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PHOTO OF
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Crown Prince Abdullah and
President Bush at Summit with Arab Leaders in Sharm
al-Sheikh, Egypt
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WHAT'S NEW
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>
Saudi-US Relations Information Service (SUSRIS)
Launched
Visit the web site for more information on the SUSRIS
features. [more]
> New Saudi-American
Forum Essays/Items of Interest:
"Imagined
Kingdoms: Islamic Militancy and Opposition in Saudi
Arabia," by Gregory J. H. Dowling
"Winds
of Change," by Massoud Derhally
"Pumping
Up Online Resources to Fuel Saudi-U.S. Relations," by
Molouk Y. Ba-Isa
"Remember
Khobar Towers," by Louis J. Freeh
"Saudi
Arabia: Don't Let Bin Laden Win!," by Anthony
Cordesman
"The
Approaching Turning Point: The Future of U.S.
Relations with the Gulf States," by F. Gregory Gause,
III
"In
the Eye of Yet Another Storm: US-Saudi Relations and the
Iraq Campaign," by Gregory J.H. Dowling
"Saudi
Arabia: Winds of Change in the Desert," by Sandra
Mackey
"US-Saudi
Ties Prove Crucial in War," by Michael Dobbs
"The
Prince," by Elsa Walsh
"Baer's 'Fall of the House
of Saud' and the Stakeholders in the Saudi-American
Relationship," by Kevin Taecker
"Wahhabism: A Christmas
Eve Talk," by Abdalla Musa Tayer Mohammed
"Myths
and Realities About Unemployment in Saudi Arabia,"
by Kevin Taecker
"Saudi
Arabs, Americans and Oil,"
by Robert L. Norberg
"The
Role of the Extended Family in Saudi Arabia," by David
E. Long
[more]
> Saudi-US
Relations Information Service (SUSRIS) Current
Discussion Topics
o US-Saudi
Relations...
o Defense
and Security...
o Business
and Economics...
o Regional
Peace Issues...
o Energy
and Resources...
[more]
Click to visit... then sign in as a New
User to join the dialogue.
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an Amazon Associate. Linking from here to the
Amazon site when making purchases helps support this effort.
Thanks !
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| AN
ESSAY FROM THE SAUDI-AMERICAN
FORUM |
Imagined
Kingdoms: Islamic Militancy and
Opposition in Saudi Arabia
by Gregory J. H. Dowling |
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In the mass of popular commentary that
considers the putative links between the Kingdom
of Saudi Arabia and Islamic militancy, one thing
conspicuously absent is a sense of history or,
more to the point, an accurate sense of history.
The emotions of 9/11 dominate the historical
understanding rather than the reverse, a situation
that does little to restrain a reflexive leap
towards accusatory phobia. As a result, much of
the writing errs fundamentally in positing an
identity between the understanding of the Faith
that the Kingdom's government promotes as the
nation's defining construct of moral principles
and religious beliefs and a violent, politicized
Islam. In insisting on this false identity, one
obscures the deep complexity that is religious
dissent in the contemporary Kingdom.
[more]
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�It was a jolt,� is how Adel Al Jubeir, the
foreign policy advisor to Crown Prince Abdullah of
Saudi Arabia, described the terrorist attacks on
the Kingdom in early May. Indeed it was, and the
effects of these attacks are yet to be determined.
After September 11, Saudi-US trade plummeted in
2002, with US exports to the Kingdom falling 40%
in the first six months of the year.
However, it�s not just its relationship with
the US that preoccupies the Kingdom. Saudi Arabia,
the country with the world�s largest oil
reserves, continues to suffer from fragile fiscal
accounts, an over reliance on oil and dependence
on a foreign workforce. All of these variables,
coupled with the recent attacks on the Kingdom,
are worrying to businessmen and analysts, who are
keen to see a faster pace of privatization,
economic reform, greater transparency and lower
unemployment.
[more]
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The Saudi-American Forum wishes to
thank Massoud Derhally and Information &
Technology Publishing (ITP) Company for permission
to share this important contribution to the
dialogue on US-Saudi relations with you.
This article was originally published online by ITP.net.
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| FROM
THE HISTORY OF SAUDI-U.S. RELATIONS |
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Meeting
between Faisal and Kennedy in 1962
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FROM "SAUDI ARABIA AND THE UNITED STATES: BIRTH
OF A SECURITY PARTNERSHIP"
"Faisal and Kennedy had but one encounter, on
October 5, 1962. They never again met face-to-face.
