We had a great session this afternoon here at the paper with James Oberwetter, who returned to Texas not long ago after serving as US ambassador to Saudi Arabia. We learned a very great deal in this session. Unfortunately, we're not entirely sure how much of it was on the record. So until that's cleared up, I'll keep the controversial stuff to myself.
But I can say that I was interested to hear the ambassador talk at some length about how difficult it is to make Americans understand how fundamentally different the Islamic mind is from the Western mind "That's the most extraordinary thing for someone with a US college education [to confront,]" he said. I asked him if he'd read the Mark Lilla essay in the Times magazine this Sunday, which made a very similar point. He said he had, that he'd stayed up late reading it, and that he can't wait for Lilla's book. I suppose that's an endorsement of Lilla's view regarding the unappreciated (by Americans) chasm between us and Muslims regarding the role of God in public life and affairs.
I hasten to add that the ambassador was by no means putting down Muslims or Saudis. It was clear from our discussion that he has a lot of respect for them, and thinks the Saudis are vital allies we can't take for granted. But he also says the differences in the fundamental ways we approach reality are a lot greater than we Americans realize.
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I'll be interested to hear what the Ambassador had to say, Rod. I think that we need to understand Islamic nations better since we've chosen a foreign policy path that links us so closely to these nations. It's, especially, important as we take on the role of striking unfriendly governments followed by nation building to form democracies that are friendly to us and our interests.
Amen. His only qualification was being a lobbyist and a Bush donor. His insight on Muslims was likely gained over a boardroom table, where checks were handed to him from the Saudi government.
Anybody check out Spengler's take on Lilla's article?
Perhaps one reason why our former ambassador to Saudi Arabia finds Muslims/Arabs too difficult to understand is because the Saudis seem dead-set against our posting an ambassador to them who can speak Arabic well. If our ambassador to Riyadh spoke Arabic as well as their ambassador to Washington speaks English, we might find that we can understand them pretty well after all -- probably better than they would like us to understand them. After all, it benefits them to have us regard them as inscrutable and incomprehensible; it gives them the advantage of suprise. Why else did Arafat routinely say one thing to the Western news media in Arabic and something completely different to his own people in Arabic?
I, too, look forward to your Rod's take once he can freely comment "On the Record" on his session with the former Saudi Ambassador.
Rock's comments at the top were good. Saudi Arabia claims to be our ally and friend, while being single-handedly responsible for more evangelizing for radical Islam than any other entity.
Arguably, Saudi Arabia has bankrolled or given birth to more terrorist cells than any other nation on Earth, to say nothing of the hate literature they have been distributing in the U.S. and Canada in the guise of "educational literature."
I'm sure there are enlightened Saudis, even in the Royal Family. We need them to do a lot more to destroy the cognitive dissonance between their claims to be our friend and ally and their destructive and deceitful actions.
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