Editorial: Bridge-Building Mission

It was typical that the Texas ranch meeting between Crown Prince Abdullah and US President George W. Bush should have been presented in many countries as being about soaring oil prices and how Saudi Arabia might increase oil production to help bring them down — with the war on terrorism thrown in as the sub-issue to the talks. The US media was not alone in taking this shallow view. Its counterparts in Europe, across Asia, and even here in the Middle East, chose to see the meeting in the same narrow way.

I’m pleased to see that the Arab News shares my view that media coverage of the meeting between Pres. Bush and Crown Prince Abdullah was shallow. Media was focused almost exclusively on oil and missed what was really going on. Similarly, at the last Crawford Summit in 2002, the media expected Iraq to be the focus of talks when it was actually about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. This unsigned Arab News editorial continues:

The price of oil and the existence of terrorism were, of course, on the agenda — Saudi Arabia wants to help, although its ability to do so by itself is overestimated. But the meeting was about so much more. It was also about peace and justice in Palestine and Iraq. Most of all, it was about reaffirming and strengthening relations between two countries that want to work together, that can do so, but which at times have found the going to be an uphill struggle since 9/11.

The Saudi-American relationship is a complex one but has so much to offer, not only to Saudis and Americans in terms of business and prosperity, but to the region and wider world because of the two countries’ geopolitical roles and influence. It is a relationship that has to be worked on at the moment. There are those in both countries who want it to collapse and who spend their time spouting venom about the other to achieve just that. And, terrifyingly, that has worked. There is an unprecedented degree of mutual suspicion and loathing at the grass-root level. Just as too many ordinary Americans now think of Arabs, and more particularly Saudis, as “the enemy,” so too do many ordinary Arabs view Americans in the same way. There is a deep vein of anti-Americanism present in Arab pubic opinion at present which, at its worst, fuels the terrorist mindset and needs to be removed urgently.

That is what the Abdullah-Bush meeting set out to do. And it succeeded even if the world media did not notice. The decision to increase the number of students, visitors and business travelers between the two nations, and in particular Washington’s agreeing to ease travel to the US by Saudi businessmen and students, is a step toward a healthier relationship of potentially massive consequence. The difficulties that Saudis have experienced in getting into the US since 9/11 have been a major factor in fueling anti-American attitudes here. This policy reversal should go some considerable way to undoing the damage.

Saudi Arabia will, sadly, still be misunderstood and maligned for some time to come by both the American and the international media. Only through familiarity will the stereotypical image of the “oil-rich, mystery desert Kingdom”, beloved of so many reporters abroad, start to vanish. The Texas summit has taken a step toward making that happen. It was a bridge-building exercise, enabling an old friendship to be forged anew. History will see it as a success.