November 24, 2002

OUR FRIENDS THE SAUDIS: TIME FOR DIPLOMACY BY OTHER MEANS

    Finally, despite the desparate duplicities of our State Dept., and the likes of Adel Al Jubeir, the undeniable truth is emerging about the Saudis. Regrettably, Vladimir Putin is unlikely to accept appointment as U. S. Secretary of State; we're stuck with Colin Powell and the State Dept. deniers. Yet if the truth continues to spread, we can be liberated from the absurd constraints placed on us by the shared falsehood that the House of Saud is our friend. What action should follow from recognition of the truth?
We are reprinting Dr. Kramer's June, 2002 essay which is even more apposite today than it was last summer.

WE MUST MAKE THE SAUDI PRINCES FEEL OUR PAIN

     A few weeks ago Vice President Cheney acknowledged that there will without question be other terrorist attacks on America. The cloud of terror still hangs over the heads of the people of America. Not much has changed in nine months—even after the defeat of the Taliban and the destruction of thousands of Al Qaeda soldiers in Afghanistan. Why are we waiting for another shoe to drop? History will surely ask why the most powerful nation on earth should submissively accept a fate meted out by a flock of Saudi princes and their paid assassins. Perhaps there is an alternative to the strategy of resignation.

    We are putting pressure on the wrong targets. Going after members of Al Qaeda—even the handful of leaders—is like trying to push on water—you displace a few cubic centimeters and make a few ripples—but you can’t get rid of it.

    Those, in the long run, most responsible for the climate of terror in this country are the political leaders of the Wahabbian Muslim world, the princes of Saudi Arabia. And while 3 thousand Americans (and perhaps hundreds or thousands to come) have died and billions of our treasure have been despoiled, not one morsel of pain or discomfort has been experienced by those who are in the most powerful position to influence Al Qaeda—the princes of the royal family and their friends and contacts in the Muslim world. Why would they be motivated to be of assistance to the U.S., except in the most attenuated way, as long as they have nothing at stake?

    The press has begun—in advance of the government—to recognize the two-faced position that the Saudis have occupied for years, but somehow it is afraid to articulate the next logical step in an effective war against terror. We must make the political leaders of Saudi Arabia participate in our pain, our deaths, our destruction.

    When they begin to feel such pain they will quickly become highly motivated to take whatever steps are necessary to reduce attacks on America. They will stop economic and moral support to Al Qaeda. They will put pressure on religious leaders, their press, their national and local political leaders, who in turn will put pressure on the so-called Arab street to stop beating the drums of terrorism. They will also become much more cooperative about supplying information to us, from whatever source, that will be of assistance in interdicting those they cannot directly control.

     What the U.S. government should do immediately is (1) formulate a list of targets that are highly valued by the Saudi leadership (as distinct from the Arab street). These will be a mixture of sites that are treasured by Saudis for economic, military, political, religious or cultural reasons. I would assume economic sites—such as oil fields and sea ports, ships, etc.—would be high on such a list. Next might be the personal toys of the princes—racing stables, palaces, etc. Population centers should be on the list with the qualification that if such become targets a 48 hour warning to the Saudi government would make them responsible for evacuating such targets. The final items on the list would be the most powerful symbols of their culture (just as they singled out our World Trade Center for destruction)--Medina and Mecca. Hopefully, it would not come to that, but we must be willing and show that we are willing to go that far—to show that we mean business, that all of the oil in Arabia is not worth one more American life.
(2) The Saudis should be informed privately and/or publicly that targets on the target list will be instantly hit by missiles when the next terror attack occurs. It may be hard to find Osama Bin Laden but it is not hard to find 10 or 15 per cent of the Saudi oil fields. And 25 per cent the next time, and so on. This would be non-negotiable. We must make it clear that no matter who carries out the next terror attack—whether they identify themselves or not—the next target on the list will be struck. To prevent such automatic strikes the Saudis would have to start getting into the anti-terror business in a very big way.
(3) We must stop worrying about being fair, just, and gentlemanly. We must turn a deaf ear to world opinion, European posturing, and the siren songs of well meaning liberal ideologues who want to hold us to standards that are only appropriate in a peacetime liberal democracy. In our present situation, fairness, justice, and due process are not only meaningless but dangerous to the health of innocent people.

Yale Kramer