The picture will enter the history of international politics because of its timing and where it was taken. It showed US President George W. Bush sitting informally in his chair talking to Prince Bandar ibn Sultan of Saudi Arabia, who sat beside the president on the arm of a sofa.
Such a meeting would not take place except between close friends. There were no neckties, nor any handshakes or official chairs, to keep an official distance from each other. It looked more like a family picture. And it was not accidental. It came from the Bush ranch and the photographer, like any palace or presidential photographer, could not release the photo — or any photo — without official approval.
In short, the unusual setting of the picture was not an accident; it was done on purpose and was sent to the press to tell the world that Saudi-American relations are as close as ever.
Actually the picture reflected very close ties as the president has received only four foreign dignitaries — two of them Saudis — at his Texas ranch. He received Crown Prince Abdullah there last spring while other world leaders have been received at the White House.
Relations between the two countries just had an unpleasant jolt. The Pentagon allowed an analyst to speak on occupying Saudi Arabia and accuse the Kingdom of financing religious extremism and international terrorism. A week later, a group of US lawyers filed a lawsuit against Saudi officials and organizations, accusing them of supporting the Al-Qaeda network and demanding three trillion dollars in compensation. If the suit had been against Syria, for example, we might have said it was in keeping with bilateral enmity but in fact, it was against one of America’s closest friends.
The picture from the ranch shows there has been no change in the president’s relations with the Kingdom. He still receives the Saudi ambassador — which rarely happens as the secretary of state normally receives ambassadors. Prince Bandar has met President Bush and his predecessors at the White House and often had either breakfast or lunch with them. He watched films with the senior Bush at the White House cinema. This indicates the special relationship between the two countries as well as the diplomatic skills of the ambassador himself.
Prince Bandar knows Washington’s inside politics and has established good relations with different power groups in both the executive and law-making bodies; he also has his contacts within the two major political parties. When White House spokesman Ari Fleischer was asked why the president wanted to host the Saudi ambassador at his private ranch, the answer was: “Prince Bandar is a very seasoned diplomat, ambassador of a very important country and a man Bush enjoys talking to. He’s a very affable fellow with a very good sense of humor and speaks English better than most Americans.”
But the picture of jeans, sofas, ranch and Bandar’s personality should not mislead us. In international relations looking at pictures is not enough, and we should instead look for reasons for the change in the US position. There are problems that no onlooker could turn a blind eye to and these demand frank and honest discussions.
Of course, there are differences between the two countries. I have heard people say that Saudi Arabia sometimes takes a stand harmful to Washington’s interests. They say it refused to cooperate fully with the US in its war against Taleban and Al-Qaeda. At the same time, they say, Washington’s enemy, Iran, opened its airspace to US warplanes coming from the Gulf and the Indian Ocean to bomb Afghanistan. Iran also signed an agreement for military rescue operations if required.
The Kingdom’s contribution was meager and this reflected its opposite opinion on an issue which, they say, for the US is more important than the liberation of Kuwait!
Another dangerous thing is America’s accusing the Kingdom of supporting religious extremism all over the world. In the midst of these disagreements between friends, we should not overlook or forget that there are those in the US who want to use every possible opportunity to undermine Saudi-US relations and ties. It is very unfortunate that the US opens its door to anti-Saudi groups who consider the Kingdom an enemy more dangerous than Iraq, Syria, Libya and Sudan together. These people want to destroy the close relations between the two houses, the White House and the House of Saud. They launched a campaign to end Saudi influence in Washington and defeat it in the region.
We should remember that Saudi Arabia is a leading Arab country, which pursues moderate policies but has expressed its opposition to the biased US support for Israel.
The picture from the ranch does not reflect the complexity of relations or the differences between the two countries. It does, however, show the success of Saudi diplomacy in Washington where many other Arab countries have not succeeded. Saudi-US relations are not based on oil alone because Riyadh sells oil at the same price as Iran; this long-standing relationship is based on more than 50 years of friendship. It is based not only on oil but also on moderateness, political credibility, responsibility, stability and continuity.
