There are a couple of very strong pieces in today’s Arab News. They warrant the time it will take for you to read them.
Both are very critical of the US. The first, an Arab News editorial, picks up Amnesty International’s new report that condemns the US as a gross violator of human rights. I note that the Arab News is far uses far less vitupertude than AI does.
I disagree with this editorial on several points, but it makes a cogent argument, one that is understood and shared by many Saudis.
Editorial: Amnesty’s Message
26 May 2005What has been made outstandingly clear in Amnesty International’s latest report into human rights abuses throughout the world is that terror cannot be fought with terror. It points out that despite the US-led crackdowns in Afghanistan and Iraq and despite the Russian crackdown in Chechnya, armed groups have continued to carry out appalling acts of violence. Indeed, because of the injustices inherent in these heavy-handed responses, the terrorists have probably been strengthened, rather than weakened.
The second piece, by Reem Al-Faisal, is considerable stronger:
Why Do Americans Hate Muslims?
Reem Al-Faisal, Arab NewsA few weeks ago an American I met at a friends house asked a much repeated query, “Why do you the Muslims hate the Americans?†To which I answered in the same way as all the preceding instances in which this question was posed to me: “We don’t hate the Americans, we might disagree with a certain US policy and dislike recent American actions in the Muslim world but we surely don’t hate the American people.â€
The American who interrogated me was clearly not convinced with my answer and secretly I wasn’t either. The truth is that at present the Muslims hate America and now, they hate not only its policymakers but most of the American people since they have proven recently without a shadow of doubt that they agree with their elite by voting back into office, by a comfortable majority, the Bush administration inspite of it’s obvious record of lies and abuse of power. The Americans can never claim from now on that they didn’t know that there where no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. They can’t claim that they didn’t know torture wasn’t widespread in American prisons, from Guantanamo to Abu Ghraib, and the thousands of other secret detention centers. They surely can’t claim not to know of this entire episode in which thousands have lost their lives and much more have seen their homes and lands destroyed as a result of the American military and its leaders who don’t hesitate in using the massive destructive power of the US on defenseless civilians.
Reem Al-Faisal is not a stupid person. She both a talented photographer and writer; a Saudi woman with a first-class, Western education. Clearly, she also feels what she describes as injustices to the core of her being. Clearly, I think she’s wrong on almost every count in this piece.
I’m not highlighting this piece because I think it makes a particularly meritorious argument, but instead because of where it’s coming from. Al-Faisal is not a fundamentalist zealot. She’s a strong backer of women’s rights. She’s an active proponent for liberalization of Saudi society–though she’s not the most liberal. She’s well-enough educated to understand the major currents of history, philosophy, and religion.
Normally, one would expect her to be applauding the actions the US is taking in bringing–or even forcing–democracy in the region.
But she is not. I think this is due to the gradual accretion of slights, insults, offenses, and misunderstandings (sometimes witting) of what’s going on in the Middle East.
Every time a US soldier steps outside the rules of war or even rules of engagement, an insult is given. Perhaps it was merely an accident that happened, but it still has a result. The victims and families of victims of a traffic accident don’t instantly say, “Oh, well, could have happened to anyone,” particularly when deaths are involved.
Every time a US Congressman says, “We support peace in the Middle East, unless it displeases Israel.”; Every time a US government employee is charged with passing classified information to Israel, the US claim toward being an honest broker is damaged.
Every time some bright spark figures that the way to “break the back of the insurgents” is to violate international standards for the treatment of prisoners of war–by flauting pictures of Saddam in his underwear–the reputation of the US as an honorable people and country is damaged.
Yes, I know that all of these things are against US policy. I know that the US government has promised investigation and prosecution of wrongdoers. I know, too, that the US government has done exactly that. I know, too, that there’s very little more that the government could or should do.
But every one of these actions creates a reaction. Making corrections, admissions of guilt can mitigate the justifiable anger that’s the result of the actions, but not always and not always completely. They keep adding up, at least to Reem Al-Faisal, to a tipping point that creates an enemy where there should not be one.
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May:26:2005 - 00:12
We’re being lectured on human rights by Saudis??? Wake me when they allow religious freedom, when they stop confiscating and burning Bibles, when they allow equal suffrage for women, etc, etc…
May:26:2005 - 15:32
I believe that the perception – and the reality – of a decline in the standards of justice and human rights in the US has greatly increased since 911. While some matters – Iraq and the peace process – will prove intractable for some time, in other areas we can regain a bit of the respect we have lost in recent years by simple admitting mistakes where approprate and applying the same standards to ourselves that we hold out to Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. For example, the US government now “designates” individuals and organizations as suporters of terrorism on the basis of newpaper articles, secret evidence and even secret allegations. Entities are subject to sanctions without being told the reason. Under the current system, there is no opportunity for independent appeal. Both the 911 Commision and the Council on Foreign Relations have criticized this state of affairs. Reform of this system would gain widespead support in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. Its continiuation lends support to those who President Bush is insincere in his promotion of democracy.
