I meet a Saudi minister
Abdullah Zainal Alireza, the Saudi minister of state, came calling today here at the paper. He was in Texas this week speaking at the US-Arab Economic Forum in Houston. Abdullah came across as a highly sophisticated diplomat, and he had some interesting things to say. He said, for example, that the US cannot think of withdrawing from Iraq. For one thing, it would destroy our credibility internationally, because the US went in and destroyed the controlling institutions of Iraqi life, and can't walk away from them. For another, said Abdullah, Iraq would collapse into a massive civil war that would likely draw in Turkey, Iran and neighboring Sunni Arab states.
On Iran, he said that the US cannot allow Iran to get the Bomb. Well, I asked, what if it happens anyway? He repeated, firmly, that it must not be allowed to happen. Period. The end.
We talked for a while about Saudi reform of its education system, and to hear His Excellency talk, you'd think that everything was well in hand, no problems, nothing to worry about. Extremism is well under control (ahem). It's really not right to blame the Saudi government for what every Saudi does, he said, but since 9/11, the Saudis have cooperated greatly with the US, and are cracking down. I pointed out that Americans are suspicious of the Saudis because so often, when we see Islamic extremism at home or abroad, there is often a Saudi connection. He said that's not entirely fair, etc. -- and two of the minister's associates asserted that the Saudis get a bum rap in the US media. They particularly complained about the connection between Islam and terrorism. One of the associates, whose name I didn't get, said that there is no connection between Islam and terrorism, because by definition a terrorist is not a Muslim, so why do we in the media keep acting like there is a connection? Etc.
One of my colleagues asked the minister about internal unrest, particularly related to the contradictions between Saudi Arabia's wealth and push to modernize, versus its very conservative religious culture. Abdullah dismissed this as a myth. I thought, "I bet the Shah of Iran's minister of state would have said the same thing in 1977."
On Iran, he said that the US cannot allow Iran to get the Bomb. Well, I asked, what if it happens anyway? He repeated, firmly, that it must not be allowed to happen. Period. The end.
We talked for a while about Saudi reform of its education system, and to hear His Excellency talk, you'd think that everything was well in hand, no problems, nothing to worry about. Extremism is well under control (ahem). It's really not right to blame the Saudi government for what every Saudi does, he said, but since 9/11, the Saudis have cooperated greatly with the US, and are cracking down. I pointed out that Americans are suspicious of the Saudis because so often, when we see Islamic extremism at home or abroad, there is often a Saudi connection. He said that's not entirely fair, etc. -- and two of the minister's associates asserted that the Saudis get a bum rap in the US media. They particularly complained about the connection between Islam and terrorism. One of the associates, whose name I didn't get, said that there is no connection between Islam and terrorism, because by definition a terrorist is not a Muslim, so why do we in the media keep acting like there is a connection? Etc.
One of my colleagues asked the minister about internal unrest, particularly related to the contradictions between Saudi Arabia's wealth and push to modernize, versus its very conservative religious culture. Abdullah dismissed this as a myth. I thought, "I bet the Shah of Iran's minister of state would have said the same thing in 1977."
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