Inside Saudi Arabia
KAMRAN JEBREILI/AP
Splitting Image: In traditional garb, a Saudi passes a modern high-rise in Riyadh |
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When U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld turned up at an ornate royal palace in Saudi Arabia last week, he shook hands with ailing King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz al Saud and then exchanged views about the war on terrorism with Crown Prince Abdullah, who runs the kingdom's day-to-day affairs. Rumsfeld might have got a somewhat different perspective if he had stopped by al Masaa, a cafe in the heart of the capital, where patrons hail Osama bin Laden as an Arab hero.
The terrace is crammed with young men, some in traditional cotton robes and Bedouin headdress, others in Western jeans and T shirts. They are watching teenage drivers peeling rubber through traffic, calling friends on cell phones and discussing Osama. Sipping cappuccinos and downing milk shakes, they admit to mixed feelings about last month's devastating attacks on the U.S. because of the innocent lives that were taken. They even wonder whether it was really Osama who did it ("I hope that it was," says one). Mostly they express glee that the strikes made the U.S. pay a price for what they see as arrogant meddling in the Middle East, particularly in supporting Israel against the Palestinians.
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"Osama is a very, very, very, very good Muslim," says Feras Bukhamsin, 24, a bank clerk. Agrees Bader, 25, a businessman who declines to give his full name: "He's a good guy. He has millions, but he doesn't care about money or himself. He's just looking to get justice for the Arabs." The other six Saudis around the table, some recently returned from studies in the U.S., nod their heads.
What kind of ally is a country whose leaders profess solidarity with the U.S. but whose people--apparently some of them, anyway--commit mass murder on American soil, or sit around Riyadh coffee shops applauding those who do? Answer: an uneasy one. As it moves toward military action, the U.S. remains concerned about popular unrest in Arab and Islamic states around the world, including Saudi Arabia. (It was concerned enough, in fact, that alarms went off on Saturday, when a bomb exploded outside a shop in the Saudi city of Khobar, killing two. Initial reports, however, were that the incident was unrelated to the Sept. 11 attacks.) And as in the Gulf War, the U.S. has a tricky balance to strike between its long-term, irrevocable commitment to Israel and its short-term interest in placating the Arab street. Washington clearly sees a need for buttressing friendly Muslim regimes in the crisis. Former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Wyche Fowler warns against assuming that "monarchs can do anything they want without consequences from a restless or dissident citizenry."
While the focus since Sept. 11 has been on the war between bin Laden and the U.S., the largely ignored core of the struggle is bin Laden's appeal for the hearts and minds--not to mention the oilfields containing 25% of the world's reserves--of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. For several years, a new generation of Saudis, including Islamic militants and youths grumbling about corruption and economic decline, has increasingly challenged the al Saud clan's fitness to rule. Now, by hitting the U.S.--and by using as many as 15 apparent Saudi hijackers in daring suicide operations--bin Laden is the man of the hour for many. Even moderate Saudis adamantly opposed to terrorism find themselves agreeing with bin Laden's complaints against the U.S. Young Saudis, eager for bolder leadership, are glued to Arab satellite-TV channels for the latest bin Laden news.
As bin Laden's admirers appear to grow in number, the question is again being asked: Can the Saudi royals withstand the increasing pressures undermining political stability in the most vital energy-producing region of the world? They have an excellent record. King Abdul Aziz ibn Saud (generally known as Ibn Saud) founded the nation in 1932 after conquering fierce rival tribes on the Arabian Peninsula. Since his death in 1953, his four successors have weathered a variety of crises, from Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser's nationalist agitation and the Iranian revolution to Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait. But some Western diplomats now fear that one of the secrets of the al Sauds' success in keeping a firm grip on power, the relatively free hand given to Islamic militancy in the kingdom, may have sown the seeds for a generation of Osama bin Ladens.
The strong fundamentalist influence in Saudi Arabia today is rooted in a potent mix of religion, tradition and politics. Though the al Sauds trace their prominence back to the 16th century, they acquired real political muscle in 1744 after forming an alliance with Mohammed bin Abdul Wahhab, a puritanical Muslim leader who advocated a strict application of Islamic law. The fortunes of the two clans have been inseparable ever since, with the al Sauds largely running the temporal show and holy men descended from Abdul Wahhab, known as the al Sheikhs, providing the religious legitimacy for rule in the land of Islam's birth. Many of Ibn Saud's successes, including the capture of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, owed much to the fierce fundamentalist Wahhabi tribesmen known as the Ikhwan, or brethren.
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