9/11 changed it all

For all the wrong reasons, it changed forever the way the world viewed the Kingdom. The old but relatively harmless lack of knowledge about Saudi Arabia was replaced by a new ignorance based on suspicion and accusations of it being a wellspring of terrorism.
Little could anyone around the world have realized the immensity of what was about to occur when they picked up their newspapers on the morning of Sept. 11. For readers of Arab News that Tuesday, the news was not much different to that of any other day. Israeli tanks had moved into Gaza, new training institutes were planned across the Kingdom and expats had transferred home SR20 billion over the previous seven months. There was also, though, the tale-telling report that the anti-Taleban Afghan leader Ahmed Shah Masoud, wounded in a suicide attack two days earlier, had died. But its full significance and connections to the events that were about to happen could only be understood afterward.
When it happened, the enormity of the attacks was fully understood by Arab News. “America will never be the same again” wrote Editor in Chief Khaled Almaeena the following day, conveying the tidal wave of shock and grief that had swept over the US. He wrote from Boston where he was when the attacks occurred.
The shock was felt as much in Saudi Arabia as anywhere else. Across the Kingdom, people were likewise glued to their TV screens; demand for newspapers soared. There was an added element to the horror. It was almost immediately clear that those responsible were probably Muslims and Arabs. From the very beginning, Arab News did not fall into the dangerous trap of denial. It believed Al-Qaeda was involved and indicated as much in its editorial on the day after the attack — although we also believed that the terror group did not have the capacity to act alone.
The great fear was that because Muslims and Arabs might have been involved they would be targeted in reprisal — as turned out to be the case. In his front-page commentary, Almaeena commended the American media for their restraint in assigning blame before the evidence could be examined, but the fear that Arabs and Muslims would become scapegoats could not be contained.
In an article entitled “A major crime against Islam and Muslims,” Jamal Khashoggi, now editor of Al-Watan but then managing editor at Arab News, wrote how he had prayed to God that no Arab or Muslim had been involved in the attacks. Sadly, he said, his prayers were not answered. “As the first arrests were made and it became apparent that Arabs would be held responsible for the crimes, I asked for the support of Allah to get us through this time of crisis.”
In the ensuing days, weeks and months, the consequences of 9/11 were the paper’s constant headlines. It was not just the rallying around America (which included firm support from Saudi Arabia) or the US ultimatums to the Afghan Taleban regime or the inevitability of war in Afghanistan as the international community, propelled by the Bush administration, made its plans to invade. There were the growing attacks on Arabs and Muslims in the US and elsewhere as Islamophobia grew by leaps and bounds — sometimes the attacks were on people who were merely perceived to be Arabs or Muslims.
Arab News in its first editorial the day after 9/11 had predicted as much. “The American people will demand revenge and President Bush will have no problem in agreeing. Once the finger of blame is pointed in whichever direction by the US, the consequences are going to be even more dreadful than the attacks.” That was sadly the case. In one sense, Afghanistan — and Iraq — are still suffering the consequences of President Bush’s naive and divisive worldview that “either you’re with us or you’re against us.”
There were particular consequences for Saudi Arabia and for Saudis too. As the names of the terrorists were released and it became apparent that many were Saudi citizens, the realization that the Kingdom would be blamed began to materialize. Doors that had been wide open closed shut. Saudis were suddenly unwelcome in the US. They were targeted or felt to be targeted. Saudi students began to return home in their thousands. Visas became difficult to obtain. Meanwhile, so much of the US media had a field day alleging Saudi support for Al-Qaeda, none of which stood up in the light of day. Arab News covered all this. It reported the smears, the humiliating treatment on arrival of those who managed to get visas, the exodus of students, the widespread decision of Saudi businessmen to go and do business elsewhere rather than face the ordeal of going to the US — and all against a background of a straining Saudi-American relationship.
That 15 of the 19 perpetrators of one of the world’s most heinous acts of terrorism were Saudis was difficult enough to bear but that a nation should be held accountable for the actions of just 15 people seemed equally unjust, especially since it was clear that Saudis had been selected by Al-Qaeda for two reasons — to undermine the relationship between the US and the Kingdom and also because, unlike virtually all other Arabs and Muslims, they could enter the US without any hassle whatsoever. Not afterward.
The consequences of 9/11 still make news, whether it is Afghanistan, the whereabouts of Osama Bin Laden, the activities of Al-Qaeda or the renewed American enthusiasm for Saudi students in the US. How long the shock waves will continue to stir events is anyone’s guess.