America's
Need to Personalize the Enemy Is a Tough
Challenge for Saudis
By Abdulaziz Sager |
|
America's social
character is marked by a panoply of distinct attributes
which seem odd to many societies today. Even those
societies sharing historical and civilizational affinities
with the American society find it hard to make sense of
some features that make up the American mindset.
Ever since the U.S. chose to step out of its self-imposed
isolationism during World War I, a rather strange streak
has held America's mind as much within official circles as
in the midst of the wider populace. Surprisingly enough,
this streak has gained momentum over time. It seems to be
endowed with attributes that seek to relentlessly single
out a foreign foe that could be held responsible for all
U.S. tribulations and even all the world's miseries.
This almost compulsive need to "personalize the
enemy" will continue for some years, at least until
an alternative emerges in lieu of the old -- perhaps a new
political leader or a new state would have to be
identified to bear America's official and popular inimical
sentiments.
| Throughout
modern history, the evolution of this phenomenon
has witnessed several individuals and countries
promoted to the rank of "America's No. 1
enemy." Some have been political leaders of
third world countries, whose interests either ran
contrary to or sharply diverged from U.S. special
interests. The roster of enemies started with
Cuban leader Fidel Castro, passed through Libyan
leader Moammar Gadhafi and Iranian cleric
Ayatollah Khomeini, and will expectedly not stop
at Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden. |
..Since
the Sept. 11, 2001,
attacks, a sustained
smear campaign has been
unraveling in the U.S. in a
bid to project Saudi Arabia
as the "key enemy" of the
American state and society..
|
Over the past
three years, the government and the people of Saudi Arabia
have topped the list of "personalized enemies"
who allegedly pose a threat against Washington's security
and interests. Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, a
sustained smear campaign has been unraveling in the U.S.
in a bid to project Saudi Arabia as the "key
enemy" of the American state and society.
As soon as allegations began to float about 15 Saudi
nationals being involved, Americans lost no time in
pointing accusing fingers at the Saudi government and
people, while the heinous torture at Abu Ghraib prison
committed by U.S. troops on an officially endorsed mission
in Iraq was sidelined as wayward acts committed by a few
perverse individuals.
Americans wrongly assumed that the perpetrators of the
Sept. 11 attacks represent a large chunk of the Saudi
society. Worse, many Americans believed that the
perpetrators and those supporting them enjoy the backing
of the Saudi state and ruling family. The truth however,
is that those elements espouse and champion principles and
values that are diametrically opposite to the values that
animate Saudi society.
In the meantime, a number of U.S. political and media
pundits, reputed for their long-standing animosity to
everything Arab or Islamic, scrambled to capitalize on
Sept. 11 by turning it into an open political and media
war against Saudi Arabia and its people. These
hate-mongering forces -- Zionist-Israeli lobbies and their
Christian right-wing allies who nourish a range of
interests with a common goal -- have achieved their
long-cherished goal in identifying Riyadh as America's No.
1 enemy.
| As
such, Sept. 11 provided them with a unique
occasion to try and enact a swift volte-face in
front of the U.S. public by insinuating Saudi
Arabia as a "terrorist state leading a
terrorist society."
The
groups that set into motion the anti-Saudi
campaign could not have achieved much were it not
for the huge resources at their disposal and the
overwhelming control they exert on the various
media outlets in the U.S.
|
The
Saudi establishment
has found itself maneuvering
within a constricted space
against a raging and
fathomless ocean agitated
by boundless inimical sentiments, not just at
the official level, but also
at the popular level.
|
In fact, Saudi
institutions that deal with such matters, notably the
Saudi Embassy in Washington, have realized that countering
the campaign against the kingdom and confronting its
implications is a mammoth exercise that exceeds their
capabilities. Even the political and media challenges
facing Saudi Arabia in the post-Sept. 11 era lie beyond
Riyadh's limited powers. The Saudi establishment has found
itself maneuvering within a constricted space against a
raging and fathomless ocean agitated by boundless inimical
sentiments, not just at the official level, but also at
the popular level.
Saudi authorities
have woken up to the reality that the voices of reason and
rationality have been muted by the deafening squeaks and
screams of a carefully devised plot which has managed to
manipulate the emotions of ordinary Americans and
transformed them into naked animosity against the Saudi
government and people.
Surprisingly,
it seems as though Saudi Arabia's presumed
friends, both within the U.S. administration and
among Americans, have become volatile overnight.
Perhaps some of them feel uncomfortably
embarrassed, or their personal and partisan
interests hold them back from speaking up for what
is right, even though their inner voice certainly
calls upon them to do just that. This might
explain why the efforts deployed by the Saudi
Embassy and other Saudi organizations have had no
perceptible impact, while the anti-Saudi campaign
has.
On the third anniversary of Sept. 11 - in spite of
the diligent efforts by Saudi Arabia in the
U.S.-led "war on terror," in spite of
the kingdom and the Saudi people becoming victims
of deadly terrorist acts, and in spite of the
publication in July 2004 of a report by the U.S.
Congress investigations into the Sept. 11 attacks
that clearly and conclusively confirmed that
neither the Saudi government nor its people nor
any member of the ruling family played a direct or
indirect role in the attacks - the kingdom remains
in the accused box, with its name in bold on the
U.S. list of foreign enemies. |
..in
spite of the diligent
efforts by Saudi Arabia
in the U.S.-led "war on
terror," in spite of the
kingdom and the Saudi
people becoming victims
of deadly terrorist acts,
and in spite of the
publication in July 2004
of a report by the U.S. Congress investigations
into the Sept. 11 attacks
that clearly and conclusively confirmed that
neither
the Saudi government nor
its people nor any member
of the ruling family played
a direct or indirect role in
the attacks - the kingdom
remains in the accused box,
with its name in bold on the
U.S. list of foreign enemies..
|
As the U.S.
electoral campaign reaches a fever pitch, presidential
hopefuls appear to find it necessary to portray a negative
stand toward Saudi Arabia, lending a blind eye to the
findings of the past three years. A U.S. friend commented
on the situation by saying: "You need to understand
the position of the presidential candidate, John Kerry. He
certainly cannot swim against the tide of American public
opinion, which continues to hold the Saudi state and
society in negative light. Lashing out against the kingdom
has become an electoral 'must' in order to boost the
popularity of the presidential candidate and cast him in
the image of a politician determined to fight
terrorism."
Given this
increasing tendency to voice anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and
anti-Saudi positions by any presidential candidate, one
cannot help but ask: Who stands in the dock now?
[This item originally
appeared in October 2004]
Abdulaziz
Sager, a Saudi national, is founder and chairman of
the Dubai-based Gulf
Research Center.
|
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