The Saudi Dilemma
The Saudi dilemma: Dick Cheney, the US Vice-President, is in Saudi Arabia in an attempt to bolster support for the war on terrorism and the campaign against Iraq. The BBC’s ADRIAN ADDISON and MICHAEL WILLIAMS have been allowed rare access to the secret kingdom.
By ADRIAN ADDISON and MICHAEL WILLIAMS
In Saudi Arabia, the ultra-modern and the mediaeval coexist. In the centre of Riyadh, a mud fort sits opposite the brick and concrete buildings around Dira Square where children ride their bicycles and kick their footballs through the fountains that cascade on to the marble flagstones in front of the modern mosque.
In the dusk, the vending machines glow neon-bright and Pepsi quenches the thirst of the faithful who gather in the square. Then comes the call to prayer and, while the men are away, the women take the opportunity to loosen the veils from their faces a little.
Last Monday, Yehya ibn Mozhal Al-Anzi was brought into this square and decapitated by a man with a sword. A Saudi court had found him guilty of murder and sharia law demanded his head.
The streets of Riyadh are jammed with Mercedes and BMWs but women are forbidden to take the wheel. They can shop at Harvey Nichols or the boutiques selling Armani and Versace clothes but, outside the house, this finery must be covered from top to toe with the black abaya, which has a narrow slit for the eyes.
Parts of the capital look like an American shopping mall, parts like Knightsbridge but, in many ways, Riyadh is living in the 15th century. The Islamic new year turned over last week to 1423.
But there is a secret behind the Secret Kingdom. In a land fabled for its wealth, there is growing unemployment, the population has grown massively in recent years and, in the past quarter century, GDP has fallen from around pounds 18,000 per head to under pounds 5,000.
These economic problems are causing growing dissatisfaction and some young people, searching for meaning and direction, have found a cause in radical Islam.
The Kingdom is balanced, unsteadily, between ancient and modern. While the Crown Prince Abdallah ibn Abdel Aziz, who has day-to-day running of the country, might want to bring in small, liberal changes, he is limited by the powerful conservative Islamists. Saudi Arabia is many places. It is a clan-based, traditional, tribal kingdom where connection to the ruling family brings comfort and wealth. It is also home to Islam's holiest sites and is ruled on strict Islamic principles. It is also best friends with the West.
It is the paradox of this position that is exacerbating existing tensions in the country. The American military camp on the outskirts of Riyadh, for instance, is enough to make Osama bin Laden turn in his cave. Called Eskan village, more than 1,000 American servicemen and women are free to ignore Saudi tradition and customs by lounging together next to the pool, soaking up the harsh Arabian sun in shorts and bikinis. It was built by the bin Laden family construction company.
Six years ago the al-Qaeda leader issued a statement declaring war on America and ordering "the crusaders" to leave Saudi Arabia. "After belief," he stated, "there is no more important duty than pushing the American enemy out of the Holy Land. Muslims burn with anger at America. For its own good, America should leave Saudi Arabia." Many, if not a majority, of Saudis agree with him.
The mission of the US Military Training Mission (USMTM) base is to advise, assist and enhance Saudi capability, and to make the Saudi armed forces "inter-operable" with US forces. The anti-Americans of Saudi Arabia, however, believe that their forces are little more than a unit of the US military.
This makes bin Laden a hero for his dramatic "defence" of the Muslim holy lands - Mecca and Medina (in Saudi) and the city they call Al Quds, which the West knows as Jerusalem. Abu Faisal, 22, is an angry, highly-educated Islamic activist. He does not dare agitate openly - he has been questioned before by the security forces, an unpleasant experience in Saudi Arabia, and is understandably wary.
After a series of coded messages with anonymous contacts on a mobile phone, we eventually met him in a downmarket but "secure" hotel in downtown Riyadh.
"I was really very, very happy that Saudi people got involved in the attacks on America," he told us.
"Fifteen Saudis were chosen for this mission [the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington], this was no accident - it was a deliberate message to Saudi Arabia and the Americans. We want the American government to change their policy on Palestine and we want to cut their strategic relationship with the Saudi government. They should get out of the Middle East and stop propping up these dictatorial regimes.
"They talk about 5,000 Americans dying. How many have now died in Palestine, Afghanistan? How many are living dead lives in Saudi? We have the right to use violence against America, they have been using it against us for years."
Whether he was idly boasting, or whether Abu Faisal had inside knowledge it was not possible to fathom, but he declared that September 11 was just one in a planned sequence of attacks on America. "What happened on September 11 was one of seven strategic hits. At the end of this operation," he stated ominously, "the Americans will be so busy with themselves that they will not be able to interfere out of their borders."
US Vice-President Dick Cheney is in Saudi Arabia today, a critical stop on his global tour to shore up support for America's War on Terrorism. But, if he is looking for Saudi support for an attack on Iraq - which many here believe is scheduled for later this year - he faces disappointment.
Although Saudi Arabia is the US's second-closest ally in the Middle East after Israel, one senior government official told us that America would not be allowed to use its bases for an assault on Saddam.
He said: "We would love to see Saddam Hussein dead, but we do not want Iraqi civilians killed. Too many Muslims have been killed by American bombs already."
Every Saudi we spoke to - from royalty to the unemployed - is dismayed by the US support for Israel. They see it as the root of all America's problems with Islamic extremists, and the recruitment sergeant for militant groups such as al-Qaeda.
Every day the newspapers are covered in graphic pictures and details of how yet more Palestinians have been killed by the American-armed Israelis. Abdul Rahman, 19, is unemployed, angry and ripe for recruitment by bin Laden and his like.
We met him and five of his friends outside a mosque in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia's second city and bin Laden's birthplace. He told us: "Israel is America's 51st state. Israel and America are the same.
"Our Palestinian brothers are being butchered there. We blame the Jews first, then the Americans. What is happening to Muslims there is wrong, everybody can see it.
"We have only stones to throw and our lives to give, but the Jews have American guns and tanks and helicopters. It is American bullets that kill our brothers.
"Most here see little difference between the Stars and Stripes and the Star of David."
Adrian Addison and Michael Williams work for the Today programme. Next week the BBC Radio 4 programme will air a series of their reports from the Secret Kingdom.
© Telegraph Media Group Limited 2002. March 17, 2002 Daily Telegraph, The/The Sunday Telegraph (London, England)
