What was a hysterical media-frenzy in the US about Princess Haifa’s charitable donations and where they might have ended up has turned deadly serious. Yesterday’s statement from the White House that Saudi Arabia “is a good partner in the war against terrorism but can do more” changes everything. It is not just the veiled attack in what White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said — implying that Saudi Arabia is not pulling its weight in the fight against terrorism — but the very fact that it has been said in public. The Bush administration has decided to openly attack Saudi Arabia knowing full well that such megaphone diplomacy is not the way to sort out problems between governments. Relations between the two were strained as it was. This is going to make them worse.
What precisely does Washington expect? And in any case, who does it think it is to administer such a slap in the face or make such imperious demands? Are we Iraq? Are we the Afghanistan of the Taleban? We are a close ally of the US. Saudi Arabia has consistently bent over backward to help America — not just in the post-Sept. 11 fight against terrorism, with the two countries’ intelligence services cooperating fully, but far longer — always working to maintain oil price stability, to calm the more militantly anti-American views of other Arab governments and to try and find a just solution to the Palestine-Israeli issue. The Kingdom has been a stalwart friend to the US, even in the face of growing public anger here over its slavish support for Israel, and most recently over its policy against Iraq.
Earlier yesterday, before Fleischer made his comments, there were overtly hostile reports in the US press of unnamed officials, supposedly members of a National Security Council advisory group, recommending that Saudi Arabia be warned that if it did not take action against Saudis suspected of channeling funds to Al-Qaeda within 90 days, the US would take care of the problem itself. Washington should press Saudi Arabia, they said, to act against such people “even if there was insufficient information to pursue the suspects in a court of law.”
Such reports could have been dismissed as part of the press-generated hysteria now gripping the US. It seemed impossible that the US would stoop to copy Saddam Hussein’s tyrannical ways and embrace such brazen illegality. After all, these were only recommendations not government policy. Who can ignore them now?
The White House has allowed itself to be caught up in the press hysteria. It is pandering to public opinion and congressional prima donnas in a most disgraceful way. It is dangerous territory. Fleischer’s statement opens a breach that will be difficult to close. Having taken such a public stance on Saudi Arabia, the Bush administration may find it difficult to retreat to saner and safer relations.
So where will the Americans go from here? Are we to become Enemy No. 2 after Iraq if we do not dance to Washington’s demands? Ludicrous though that might seem, that is where this media-led hostile campaign against Saudi Arabia appears to be heading. If the White House does not close the floodgates now, we could all be in dangerous waters. The first thing it needs to do is be clear in what it wants from its friends. At present it sends Saudi Arabia requests to investigate individuals. Those individuals are investigated and the information sent back to Washington, which then says it is satisfied. If it is not satisfied it should ask for further information, not start whining in public.
