mantra of denial that it had never contributed to Islamic fundamentalist groups. The press had reported that monies given to Islamic charities had somehow gotten to fanatic terrorist groups. The Saudi spin was complete denial. However, the intelligence community through intercepted telephone conversations knew that Prince Salman, the Governor of Riyadh, had contributed millions to certain charities which in turn transferred the money to the religious fundamentalists. Salman was well known as a supporter of fanatic causes. The Bush administration has repeatedly insisted that the Saudis have been totally cooperative in its refusal to support terrorist organizations in the Middle East and in helping in the investigations to collect names and backgrounds. In 1996 when bin Laden was holed up in Sudan, that country offered to turn him over to the Saudis. But the Saudis refused to take him because, they said, he was too popular in Saudi Arabia. They feared that his arrest might provoke a popular uprising. As a result, not one useful piece of information has come out of Saudi Arabia. Even the FBI has not been allowed to interrogate possible suspects or the families of the hijackers. The Saudis have not been willing since 9/11 to provide passenger lists for flights to the US, a major violation of our security. Most American journalists are not allowed into the country and the few that manage to get in are watched very carefully by secret police. Today the religious police control education and the press. As a result, the Saudi press is filled with anti-American tirades.

References:
Baer, Robert. See No Evil. Three River Press. 2002.
Baer, Robert. Sleeping With The Devil. Crown, 2003.
Hersh, Seymour. Chain Of Command. Harper. 2005.