Saudi Arabia Five Years After 9/11

Saudi Arabia: Five Years after 9/11

The five-year period following the tragedies of 9/11 has seen significant change in Saudi Arabia. Some of the changes seem small, but given the starting point, they are not. Some, in fact, are huge and suggest a far more liberal, or at least tolerant society is in the offing. Starting with my own observations from within the countryâ€”from late September 2001 to October 2003â€”I’m presenting links to various posts on Crossroads Arabia (which “went live” in 2004, after I left State Department), up to and including February of this year.

I think the changes are real and that they’re going to stick. I think that many of them lay the groundwork for further reform in directions toward both moderation and political representation. Some only hint at possibilities, but I am optimistic that they will be realized.

The changes and continuation of reform are not guaranteed, however. The trends can be upset or even reversed under the wrong circumstances. An untimely death or two, very serious acts of terrorism, or a regional war could all endanger the progress to date.

Here is what has been going on over this five-year period:

Immediately following 9/11:

Much of Saudi Arabia, including high levels of government, were in complete denial about the 9/11 attacks. Some could not imagine that such acts could be undertaken in the name of Islam. Some could not accept that a Muslim could do such a thing, and certainly not a Saudi. Others, however, knew that all of this was conceivable. These were paying attention to the world and recognized that “one of their own”, Usama Bin Laden, was quite capable of conducting these attacks. They recognized the hallmarks seen in the attacks on the US Embassies in Africa, in the attack on the USS Cole in Yemeni waters.

Saudi media became a cacophony of voices. Some saw 9/11 as some sort of fiendish plot by Zionists or by elements of the US government. Some believed Muslims, or Saudis, to be mentally incapable of carrying out such attacks. Others, though, realized that many Saudis had been radicalized by relentless messages of intolerance drummed home in classrooms, in mosques, in careless editorials.

Suddenly, Saudi media was carrying stories about political and religious issues that had, until now, been across the “red line” of taboo topics. The 9/11 attacks alone weren’t responsible. Censorship of the media had been becoming lighter, with criticisms of some governmental bureaucracies, for instance, being permitted. Direct challenges to the way in which religion was taught and the way it infused daily life, though, were new.

The debate flowed back and forth for months. There was mixed approval and anger at coalition action taken against the Taleban and UBL in Afghanistan. While the war was accepted as making some senseâ€”it was, after all, directed at the attackers and their supportersâ€”the media carried gruesome pictures of civilian casualties, particularly those of women and children. Most took this to be evidence of some sort of “war against Islam”, a concept not helped by President Bush’s use of the word “Crusade”.

The “intifada” in Palestinian territories was continuing. Arab media (not just Saudi media) carried story after story of Palestinians being killed, put out of work, their economy being stifled. Palestine wasn’t much on American radar at the moment, nor had it been since the beginning of the Bush Administration.

January 2003:

A group of 103 Saudi intellectualsâ€”Sunni and Shi’aâ€”sent a letter to the Crown Prince outlining a program for reform in the country. Their program was published in the local media and a group of them met with the Crown Prince. Interestingly, the writers chose not to meet with the US Ambassador because they wanted to keep their message as their own. One result was a decision by the Crown Prince to conduct a series of “National Dialogues” (the sixth will be held later this year).

April 2002-March 2003:

In April, Crown-Prince Abdullah paid a visit to Pres. Bush in Crawford. Nonsense (and untrue) stories appeared in the US media before Abdullah even arrived, pretending that Abdullah had ordered “no female air controllers, please.” He never did, but as the Italians say, si non e vero e ben trovatoâ€”literally, “even if it is not true, it is well conceived “, figuratively, “It’s too good a story not to publish, true or not”.

Mediaâ€”both Saudi and Americanâ€”were filled with speculation about the trip. Was Abdullah about to announce some sort of break in relations with the US over US inaction? Was he going to warn of dire consequencesâ€”an oil embargo, perhapsâ€”if the US went to war with Iraq?

According to people at the meeting, Abdullah brought with him photo albums and videotape of the images that were coming out of Palestine and being shown in the Arab media. He said that they simply could not continue. Reportedly, Bush was moved by the photos. Less than a month later, Bush publicly announced American support for a “two state solution”.

