After I moved from Atlanta to Saudi Arabia recently, many friends were shocked, thinking I'd joined the Taliban or found a Saudi prince. Part of the kingdom's beauty is its inaccessibility and retention of Arab character. But many in the West are pushing Saudi to apologize, confess to its "unacceptable" culture and change according to their values. If the truth about this country were known, the anti-Saudi rhetoric from the West would stop and people might want to visit. But Westerners invariably see only abayas (black cloaks), women prohibited from driving and oppression with no context.

When I was one of the few analysts in U.S.-Saudi relations in America, I was fighting an increasingly futile uphill battle against an unreceptive audience. With hostility and ignorance toward a people who happen to share the same birthplace as one wanted man and 15 dead men, the insults and hatred became intolerable.

In Saudi Arabia I can speak freely, appearing in media without threats. I am respected as an intelligent, outspoken woman.

The Wahhabi mutawa (religious police) are my friends, as are members of the Majli A'Shura (parliament). Highly educated and multilingual, they come to my apartment to discuss politics, religion and "why is America doing this to us?"

I live in Riyadh, the "ultraconservative" capital. No one has objected to seeing me alone in public with men, and I haven't been hauled away by the religious police when kissing a man goodbye on the cheek on the street. I pass for, dress and live as a Saudi. I don't cover my face, and the abaya frees me from having to worry about my figure. And there is no law mandating such clothing. However, recently some women were told to remove their niqabs (face veils) on the job and they refused.

Driving is not an issue for most, and after years in Atlanta traffic, I welcome the freedom. Women here are strong. There is far less domestic violence than in the United States and only 2 percent of Muslim men have more than one wife.

I can buy Pop-tarts and Oreos at Safeway, clothes at Saks 5th Avenue and furniture at Ikea. With Christmas coming, shop displays are green and red, with Santa T-shirts on the racks. At Jarir Books, I can sit with my cappuccino in Starbucks, perusing Erica Jong, in view of shelves of "Venus & Mars" and Harry Potter books.

I have the BBC, CNN or endless channels of music video stations, with scantily dressed Arab women in seductive scenes. Sometimes I will catch a Saudi orchestra, with their black tuxedos and violins, stage decorated like Cirque du Soleil, or HBO's uncensored "Sex In The City."

So I ponder how virtually every word written in the West is diametrically opposed to the truth. I have not been to one compound where Americans have lived for decades behind barbed wire. They will tell you what it is like here, yet they admit they have never visited a Saudi's house, do not speak Arabic and only mix with foreigners.

Crime is very low. I leave my windows open and doors unlocked. As for terrorism, Saudi Arabia has an extraordinarily high success rate of catching suspected terrorists. No one I've met, including "extremist" religious scholars, sanctions al-Qaida or Osama bin Laden.

Far from the playboy image, royal family members work daily from morning until midnight. There is great wealth but it is spread to the people of the kingdom: no income tax, free health care, free housing for the poor, and free education, including university.

Most will fail to understand my apparently drastic move, or what lies behind the veil of Saudi Arabia. But at least I am here now, free to document the country firsthand, from quite a unique perspective.

Tanya C. Hsu was one of the contributors to this month's written testimony on Capitol Hill on the kingdom for the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Published on: 11/28/05 in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. It is reprinted here with permission of the author.

Tanya C. Hsu, past Director of Development and Senior Research Analyst for the Institute for Research: Middle East Policy in Washington D.C., is a political analyst focusing on Saudi Arabian and US relations. Having analyzed the role of trade and policy between the Arab world, the US and Europe, Ms. Hsu focused her strategic analysis on political parties occupying both sides of the Atlantic in a book she is completing, �Target: Saudi Arabia�.