Nonetheless, the inedible impression each made upon the
other was positive. There was a White House luncheon
hosted by the president and attended by some of Kennedy's
close civil and military advisors, followed by an unusual
private audience (one on one), attended only by Sabbagh as
interpreter. It was here that specific understandings
were reached:
"1. Kennedy reaffirmed the Truman pledge of
1950 that any threat to the independence and integrity of
Saudi Arabia would be a matter of deep and immediate concern
to the US government, which would take measures to counter
such a threat.
"2. The United States would demonstrate its
interest in Saudi security through stepped-up naval visits
to Saudi ports, notably in the Red Sea.
"3. The United States would provide pilot
training and counter-insurgency training to Saudi personnel.
"4. In response to a query by Faisal, Kennedy
said the United States would consider its pledge of general
support to apply to threats against Saudi Arabia activated
from without and from within. However, with due
sensitivity to Faisal's pride and responsibilities, the
president made it clear that US measures of assistance would
be taken on the basis of Kennedy's understanding that Faisal
intended to take early steps to abolish slavery and to
institute fiscal and other reforms in the Saudi judiciary
and its practices so as to bring about strong public support
and greater participation of educated Saudi youth in the
administration of the state. The US government would
find it hard to justify to its own people a deep commitment
to a system of government that was corrupt or bore the stamp
of slavery and arbitrary denial of civil rights and personal
freedoms.
"Faisal had prepared for this and fully agreed.
This understanding, therefore, was not exactly a
"deal," but a meeting of minds. Its general
terms quickly became known and approved in Saudi
intellectual and business circles, which were quite fed up
with the retrogressive and insulting image of their country
reflected in world, and especially Arab, media."
Source: Hart, Parker T., Saudi
Arabia and the United States: Birth of a Security
Partnership. Bloomington: Indiana University
Press, 1998. 114
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| DISCUSSION
FORUM |
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Look
Who's Talking... The Saudi-US Relations
Information Service web site features a discussion
forum for you to post your ideas, opinions and
questions. To sign on and speak up
Click
Here. Among the posts in current
threads:
"Mamoun
wrote: Is it in the interest of the US, and I mean
the whole of the US and not a special interest
group or any cabal with its own agenda, to improve
the frayed relations with Saudi Arabia or to
contribute to their further deterioration?
"I don't know the answer to this specific
question. I'm just some guy with a regular job and
not enough knowledge of the world. Still, I hope
that the US and Saudi Arabia find a way to patch
things up. Not because I want something out of the
Saudis, but because I want the US to continue to
grow into a better and better place."
Sign
up for the forum and contribute to the
dialogue.
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| ON
THE BOOKSHELF |
|
Ibn
Saud: King by Conquest
by Nestor Sander
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| Book
Description (Amazon.com)
The
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was created
by the man whose life is recounted
in this book. His sons still rule it
nearly a century after the day in
mid-January 1902, when triumphant in
a bloody battle against odds, Abdul
Aziz ibn Abdur Rahman ibn Faisal as
Saud, just twenty-five years old,
stood on the battlements of the
capital city, Riyadh, and proclaimed
to all, �Your own amir is with you
again!�
For
the next thirty years, Ibn Saud�s
superior intelligence, strong body,
great courage, deep comprehension of
the strengths and weaknesses of his
people, and indisputable charisma
were all used in full measure to
regain most of his ancestors�
holdings and to unite them into a
kingdom, formally declared so on 27
September 1932.
[more]
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Additional
information and ordering
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WHAT
IS THE SAUDI-U.S. RELATIONS INFORMATION SERVICE?
|
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The Saudi-US Relations
Information Service (SUSRIS) provides you information
resources and interactive features through a web site
and weekly newsletter -- all designed to enhance your
understanding of the historic relationship between the
United States and Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi-US Relations Information Service is a public
service of the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations
as an element of its mission to educate Americans about
Arab countries, the Middle East, and the Islamic world.
We invite you to explore
the site: signup for the SUSRIS newsletter, join the
discussion forum, browse the bookshelf and photo album,
and more. Make the SUSRIS your home page or add it to
your Favorites List. Check back from time to time to see
what we've added -- what you see today is just the
beginning.
For more information
about the service please visit the website at: http://www.SaudiUSRelations.org
eMail: [email protected]
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