This gave the US a boost at a time when American mediaâ€”recklessly, in my viewâ€”were engaged in a bout of Saudi-bashing. Congressional hearings were being held on the plight of American women and children in Saudi Arabia who were unable to exercise their American rightsâ€”because they were living in another country with its own laws. The cases were each tragic in their own ways, but not unique to Saudi Arabia. The Saudis saw that this was political showmanship and pointed out that while there were, perhaps, a dozen cases in Saudi Arabia at the time, there were hundreds of similar cases in both Mexico and Germany. The issue was whose law pertained within the borders of any country.

The Saudis were feeling abused by the US media and Congress, where every flaw was seen as blown out of proportion. The tone of editorials and letters grew harsher, warning that a war against Saddam Hussein would not be tolerable. As the drumbeat grew louder from the US, the warnings became more shrill.

When the war against Iraq started, the Saudi populace was displeased. The Saudi government was displeased as well, but nevertheless permitted the US military to make use of their facilities within Saudi Arabia. The entire air campaign was managed out of King Sultan Air Base in the central city of Al-Kharj. Coalition forces did use Saudi bases along the Iraqi border for a variety of missions. This didn’t show up in the Saudi media nor, intentionally, in the US media at the time.

March 2003-May 2003:

On March 11 2003, a fire broke out in a girls’ school in the city of Mecca. Fifteen girls died. Contradictory press reports came out assessing blame. Most blamed the religious establishment for turning back fleeing girls because they were not dressed modestly, or for refusing entry by would-be saviors because they were not related to the girls.
Saudi papers erupted with stories and the letters to the editors which followed. A government investigation followed. It did not find the religious police responsible, but rather pointed to numerous failings on the part of the Presidency of Girls’ Education (the governmental body responsible for girls’ schools). There certainly were failings, from having the school in a building older than permitted by their own regulation, to the lack of fire extinguishers and a fire plan.

But the government took action against the Presidency which was an element of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, not the Ministry of Education.

Girl’s education was taken away from the Presidency (and the Presidency closed). Responsibility was moved to the Ministry of Education, headed by an American-educated Minister who had been trying for seven years to implement reform.

That move was not accepted quietly, however. Thousands wrote in protest to the decision, but then-Crown Prince Abdullah stuck by his decision. It was an enormous blow to the authority of the religious establishment and to the ultra-conservatives as a whole.

The Saudi media took that action as a green light, a shifting of the red lines. And it was, to a point. Some newspapers, more than others, really lit into the religious establishment, running reader complaints about abusive behavior by the mutawaa (religious police), about the over-abundance of religious education in the schools at the expense of more topical and useful subjects. Scathing editorial cartoons were published. And there was backlash. Journalists and editors received death threats, their offices and employees were threatened with bombs. The newspapers, whether ordered or through common sense, took a few steps back.

Immediately following the end of the “kinetic war” in Iraq, the US and Saudi governments agreed that the basing of US, French, Australian, and British aircraftâ€”enforcing Operation Southern Watchâ€”were no longer needed. On April 13, 2003 Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and Saudi Minister of Defense Sultan bin Abdul Aziz announced that US forces would be withdrawn from Saudi Arabia. News of this was instantly sent to global media.

May 2003-November 2003:
On the 12th of May, late at night on the eve of a visit by American Secretary of State Powell, three suicide car bombs detonated at residential compounds in Riyadh killing 27, including nine Americans and seven Saudis, one of whom was a son of the Mayor of Riyadh. Saudi society was stunned. They considered this their 9/11. The Crown Prince spoke publicly condemning the attacks, those who committed them, and those who supported them even philosophically.

Saudis realized that Bin Laden’s targets were not just foreigners, but Saudis who considered themselves to be good Muslims. War based on intolerance had come home. The Saudis entered a period of deep self-reflection as they realized that a whirlwind, at least partially planted in their own country and sown by their own culture, was loose.

Again, more complaints about education appeared. More introspection was undertaken both privately and publicly.

On August 3, Crown Prince Abdullah convened the “First National Dialogue” which discussed national unity and security under Islamic law.

But in November of the same year, more bombs went off. More Saudis were killed by extremists acting in the name of Islam.

July 2004 :

Saudis making progress in controlling terrorist financing

Saudi women admitted to the Bar

Saudi government absolved of direct role in 9/11 attacks says 9/11 Commission

August 2004:

Preparations for first, country-wide municipal elections underway

Xenophobia and “takfiri” not the anwer

New professions open to Saudi women

Kingdom continues reform plans