Mr. Ambassador is Mr. Percent, Mohammed
al-Khilewi, July 7, 1997
The world's Sleaziest
In the late seventies, Adnan Khashoggi created a new industry
that, even today, remains the most lucrative in the world : taking huge
commissions on huge deals. As the corrupt leaders of our country continued
their raid on the national treasury which started immediately after King
Faisal died, people like Adnan Khashoggi benefited by being able to
operate with the West. Armed with simply the command of the English
language and some business acumen, Khashoggi was able to deliver billions
to Prince Sultan, our Defense Minister (CACSA considers Sultan the most
corrupt Prince in the family)
I love the USA, I really do. I love the diversity that it is
comprised of and the many cultures and sub-cultures that it contains. What
I love most of all is the freedom that it's citizens have to express
themselves, because it is this freedom that has enabled them - the people
- to make America into their image and give it the multifaceted collective
soul that it has. It is not the moral duty or right of the US to shove
it's beliefs and political views down another people's collective throats.
On the contrary, we should be willing and able to accept other cultures as
they see themselves, and make every effort to not pass moral judgments or
hold preconceptions. If a nation's people are happy with a system of
government other than democracy, than so be it. But there are many
indications that the people of Saudi Arabia are not happy with the rule of
the al-Saud family and, more specifically, the ruling elite within the
family that springs outward from the Sudeiri Seven (a group comprised of
the seven sons of the favorite wife of Ibn Saud - the man who founded
present day Saudi Arabia - and including Fahd, the current king and his
immediate six brothers/successors). As it is the military and government
of the US that enable this monarchy to survive, US citizens should be
concerned over the social unrest that has been steadily growing within the
kingdom.
The well-known and well-documented behavior of the government of
Saudi Arabia and it's policies regarding those within it's borders - both
Saudis and expatriates alike - have shown it to be very much the kind of
police state that silences opposition and suppresses independent thought.
The people of Saudi Arabia have no legal means to voice any kind of
protest on their own behalf, so people on the outside who know must speak
out instead. Americans reacted with horror when they saw Chinese tanks
crushing pro-democracy protesters in Tianemmen square. What will they do
if an image of US-built M1 tanks rolling over like-minded students in
Riyadh or Jeddah comes across their screens? Will the oil be worth it
then?
Where's all the money?
Members of the al-Saud family have run up a $100 billion debt by
stealing oil profits and squandering them on sleazy business ventures
designed to make a few royals extremely wealthy but which leave nothing
for the average Saudi. The country has more tanks and warplanes than it
has crews to fill them, and yet al-Saud princes are signing new weapons
contracts on a regular basis, bringing un-needed high tech weaponry to a
region where peace is fragile and also throwing the country deeper into
debt so they can pocket the hugely exaggerated middle-man fees for
themselves. The al-Sudeiri and the other al-Saud who serve them seem to
see the people and resources of the country - both the oil in the east and
the holy cities in the west - as their own private property to use and
abuse as they please. Unemployment is high in modern Saudi Arabia, which
does not have the kind of vocational and technical schools needed within
the kingdom to produce the engineers, technicians, programmers, network
managers, urban planners and other professionals needed to replace the
expatriates who currently run the country's infrastructure. The country
has created programs to send young Saudis to these kinds of schools in the
West but the demand for these skills are so great outside the kingdom that
there is often little incentive for graduates to come home and work. In
addition, anticipated future financial security prompted many Saudis to
have many children in the 1980's, and as a result over 50% of it's total
current indigenous population is under the age of 15, and has no prospects
for any kind of job or livelihood in the future. Believe it or not, the
wealthy Gulf oil state of Saudi Arabia is essentially bankrupt and the
government is borrowing from other countries to meet current expenditures.
Much of even this money ends up pocketed by al-Saud princes in the form of
skimmed profits off of the previously mentioned un-needed military
hardware the al-Saud are stockpiling. Making sure that Saudi Arabia is
armed to the teeth whether they have the competent manpower to maintain
and secure the huge numbers of tanks, missiles, helicopters and assault
aircraft they now possess or not. All so a few fat worthless royals, who
serve no effective functional purpose to their country, can profit from
it's decay and maintain an opulent and un-Islamic lifestyle for themselves
at the expense of their own people.
