Saudi Arabia and the United States have enjoyed a well known “special relationship” which, over a period of 70 years had developed and blossomed into a strategic alliance that benefited both countries. Recently this relationship has come under extreme strain. A critical juncture has been reached, and unless joint efforts are brought to bear to redress and rectify the underlying causes, the damage may be grave. It does not take great insight to conclude that the horrendous and terrorist act of 9/11 changed the factors influencing this relationship.
A great deal of effort has been expended in analyzing the fatal event; ranging from the cogent and perceptive, to the ridiculous and absurd. The ensuing onslaught on Saudi Arabia has been intense and at times purposefully malicious. Prior to 9/11, Saudi Arabia was the target of some criticism in the United States and elsewhere. But to what we have faced since 9/11, these criticisms seem tame by comparison. Since then, the attacks became to my mind irresponsibly vicious.
If Saudi Arabia is guilty of blame for what he has become, the United States must surely share the blame. Both of us backed the mujahedeen to liberate Afghanistan from Soviet occupation and allowed such people as Bin Laden into the fray. We all remember the days when the word mujahedeen was used in the media of the time to signify the paradigm of the true freedom fighter, when those same mujahedeen were honored, praised, and even received in the White House. No less a super hero than Rambo himself adopted their cause and fought with them side by side. The ideology that bin laden follows was ingrained in him by this radicalized cult of the Muslim Brotherhood. It is not the teaching of the Wahhabi reform movement or any other school indigenous......
