SAUDI-AMERICAN RELATIONS IMPROVE

THE UNITED STATES SEEKS TOTAL CONTROL OF THE KINGDOM'S GOVERNMENT

ONLY ELECTIONS WILL SAVE THE KINGDOM FROM TOTAL AMERICAN CONTROL

Saudi-American relations improved, in spite of some classified allegations made in the 900-page congressional report about the events and failures that led to 9/11. The allegations seemed to originate in the federal security bureaucracy, frustrated at Saudi reluctance to allow American personnel to participate in investigations of bombings of American outfits in the Kingdom, starting with the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers. The campaign by right-wing Likud-inspired nouveaux republicains--the former Democrats who joined the party to teach it colonialist-inspired Likud methods in subduing Arabs and Muslims--opened the door wide to Democrats to attack the Kingdom for September 11.

(No one wants to admit the obvious: Both the American and Saudi security establishments proved incompetent before September 11. To be fair, though, in assessing incompetence, one should be aware of the fact that the Americans trained the Saudis, not the other way around.)

The improvement was due in part to the disillusionment of U.S. policy-makers with Iraq. These policy-makers had spinned themselves into such high hopes and wishful thinking about Iraq replacing the Kingdom as a favored client-state. Iraqi realities, however, have sobered these policy-makers. Suddenly, in retrospect, the relationship with Saudi Arabia was seen as such a stable and beneficial arrangement. The invasion of Iraq, if anything, is threatening the stability of this one ally, as a Shiite upheaval (in Iraq and in the Kingdom, as a result of raised expectations) could de-stabilize the old Arab ally. In effect, the United States risks losing the once-stable Saudi Arabia without winning Iraq.

(SPC NOTE: It's somewhat unacceptable within Arab circles to talk about the Shiites as a separate entity. With good reason. Shiite nationalism is hardly separate from the larger Arab public solidarity once known as Arab nationalism. Shiite nationalism is basically a movement within the larger Arab nation, moving towards equality with others within that nation, not for secession or the monopoly of government.)

In addition to disillusionment with Iraq, American-Saudi relations improved thanks to intensified cooperation between the two countries in the investigation of the financing of al-Qaeda by neo-charitable organizations and Saudi businessmen. This cooperation has been extended to cover the financing of populist Palestinian paramilitary resistance groups, such as Hamas. A team from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has moved into the Kingdom, starting in May, to delve into charitable finances.

The United States has also seen increased cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Yemen in security matters, and between Yemen and the United States.

More cooperation was revealed when reports circulated that the United States will now be training all the branches of the Saudi armed forces. This in effect expands the American military training program in the Kingdom. Historically, the U.S. had provided training to the Saudi Air Force and the National Guard. Ironically, this expansion could set the stage for a future coup d'etat by pro-American officers in the kingdom. Better deal with a few officers a la Latin American juntas than with a multi-pronged royal family that has a rather paternalistic perspective towards its people, and shares with them some "antiquated" Islamic teachings.

This virtual take-over by the United States of the Kingdom's government, made possible by September 11, can be seen in the perseverance of the Federal anti-terrorism investigators in digging up the sources of financing of al-Qaeda. These investigators seem to suspect that at least one part of the Saudi government--Islamic Affairs--has financed questionable charitable organizations, possibly knowing that the money was being directed to al-Qaeda. Moreover, these investigators would like to know whether princes were involved in this process, perhaps out of jealousies they hold against the more powerful amongst their ranks. The U.S. investigation of the Kingdom's financial affairs will teach it a lot about who is involved in the Islamic affairs network. Already, the United States has a lot of dirt on the princes--mostly from eavesdropping; but it is now seeking to know more about the clerics and Islamic ideologues, who once benefitted from government largesse.

Along with the training of all Saudi armed forces and the intervention in the process of royal secession, this American penetration of the Saudi body politic is so deep as to amount to a virtual American mandate over the Kingdom. At the risk of some exaggeration, the United States has now adopted the view that the kingdom of Saudi Arabia should not be allowed to govern itself.

Oddly, only elections can save the Kingdom from total American control, as the rise of a new elected leadership with a popular mandate should be able to check (somewhat) the U.S. penetration of the Kingdom's government, and its takeover of that government.