U.S. Saudi Relations At New Low

by N Janardhan

But while these charges have undercut Saudi-U.S. ties of more than 50 years and are drawing hostile reactions from Arab and commentators, some say this relationship that has been long based on pragmatism will survive today's choppy political waters.

"No doubt, it is the worst phase, but it will stop short of getting severed," said Abdulkhaliq Abdullah, a professor of political science at Emirates University. After all, he said, the relationship has been "a marriage of convenience."

"While the United States has ensured the political survival of the Saudi regime through military support, the kingdom has been a long-time U.S. ally and a major oil supplier," Abdullah pointed out. "That is likely to remain a constant despite the frequent shocks."

Many in the region link the hostility from conservative forces in Washington to tactics to get Riyadh to 'prove' itself to the United States on issues like Iraq, where UN inspections of weapons programs have begun but where the threat of U.S.-led military action remains.

Bilateral ties have already been under pressure from U.S. views that the kingdom has not done enough in cracking down on extremists in the country.

A recent editorial in the 'Al Riyadh' newspaper in Saudi Arabia said: "Under the current strategy to hit Iraq, suspicions and accusations (against the kingdom) are being used by American foxes to pressure the kingdom to directly enter the war against Iraq."

"From the developments thus far, it is clear that the charges are being levelled to extract an assurance from Riyadh that it will support an attack on Iraq," Kuwaiti political analyst Ali Jaber Al Sabah said, adding that the Israeli lobby in the United States was playing its role to perfection yet again.

"Saudi Arabia would play a key role in any war on Iraq and a suggestion by Riyadh that it would not back force against a fellow Arab country worried Washington," Abdullah said. "Though the kingdom later said it would accept all measures endorsed by the United Nations, it has yet to convince the United States."

This is the backdrop to the present crisis, which came after the FBI started looking into whether payments of $2,000 a month from the wife of the Saudi ambassador to the United States, could have made their way to the Sep. 11 hijackers.

Saudi Arabia denied that it financed any of the hijackers.

According to U.S. media reports, Princess Haifa al-Faisal, wife of the Saudi envoy Bandar bin Sultan, authorised regular payments over four years to two Saudi families in California, one of whom reportedly helped find lodgings for two of the 15 Saudi hijackers in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon.

No evidence has emerged to show that Bandar, his wife, or the families who received the funds ever knew that the men were part of the al-Qaeda terrorist network.

Secretary of State Colin Powell acknowledged that the United States had pressed the kingdom to clamp down on donations that may be funnelled to suspected terrorists, but said ties between Washington and Riyadh remained solid.

Ali Jaber said, "In Islam, it is customary to give donations. To accuse an ambassador's wife of financing terrorists in the guise of charity is a new approach in the world of diplomacy, which is bound to fall flat."

Meantime, the public mood in the region is increasingly turning anti-American. U.S. citizens and members of U.S.-linked groups have come under attack in the past year in Kuwait, Bahrain, Lebanon, Yemen and Jordan.

The lack of resolution of the Palestinian conflict has added to the anti-U.S. fury, in addition to the military attack on Afghanistan last year, ill treatment and arbitrary arrests of Islamist suspects and threats to oust Iraq President Saddam Hussein.

In mid-July, an analyst of the conservative think tank Rand Corp told the Pentagon that Saudi Arabia ought to be considered an adversary of the United States and termed the kingdom a "kernel of evil."

Looking back, the divide started with the United States suggesting in January that it may pull its military forces out of Saudi Arabia.

In June, a 'Financial Times' report suggested that Saudi businessmen had pulled out at least 200 billion of some 600 U.S. dollars from the United States to protest against rising anti-Saudi sentiment.

But most Saudi newspapers believe the present crisis is not rooted in economics. "The campaign is a political one which clearly aims to blackmail Saudi Arabia, distort its reputation and try to influence its positions and turn others against it," said an editorial in Saudi daily 'Al Watan' last month.

"The latest campaign by the Zionist lobby in America will fail and will not affect the kingdom or its stances and will not affect the strength of ties with the United States," it added.

Still, a National Security Council task force has reportedly urged President Bush to issue a 90-day ultimatum to Riyadh to crack down on terrorism financing or face unilateral action by Washington, according to the Washington Post on Tuesday.

Senior officials also told the Post that U.S. intelligence agencies have compiled a list of nine wealthy individuals, seven of them Saudis, who are suspected to be the main financiers of radical groups, including al-Qaeda.

"All these accusations are nothing but lies," Mohammed Al Jadani, a Saudi businessman in Dubai. "This campaign will continue, but they have to realize that Saudi Arabia will not bow down. It will take necessary action to clarify its position and come clean."