Human Rights?
About a year ago the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the UN made a
moving speech about how it is the duty of all civilized countries to work
together to end human rights abuses around the world. He said that human
rights violations were perhaps the most pressing issue the industrialized
world had to face in the twilight of the 20th century. He should know.
Human rights as we think of them in the west are virtually non-existent
within the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the country is prominently
featured in all human rights reports about the region. Torture of
prisoners in Saudi jails is frequent, with methods ranging from electric
shocks to brutal floggings. Even many legal judicial sentences are major
human rights violations. An Egyptian man working in the kingdom was
sentenced to 4000 lashes when we was caught and convicted of breaking and
entering into a private residence. This is compounded by the fact that
within the Saudi legal system there is no right to a defense attorney, and
the severity of sentences is completely up to the judge trying the case.
In addition, defendants do not have the right to a speedy trial, and often
must sit in prison for months or even years before their case comes before
a judge.
And justice for few
When someone mentions the low crime rate in Saudi Arabia, most
people - Saudi or American - will assert that it is because of the swift
and brutal punishments (public beheadings, judicial amputations, etc.)
meted out to criminals that this is so. I find this generalization to be
somewhat ignorant, and I have several specific reasons why I feel this
way. I genuinely feel that, for the most part, the reason crime rates are
lower in Islamic cultures is because of the people's faith in Islam
itself. Islam is a very pure religion, and the Koran is a literal text -
an exact guide on how a Muslim should live with the world and his fellow
man. In cultures like Saudi Arabia, people are simply a lot more likely to
believe that when they commit a crime, they do so in front of God, and it
is His law they have broken and He they will have to answer to. While it
is all good and well to talk about swift and brutal justice being
appropriate for many types of criminals, this generalization makes an
assumption that there is a fair legal system in Saudi Arabia, and that the
guilty are in fact guilty of the crime for which they are being sentenced.
All too often, however, death sentences are handed down to people for drug
smuggling (a capital offense in the kingdom) whose only real crime is
opposing the al-Saud regime, even if only by expressing their discontent
vocally to other Saudis. Fatima would not be amused Women have fewer
rights in Saudi Arabia than in virtually any other state in the Islamic
world - including Iran and Iraq, where women hold seats on parliament and
serve as officers in the military. They are banned from driving, and must
be accompanied by a male family member to go anywhere, even to do simple
shopping for the family household. Female "citizens" of the
kingdom are essentially seen as breeding stock - expected to be silent,
chaste and blindly subservient to the male members of their families, and
they routinely tolerate abuses from every facet
of Saudi male-dominated society - most especially by the world-infamous
Saudi Arabian religious police, the al-Mutawa. These cane-wielding thugs
inhabit all parts of the kingdom and make life a living nightmare for
women and foreigners.
Even veiled women draped head-to-toe in abyaa and in perfect
accordance with the strict Islamic dress codes enforced within the kingdom
can find themselves targets for their harassment if they are not at all
times humble and meek. Stories of the physical and verbal abuse handed out
by the al-Mutawa to innocent Saudi women are legendary the world over.
Perhaps the most degrading aspect of a woman's position in Saudi society
is that from a legal standpoint she is seen effectively as the property of
the men in her family. This becomes evident when a woman somehow
transgresses the law (which isn't very hard for a woman to do in Saudi
Arabia), as it is the male members of her family who are usually punished
for minor first and second offenses. While this might sound like some kind
of return justice, it is not, because the men are then free to punish the
women in any way they choose within the privacy of the family home. This
punishment can be as extreme as the men decide, and can legally include
severe beatings and even death. Many Saudi women have paid with their
lives for simply doing something that her father thought dishonored him or
the other men in the family. A woman cannot even flee from such abuse,
because in Saudi Arabia a woman is someone's wife, daughter, or sister and
she must have written permission by a man in her family to leave the
country. The kingdom of Saudi Arabia is not responsible for starting this
ultra-conservative view of woman - it has long existed in many Islamic and
other conservative patriarchal cultures - but no other single force is
trying to carry this outdated concept into the 21st century more
arrogantly than the al-Saud and specifically the al-Sudeiri Seven under
King Fahd (a polygamist to the extreme, who has married over 100 different
women in his life). They are responsible for trying to sell to the world
this idea that property is all a woman is supposed to be in a truly
Islamic society, and in doing so they have insulted a great religion and
furthered the abuse of many innocent people the world over.
