Since Sept. 11, 2001, the American public's interest in Saudi Arabia has peeked. There was little understanding of Saudi Arabia, of its people, culture, economy, and history prior to that infamous date, which marked a new era for Saudi Arabia and the United States alike. By now, it has long been clich? to note that the fact 15 of the 19 Sept. 11 assailants were of Saudi Arabian origin left each nation seeking answers.
Saudi Arabia, which has itself been on the receiving end of terrorist attacks since that fateful day in the United States, has undergone a period of retrospection, which has begun to manifest itself in a number of ways at the political and cultural level. Society has openly discussed lingering problems such as the quality of education, unemployment and underemployment, the role of women in society, and the misuse of Islam by militants. The government has organized local elections, moved toward entering the World Trade Organization, and eliminated nearly all the individuals on its most wanted list. To be certain, there is much going on in Saudi Arabia. Many serious problems must be addressed and challenges overcome in the near future.
In the 20th century, Saudi Arabia has a distinct history that resulted in the creation of Saudi Arabia, which, along with the land's rich history prior to the Kingdom's formation, shapes the contemporary nation's vantage point. Saudi Arabia is a nation in transition that primarily thanks to its oil resources, rapidly modernized. The Saudi population has exploded. The world - thanks to improved transportation, communication, and globalization - has shrunk. Regionally, the Middle East's political situation has been transformed. The world - long divided along Cold War and post-Cold War parameters - has changed. Religion, always a hot topic, remains a cohesive and divisive political issue, for Saudi Arabia, its neighbors, and the world.
There is much about Saudi Arabia that can and should be fairly explored. There are many questions that could be answered. And there is a wealth of sources and material available to journalists, writers, and others that could help enlighten Americans and others, including Saudis themselves, about the Kingdom.
But in the age of "info-tainment," when sensationalism rules the day and news outlets are judged by ratings rather than quality of content, it is far easier to report about the sinister. In light of the Sept.11 attacks, books and movies about Saudi Arabia, with notable exception, dwell on the negative. Collectively, they paint an image of a nation filled from the upper echelons of government to the average citizen with terrorist-sympathizers, who encourage violence in the name of religion. It depicts a grossly repressed, outwardly devout but deeply hypocritical populace, which - no doubt fueled by erotic concepts of harems ala Arabian Nights - is sex-crazed. Women are treated merely like chattel.
John Bradley's "Saudi Arabia Exposed: Inside a Kingdom in Crisis" (Published by Palgrave Macmillan, June 2005) is yet another attempt to smear the Kingdom. Bradley, formerly employed by the Arab News, attempts to raise Western eyebrows by examining all these and other titillating issues. It should be no surprise that Bradley's conclusions on each issue sullies the nation and, by and large, its people, considering his primary sources include Carmen Bin Laden and Said Aburish - both of whom penned sensational books about Saudi Arabia - and the staunchly pro-Israel Middle East Media Research Institute.
To be fair, Bradley does highlight some important issues confronting the Kingdom, including regionalism, gender rights, and education. But his theorems and conclusions are nearly all based on anecdotal evidence, conjecture, or the aforementioned sources. Bradley also utilizes students and others with whom he conversed while living in-country, to make broad generalizations - some true, many false - about the Saudi government and society. While attacking the character of the nation, Bradley also resorts to name calling, pointlessly hoisting up many of his former colleagues as glaring examples of Saudi Arabia's many shortcomings.
Bradley's book, like muckraking author Gerald Posner's "Secrets of the Kingdom: The Inside Story of the Secret US-Saudi Connection", is yet another in a long line of poorly researched books on Saudi Arabia. More often than not, they cite each other in leveling an array of indictments.
There are two motives for attacking Saudi Arabia in the manner done by Bradley and others in the post-Sept.11 world. One is a genuine animosity toward the Kingdom. Fair enough, one is entitled to their opinion. The other is to join the bandwagon and capitalize on the publicity and possible financial rewards of launching a broadside.
Last year, one of the most popular American films was Michael Moore's Fahrenheit/911. The film touched on a number of issues that emerged in the last four years, including President Bush's connections to Saudi Arabia. Moore raised a laundry list of accusations about Bush, his father, the Bin Laden family, and the Saudi royal family. His attacks were largely based on the decidedly anti-Saudi, anti-Bush book by Craig Unger, "House of Bush, House of Saud". Moore's line of attack was thin, but resonated because he took advantage of the American public's fears about Saudi Arabia, extremism, and terrorism.
That Bradley followed the lead of Moore and others in capitalizing off the Saudi image problem in the United States seems clear. What is unfortunate is that often lost in the mix of these sensationalized works are credible, well documented books such as Tom Lippman's "Inside the Mirage: America's Fragile Partnership with Saudi Arabia", which do not elicit as much attention. Let us hope that future works will focus more on serious research and analysis rather than throwing out more red meat to appease the fearful masses.
- David Dumke is Principal of the MidAmr Group.
