DrBenway
23rd March 2003, 08:48 AM
Osama bin Ladin has complained that Saudi Arabia is an oppressive regime supported by U.S. dollars. Westerners look at the regimented Saudi life and agree, "yep, it's repressive."
However, I think it's important to understand that OBL's complaint regarding repression is quite different from the west's complaint. OBL is angry that the Saudi regime has imprisoned a great many extremists Muslim clerics. OBL is not angry about the oppression of women or the lack of a free press. OBL is angry about the oppression of those opposed to liberalism.
The Saudi regime is between a rock and a hard place. If they push too quickly for cultural reforms, they'll have a fundamentalist revolution on their hands, a la Iran. Yet a great many Saudis, from what I've seen, are strongly interested in a movement toward a more modern society.
Thus, I don't see it as hypocritical for the U.S. to support the Saudis. For the same reason, I'm not opposed to U.S. support of Egypt or Pakistan. The trick is to find some way to weaken the fundamentalist groups within those nations.
This war doesn't help that effort much, unfortunately.
However, I think it's important to understand that OBL's complaint regarding repression is quite different from the west's complaint. OBL is angry that the Saudi regime has imprisoned a great many extremists Muslim clerics. OBL is not angry about the oppression of women or the lack of a free press. OBL is angry about the oppression of those opposed to liberalism.
The Saudi regime is between a rock and a hard place. If they push too quickly for cultural reforms, they'll have a fundamentalist revolution on their hands, a la Iran. Yet a great many Saudis, from what I've seen, are strongly interested in a movement toward a more modern society.
Thus, I don't see it as hypocritical for the U.S. to support the Saudis. For the same reason, I'm not opposed to U.S. support of Egypt or Pakistan. The trick is to find some way to weaken the fundamentalist groups within those nations.
This war doesn't help that effort much, unfortunately.