As much as the al-Saud and the vast media empire they control
would like the world to believe that this is the way things are in true
Islamic nations, there is too much evidence - even in other Gulf countries
- that the tide is turning against them. Even little Yemen, generally seen
as one of the more conservative Islamic states in the Arab world and
certainly the poorest nation in the Gulf, is holding first-ever democratic
national elections, and with 17 women among the candidates.
In mockery of God
No one family or organization has done more to misrepresent the
true nature of Islam, a religion and culture already misunderstood in the
West, or to fuel Muslim stereotypes outside the Middle East than the
al-Saud. In fact, it can literally be said that Saudi Arabia under Sudeiri
Seven al-Saud rule has become the epitome of the modern Islamic/Arab
stereotype. While more progressive Islamic states are trying to move ahead
into the 21st century with the rest of the world, the kingdom as run by
the brothers grim seems determined to stay as ancient in it's thinking as
Arabia is in it's history.
A common rationale often used to justify the ultra-conservative
and restricting moral codes within Saudi Arabia is to say that it is only
appropriate that such rites are strictly maintained in Arabia since it is
on this land where the Prophet Mohammed was born and it was from there
that he spread the message of God. This betrays little understanding of
history, and even less of what the Prophet really said. When Mohammed
began spreading the message of Islam, he seemed to see what he was doing
as lighting the torch that would move his people, the Arabs of the Arabian
peninsula, out of the dark ages and into a better way to live - with each
other, with their spouses, with the world, and with God. The Holy Koran -
the word of God as related through the Prophet Mohammed, spoke of the
equality - given by God and not revocable by any King or Ulema - between
men and women, of tolerance to other faiths and - more than anything - of
complete obedience to the will of God, and not to the vanity, volition's
or greed of men. How then can the rigid and frankly un-Islamic random
application of the moral codes of modern Saudi Arabia be any kind of
testament to His word, when a woman cannot legally drive herself to one of
the few low-end jobs she can legally have, or even have her word count the
same as a man's in court, or even seek divorce from a man who beats her?
How can this modern day abomination of Sudeiri al-Saud allow the lashing
of Christian expatriates working in the kingdom by al-Mutawa religious
police thugs for simply practicing their faith in private ceremonies
within their own housing compounds, then expect anyone with a sense of
decency - Muslim or otherwise - to take seriously the al-Saud-invented
role of King Fahd, or any other past or future Saudi king, as guardian of
the holy sites of Islam? Islamic cultures have been tolerant throughout
history, but not in the current land of Mecca and Madina. The arrogance of
the al-Saud seems matched only by their ignorance, and the worst thing is
that they seem to think that God is as insecure as they are.
Progress, anyone?
There is an assertion made by many that Islam and progress are
contradictory philosophies. This view is often taken by some western
writers who seem to feel that the only thing worth writing about in the
Middle East are car bombings and the occasional public stonings of
adulteresses. Unfortunately for such believers and exploiters it is all
too easy to find places where in fact the exact opposite is the case. The
United Arab Emirates is one such example. A small nation situated along
the lower part of the eastern Saudi border, the UAE is a conservative Gulf
Islamic state with a culture virtually identical to that of Saudi Arabia,
yet it has become a leader in trying to integrate Arabian Gulf culture
into the modern world, and do so in a way that does not trample on it's
proud Islamic heritage. Instead of staying fat and ignorant on oil wealth,
the UAE has worked hard to expand it's sources of revenue so it will still
be an economic power once the oil is gone. The nation openly seeks and
accommodates tourists and business people interested in experiencing the
Gulf, and explains Islam and how it is practiced in the UAE/Gulf region.