June:01:2005 - 00:17
While she doesn’t state it in the article, Reem Al-Faisal’s anger isn’t derived exclusively from Guantanamo. Rather, that’s the last straw.
Her real anger–and I base this on conversations I’ve had with her–is what has happened to Palestinians.
Regardless of the political rights and wrongs of the Israeli-Palestinian issue, hundreds of Palestinian children have been killed. And pictures of their deaths and their bodies are widely available throughout the Middle East. This isn’t “moral equivalence”, it is absolute equivalence.
And yes, I realize that suicide bombers don’t do much to rationally argue any point. They are very much part of the problem. But dead Palestinian babies are an equal part of the problem.
June:01:2005 - 11:03
Is that why Saudis sponsored the 9/11 attacks against American civilians – because we’re chummy with Israel? Because “many Saudis believe that the US has not lived up to either its promise or its promises.” ?
I think Rudy Giuliani already answered that argument.
How much money does our government give to the Palestinians per year, anyway?
June:01:2005 - 11:48
The Saudis did not “sponsor the 9/11 attacks”. By “Saudis sponsoring,” you are implying that the Saudi government planned or payed for or somehow or other is directly responsible for the 9/11 attacks. That is patently false. It is a conclusion that no one in the US government has made or ever will make, because it is absurd.
Terrorists, many of whom were Saudis, conducted those attacks. Your persistence in trying to equate terrorists with either all Saudis, the Saudi government, or “Saudi Arabia” however loosely you construe it, is not welcomed here.
Giuliani rejected a $10 million donation because he didn’t like the political statement that followed it, and for good cause. An after-the-fact string got attached, making it impossible for him to accept it.
But to pretend that US policies–and particularly their implementation–regarding the Arab-Israeli issue did not play a part in generating anger throughout the Arab world is wishful thinking.
I’m not sure how much money the USG gives to Palestinians. The US House of Representatives voted for $200 milllion in March. The White House has apparently freeded $50 million of that over the past week.
Mary, this is probably your last comment permitted at Crossroads Arabia.
June:04:2005 - 11:16
It’s true, there is no evidence that the Saudi government directly planned the 9/11 attacks.
When I said that Giuliani already addressed this issue, I was talking about this quote, from his address to the United Nations in October 2001:
“Let those who say that we must understand the reasons for terrorism, come with me to the thousands of funerals we’re having in New York City–thousands–and explain those insane maniacal reasons to the children who will grow up without fathers and mothers and to the parents who have had their children ripped from them for no reason at all.”
I assumed that, since this blog was about the US/Saudi relationships, you’d be open to discussion about the US/Saudi relationship, but apparently I was wrong. So, why don’t we talk about something completely different?
VLADIVOSTOK, Russia – The Russian, Chinese and Indian foreign ministers agreed Thursday to intensify joint work against terrorism and underscored their common approach to international affairs – often seen as a bid to counterbalance what all three countries see as U.S. domination of world affairs.
The trio met in Russia’s Pacific port of Vladivostok, near the Chinese border, a venue that emphasizes Russia’s place in Asia.
“We are cultivating practical cooperation between the three states in the struggle against new threats and challenges … international terrorism, drug-trafficking and other forms of organized crime,” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a news conference following talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and Indian External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh.”
…
After all of the support we’ve given to China, Russia and India, why do you think they’re doing this?
June:04:2005 - 11:27
Giuliani, as well as numerous members of the USG are simply wrong in trying to separate what goes on in the larger Middle East from terrorism conducted in the name of Islam. There is a connection. Arab and Muslim populations see the connection very clearly–and obviously the terrorists act on it. To pretend otherwise is to seek solutions to the wrong problems.
It might come as a surprise, but there are a huge variety of reasons why the US is not the most popular country right now.
Some of it is simply political competition. Some of it is economic competition. Some of it is cultural, some of it is ideological.
But a lot of it, particularly in the Middle East, comes from a perception that while the US talks a good game about liberty, democracy, personal freedom, it does not actually support those values very well. One of the major complaints of liberal Arabs, in fact, is that the USG does not live up to its own promise.
June:04:2005 - 20:55
I think Giuliani, and any member of the USG with a pulse knows about the connection between Middle East politics and terrorism. I think Giuliani was saying that terrorism is a crime against humanity, an abhorrence, like genocide, and it can never be justified.
A funny thing about these Middle East governments – I think most members of the USG know that they’re at war with us in one way or another. Militarily, they’re no match for us at all, they couldn’t hold their own against Belgium, and yet we treat them as allies, or we treat them as something to be feared – despite the fact that they’re not.
In contrast, China is a match for us. Rumsfeld was criticizing the Chinese for building up their military forces today. The Chinese have an increased need for oil. The Russians and the Indian government have a lot of reasons to be afraid of certain oil rich Middle Eastern governments.
So, is there any reason why they don’t trust us?