Saudi Arabia is neither our enemy nor our ally

  • Jim Hoagland / Washington Post columnist
  • Wednesday, August 21, 2002 9:00pm
  • Opinion

WASHINGTON — The United States went to war in the Persian Gulf 11 years ago in part to save Saudi Arabia from invasion by Iraq. That task was quickly accomplished. But not even American military power could then save the Saudis from themselves. The Saudis must still accomplish that, on their own.

With Iraq in retreat and Iran absorbed with its own problems, Saudi Arabia seemed poised a decade ago to undertake reform at home and accept greater regional responsibility. It still had oil money to spare and strong influence in Washington.

Instead, immobility and decline set in. Saudi Arabia’s rulers did little to modernize their kingdom. They ignored or sought to export many of the problems created within by religious intolerance and an overtaken tribal political system.

The Saudi-born fanatic Osama bin Laden went to Central Asia and launched hijacking teams populated by Saudi citizens to carry out the Sept. 11 attacks. Bin Laden then plainly said that the American victims served as stand-ins for the Saudi rulers and their supporters.

The terrorist assault demonstrated the failure of U.S. deterrence against American enemies in the Persian Gulf region. What can deter people committed to the greatest amount of destruction and death possible? Saudi Arabia’s continuing weakness also underlined the failure of the American balance-of-power approach in the region, practiced under various labels (remember "dual containment?") since the overthrow of the shah of Iran in 1979.

This twin failure leaves the Saudi royal family stranded in a political no-man’s land as a new Gulf War approaches. Not yet an avowed enemy, Saudi Arabia is not still a firm ally for Washington, either.

It is far-fetched to declare the Saudi regime an enemy, as some have in the recent overheated debate here. Saudi Arabia exercises a stabilizing influence on oil prices and supplies and has yet to make its final decisions on cooperation in a U.S. campaign against Iraq. The regime will work strenuously to avoid making any decision on the military front at all.

Thus the accusation of "enemy" misses the point: It gives the Saudi regime credit for a decision-making ability and a focus on regional and world affairs that it has in fact lacked for years. Saudi Arabia has stumbled into causing harm to the United States and its own interests. It has not charged in with premeditated malice.

This Saudi vacuum was not inevitable. And it may not be immutable. In the early 1970s, King Faisal mixed shrewdness and ruthlessness to make the sparsely populated kingdom a major player in world politics. In a series of interviews over a decade with Faisal, his two successors, Khalid and Fahd, and the current day-to-day leader, Crown Prince Abdullah, I developed a sense of a flawed but still workable system that could adapt, slowly, to global and local change.

But the House of Saud was struck by any royal family’s greatest fear: Illness immobilized Fahd but did not remove him from the scene. He has floated in and out of control and lucidity for the past decade. Princely corruption and sloth have gone unchecked — but not unnoticed by an increasingly resentful populace.

In any other neighborhood, the Saudi plight might be easily manageable. But the Persian Gulf is an unforgiving graveyard for complacency and political misjudgment. It is a zone of gathering and interacting turmoil and instability. George W. Bush does not have the option of inaction if he is to protect America’s vital interests in a timely fashion.

That is why Bush simultaneously pursues war plans against Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, a subtle effort at the political subversion of Iran’s ayatollahs and a difficult balancing act with Saudi Arabia. The region today is a forest of falling trees.

Iraq’s Baathist dictatorship is a dying if still highly dangerous Nazi-like remnant of Arab socialist nationalism. Stuck in the Nasser era, the regime has enslaved its talented and resourceful people and holds them in a time warp. In Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini’s Islamic revolution has run its course and must now bend or break as a profoundly disaffected population demands change. And Saudi Arabia’s royals can no longer treat their country and its oil wealth as their private plaything and piggybank. They can no longer ignore the vast problems their now unworkable succession system and social codes produce for them and the world.

Saudi Arabia can still be saved. Not by America’s armed forces, but by its own people and rulers. But they do not have even a minute to waste. It is rare in world politics to get a second chance to fix a mistake as big as losing a decade. Saudi Arabia must seize a last opportunity for salvation.

Jim Hoagland can be reached at The Washington Post Writers Group, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, DC 20071-9200 or hoaglandj@washpost.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Opinion

toon
Editorial cartoons for Saturday, Feb. 8

A sketechy look at the news of the day.… Continue reading

bar graph, pie chart and diagrams isolated on white, 3d illustration
Editorial: Don’t let state’s budget numbers intimidate you

With budget discussions starting soon, a new website explains the basics of state’s budget crisis.

Comment: Democracy depends on support of local journalism

A state bill provides funding to support local news outlets through a modest tax on tech businesses.

Comment: Love is intoxicating; romance doesn’t have to be

Navigating sobriety while dating, with Valentine’s Day coming up, is possible and fulfilling.

Comment: State attempt at single-payer health care bound to fail

Other states have tried, but balked when confronted with the immense cost to state taxpayers.

Forum: Requiem for a lost heavyweight: Sports Illustrated

SI, with Time and NatGeo, were a holy trinity for me and my dad. Now, it’s a world of AI clickbait.

Forum: Political leaders should leave trash talk to ballplayers

Verbal intimidation is one thing on the basketball court; it shouldn’t have a place in our politics.

The Buzz: Why, no, we have complete trust in Elon Musk

But whatever he and Trump are doing to the country, could they please wish it into the cornfield?

Curtains act as doors for a handful of classrooms at Glenwood Elementary on Monday, Sept. 9, 2024 in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Editorial: Schools’ building needs point to election reform

Construction funding requests in Arlington and Lake Stevens show need for a change to bond elections.

FILE- In this Nov. 14, 2017, file photo Jaìme Ceja operates a forklift while loading boxes of Red Delicious apples on to a trailer during his shift in an orchard in Tieton, Wash. Cherry and apple growers in Washington state are worried their exports to China will be hurt by a trade war that escalated on Monday when that country raised import duties on a $3 billion list of products. (Shawn Gust/Yakima Herald-Republic via AP, File)
Editorial: Trade war would harm state’s consumers, jobs

Trump’s threat of tariffs to win non-trade concessions complicates talks, says a state trade advocate.

A press operator grabs a Herald newspaper to check over as the papers roll off the press in March 2022 in Everett. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald file photo)
Editorial: Push back news desert with journalism support

A bill in the state Senate would tax big tech to support a hiring fund for local news outlets.

toon
Editorial cartoons for Friday, Feb. 7

A sketchy look at the news of the day.… Continue reading

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.