People may freely practice other religions within the country, and there
are even several Christian churches throughout the emirates. This
openness, if only relative to other Gulf states, has shown the UAE to be
secure with it's own culture, and has enabled it to diversify tenfold and
quickly become the leading cultural, technical and financial center in the
Gulf region. Much of this progress occurred out of necessity, as the UAE
is a small nation whose only natural resources are fossil fuels. Do not
misunderstand, the UAE is still very much a monarchy and in many ways a
strict Islamic state, but at least it's rulers see the danger of isolating
themselves culturally in a backwards and outdated mentality, and in
relying on a source of revenue that takes the planet millions of years to
make and will most likely be gone by the year 2040.
Our Allies
It has long been the opinion of the writer of this essay that a
big part of the reason that the US is so dead-set in trying to portray the
Islamic Republic of Iran as a rogue state and a terrorist threat is
because it is in the al-Saud's interest to do so. It would not be to their
advantage to have the people of the US learn about a country that is
proudly Islamic yet allows women to participate in it's government and
culture. This is not to imply that Iran - with morals police of their own
very similar to the al-Mutawa - is a bastion of human rights respect. A
woman is still not equal to a man in the Islamic Republic, but their
position does seem to be more in keeping with the words of the Prophet
than anything one would find in Saudi Arabia, and this is embarrassing,
not only to the al-Sudeiri Seven, but to all the other al-Saud who want to
maintain the status quo within the kingdom as well.
I am not suggesting that there is no valid evidence supporting
the claim that the government of Iran has sponsored acts of terrorism, but
there is just as much if not more evidence that terrorist groups operate
within the Saudi kingdom and that the government in either unwilling or
unable to stop them. It was these terrorists who were more than likely
behind the Khobar Towers blast that killed 19 US servicemen - and was
obviously intended to kill so many more - but no one is calling for
sanctions against the al-Saud, economic or otherwise. The Saudi government
does not want the West to see the cracks in the facade, and they are
scrambling to find any scapegoat they can before it becomes general
knowledge outside the kingdom that the bombing was done by radical forces
once financed and loyal to the king - but now apparently exercising a
lethal independent will of their own.
Despite of all of the lies, deceptions and stalling strategies
the al-Saud have employed in their dealings with the State Department, the
US government, while certainly critical of the slowness of progress in the
investigation and lack of information being shared with the US by Saudi
authorities, is still backing the al-Saud, and rationalizing their
actions. I love the USA, but the moral hypocrisy of some of the positions
the US Administration takes is simply too laughable for words, not to
mention the phony resolve with which they try to sell it to the American
people, who grow weary of condescending double-talk.
We're all for freedom, but only in our hemisphere
Western politicians and even, apparently, the people of the West
seem to be of the belief that Islamic cultures don't need - no, in fact,
could never understand a true democracy and the freedom that goes with it.
They seem to genuinely feel that, for some reason, Muslims just like
living under the quaintness of outdated monarchies like the al-Saud, who
rape and pillage the people and resources of a great land and a beautiful
culture, and who answer to no forces but greed and avarice. This racist
attitude seems to see Muslims not as humans with the same basic needs as
all other humans, but as sheep who need to tended.
Saudi Arabia is not a western culture, and should never be
judged like it was one. But it is one of the most important places on the
planet, both as a symbol of economic power and as a symbol of spiritual
power - and it's people need to be heard. It is the home of Islam, and
Islam will always be the true oil to the Saudi people. There have been
many comparisons made between the current social unrest in the kingdom and
the political turmoil which generated the Islamic revolution in Iran in
response to the brutal policies of Reza Shah. Only time will tell if this
prediction comes to pass, but the US can no longer sit still and do
nothing but give blind support to a brutal regime whose time even the US
State Department knows has come. It is time for the US government and the
US people to decide if being "friends of the Saudis" means the
people or the al-Saud, because as the accusations mount and legitimacy
continues to falter in the palaces of Riyadh and Taif, it is becoming ever
more clear that we cannot, with any integrity, continue to be friends with
both.