Editor's
Note:
This week's
visit by President George Bush was occasion for reflection on US-Saudi relations -- especially the image of the United States and of the President -- among Saudi citizens and others in the region. Much of the commentary focused on US foreign policy in the region and the ongoing crises and conflicts. Some of it was directed toward President Bush and the performance of his Administration. Today we are providing two items that give a snapshot of public opinion among Saudi Arabians toward President Bush, the United States and other issues of concern between Americans and Saudis.
The first item is a report by Tariq Al-Maeena, writing in Arab
News, in which he recites a survey of Saudis he spoke with about President Bush's visit -- much of it a reflection of the regional troubles that concern Americans and Saudis. The second item is an overview of a survey in Saudi Arabia by Kenneth Ballen, president of
Terror Free Tomorrow: The Center for Public
Opinion. The survey made headlines a few weeks ago not so much for the opinions from Saudis about the United States but more for Saudis overwhelmingly unfavorable view of Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda and that they "nearly unanimously reject terrorism." Below the headlines were opinions on America which were summarized by Mr. Ballen in his
Christian Science Monitor article,
"Look Who's Pro-U.S. Now: Saudi
Arabia." (Jan 8, 2008)
|
Three-quarters of Saudis also said their opinion of America would significantly improve if the US took certain actions, such as increasing visas or signing a free-trade treaty with Saudi Arabia. These are practical, achievable steps that should be on Bush's agenda.
In fact, compared with the most populous Muslim countries, Saudis are among the most favorable to the US. While only 40 percent currently have a favorable opinion, that's twice or more the percentage of those in Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Indonesia. For Saudis, this is a profound turnaround from just a year and a half ago, when, in a limited Terror Free Tomorrow survey, only 11 percent had a favorable opinion of the US. That figure has now more than tripled, while unfavorable ratings have plummeted from 89 percent to just half. |
We start with Tariq Al-Maeena's article below, for your consideration and will follow up separately with Kenneth Ballen's survey overview.
Uncle Sam Came to Town
Tariq A. Al-Maeena, [email protected]
What can be expected of a lame-duck US president on his first trip to the Gulf? Would it win over and inspire the many skeptics that the US was finally going to play the honest broker in the region? To get answers to those questions and more, I literally hit the proverbial streets.
While most people witnessed the ceremonial pomp and hand-holding splashed over his arrival on the state-run media, many confessed that they quickly switched the channel to a more palatable fare. The reason? Bush is not very popular here. In fact, his popularity rating is so low that it makes him one of the world�s undesirables.
A stockbroker in Jeddah says, �This visit is useless. Bush is at the end of his term and has no real influence on any issue in the region � except for what the Israelis want. He is trying to convince Arab leaders to buy more arms to face Iran, which is a threat to Israel, and not to the Arab world. Guess who will benefit from a war or high tensions in the Gulf area? The invasion of Afghanistan, Iraq and the focus on Iran is to transfer the attention from the Israeli-Palestinian issue to other areas.�
Maha, a schoolteacher, adds, �The message was clear during the first stop � Israel. That was the first priority: Israel and its security and its people. There was the treaty signed a few weeks earlier between the US and Israel for security. So now, in addition to $30 billion in military aid to a country that trains US forces in surveillance and other military tactics, he wants us to spend $20 billion for military planes and weapons we don�t need.�
Khaled, a bakery owner on the outskirts of Riyadh, had this to add. �Bush is not here to promote a solution to help the Palestinians. He is in the region to gather support against Iran. After what he has done in Afghanistan and Iraq, his advisers should have talked him out of this trip as he will not get the agreements he wants � which is to make war against a neighboring country.�
James, a longtime resident in the Kingdom, had this to add from Riyadh: �it�s rather pathetic that he is coming here now and putting on such a silly show. His speech in Abu Dhabi was ridiculous. He doesn�t have to come here to repeat his stereotypical story on Iran. The same vocabulary and arguments were used for Afghanistan and Iraq, and he isn�t even creative enough to change it.�
Basma, a housewife, added referring to his constant theme of peace process, �His mission will be a failure. This is a last-gasp attempt to revive a project that is doomed, due to its connecting systems failing, in the same way the internal organs of a dying person fail. The constant lies and destructive actions have boomeranged on him and his lot. He will go down in history as a failure.�
Khaled from Qassim had this to say: �This is just a publicity stunt to improve the image of the US in the Arab world. In seven years, he didn�t make any encouraging move toward resolving regional issues, and you think he will catch up what he missed all this time in the remaining year in the White House? He has wasted so much of his country�s resources to promote his aggressive visions and has weakened the power of the US in the world. He didn�t even give stability and security to the two countries he invaded. Nor did he offer any proof of the claims he made to justify creating the mess; in fact, the more he continues his wars, the more terrorism we are going to face.�
Other comments included:
� �He leaves office by the end of the year and starts this tour now to fix his relations so that after he leaves office we can build his presidential library and give him donations and a job in an oil company.�
� �All I can think of is that he�s coming to collect his end-of-service reward.�
� He�s done enough damage to the world. Tell the man to return and never come back.
� Everyone treated him really well despite his poor success rate because we are a hospitable people and he is finally leaving.
And, finally, one that may have summed it up all. �The Israelis were still building illegal settlements and killing Palestinians while Bush was in the Middle East. Doesn�t that tell you something? This visit wasn�t about peace.�
Source: Arab News
Also
see SUSRIS
IOI - January 18, 2008 - "Saudi Arabia Survey"
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