Saudi Arabia: Positive Appraisal

DallasBlog.com | Wes Riddle:

“One does not, of course, want to leave the impression that there is no problem with terrorists in Saudi Arabia, because that would be untrue. The point is that Saudi authorities have been aggressive and largely successful containing and making excellent end roads against the problem.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

This viewpoint is published the same morning as news reports detail a foiled terrorist attack on Saudi oil facilities. Saudi Arabia has selfish reasons to oppose terrorism. Much of it is aimed at the Saudi ruling family itself. Our so-called war on terror is not as simple as a war against evil doers who hate our Western liberties.

Saudi Arabia tries to keep an uneasy balance with militant Islam. Inside the kingdom, the Saudi princes and their families are allowed to accumulate vast oil riches and live in extravagant luxury. In return, Saudis fund terrorism under the table, on the understanding that the targets of that terrorism lie outside the kingdom -- in Israel, Lebanon, Iraq, Europe, the United States. That balance is hard to maintain. Some terrorists refuse to go along. They hate the decadent Saudi ruling family as much as they hate the decadent West. On the other side, Americans publicly insist that Saudis suppress terrorism. So far, it's a balancing act that Saudis play well, buying off the West with oil and public relations and checking the militants with a combination of bribes and suppression.

In the long run, it's in the Saudis own selfish interest to defeat terrorism. But too aggressive an attack on militant Islam now, while wounds like the Palestinian/Israeli conflict still bleed freely, would cost Saudis the support of Arabs and Muslims the world over. So, expect Saudi cooperation with the United States to continue, but not so much as to threaten the Saudis' relationship with their neighbors.

America needs to act just as deftly. Unfortunately, Americans tend to see the world simplistically, as black and white, as good and evil. It's a worldview that will likely lead to spectacular failure in a part of the world where nothing is quite as it seems.