Dallas Morning News

Thursday | November 1, 2001

The coalition

Time for the Saudis to step forward

11/01/2001

Almost everyone familiar with the Middle East understands that the Saudi royal family walks a fine line. They must do business with an outside world of wealthy client-states. But they must live with the Islamic fundamentalists who populate their country, who detest those client-states.

But maybe the moment has arrived when leaders of the coalition against terrorism should worry less about playing the understanding outsiders and push harder for the Saudi government to rein in terrorism. Crown Prince Abdullah should not mind the move since he cheekily suggested to President Bush in August that our relationship may have to change over the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

Yes, yes, we know. The U.S. and its Western allies need Saudi oil. And energy companies like Exxon Mobil are eyeing lucrative developments there. But let's also be honest: Saudi Arabia needs the money from oil sales and protection by U.S. troops. The Saudi economy continues to tank and that nation lacks the military means to counter Iraq.

Let's also be direct about this point: The Saudis are not exactly our sincerest friends. Until Wednesday, when they finally ordered a freeze on terrorist-linked assets, they have acted more like the Swiss in World War II than a gutsier player like Pakistan.

Consider the ample reports about wealthy Saudis funneling money to Osama bin Laden's ring of terror. Journalist Seymour Hersh provides one example, in a recent New Yorker essay, reporting how the National Security Agency has intercepted information showing how private Saudi money has helped Osama bin Laden conduct significant operations.

What's more, consider the many Saudi schools that specialize in the zealous form of Islam known as Wahhabism. Those schools appear to breed holy warriors. Was it truly coincidence that more than half of the suspected Sept. 11 hijackers were Saudis?

The U.S. and its allies certainly cannot intervene in the Saudi school system. But they can use their financial leverage to at least ask the Saudis to teach what many other Muslims do, namely that a jihad is not about launching terror on perceived infidels. Perhaps Robert Jordan, the Dallas attorney who serves as the new U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, can press this issue behind the scenes as he develops his standing there.

What's more, Mr. Jordan and other diplomats must continue to push the Saudis to share information about the Sept. 11 hijackers. According to most reports, the Saudis have not adequately cooperated with the FBI and CIA in exchanging information about the perpetrators. No matter how much Saudi fundamentalists hate the presence of U.S. troops on their soil, it would seem that we have some capital to spend with the Saudi leadership. After all, those troops keep Saddam Hussein at bay.

Americans themselves can help diplomats play a different game with the Saudis, as can other energy-gulping coalition members. As Chuck Hermann of the George Bush School of Government and Public Service notes, "the developed world has become extraordinarily dependent upon Saudi Arabia for oil."

That means shifting to cars or sport utility vehicles that are more fuel efficient. That's not much of a sacrifice to develop more freedom from Middle Eastern oil. In the long run, Mr. Hermann correctly notes, we will emerge stronger and with more freedom.

Longstanding U.S. support for a Saudi regime that knows little about democracy has made our course harder. Still, President Bush and coalition leaders should ratchet up the pressure on Saudi counterparts. The Saudis should release information on suspected terrorists, dry up the money flow to al-Qaeda and provide some balance in their schools.

The strategy contains risks. But the whole world just got riskier. The Saudis need to show the coalition they deplore terrorism, not just tell the world they do.

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2001