The Saudi-American relationship

In my blog post “A Little Perspective” I set-up, in general terms, the ‘reason’ why the US came here in the first place.  Purposefully avoiding any confrontation, I glossed over the birth of the relationship as special interest vs. protection.  Obviously, there’s a helluva lot more to our two nation’s relationship than what I mentioned.  The commingling of politics, oil and religion have strained and strengthened this partnership for over 60 years.

So as I learn more about this country and our relations with it, I’ve become more and more interested in the view points of individuals from both sides.  With great trepidation I’ll start the discussion with my basic understanding of how we got here.  Please understand that any opinions that I may espouse here are purely my own and not necessarily that of my command, the US Army or our political leaders.  This proclamation is simply to limit the fall-out of my being ignorant in my understanding.  Believe me, that happens more often than I’d like to admit.  With that, I hope you’ll chime in either to share your perspective or to correct mine.

Here’s what I’ll try to tackle this go-‘round: how did we get here?  How’d we maintain a relationship with a devout Islamic culture through the Cold War and 9/11?  15 of the 19 9/11 attackers were Saudi citizens.  We sell arms to a nation that wants to drive Israel (our ally) “into the sea”, right?

Not to ignore the first 3 decades of partnership, but I gather that three significant events in 1979 were the genesis for today’s environment.  First, Khomeini of Iran had his intentions to push the Shi’a version of Islam beyond his borders (Sunni was the predominate version of Islam in the Middle East).  Then, the Mosque of Mecca was seized by Saudi extremists.  Finally, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.  This prompted Saudi Arabia to pump money into the coffers of religious institutes to include mosques, schools and charities on a regional and global scope to purposefully bolster religious radicalism – to push for ‘jihad’.  This politicizing of religion had an immediate and damaging impact on Soviet efforts in Afghanistan, a benefit not lost on the U.S. which not only gave tacit approval but even armed the mujahedeen.  We supported these efforts throughout the 1980’s because it served our national interests at the time.  Hell, it’s what won us the Cold War.  Unfortunately, 9/11 seems to be the price we paid for the strategies we chose to win the Cold War.  The religious radicalism we supported to ally with all sectors of the muslim culture in order to defeat “godless communism” is the very problem we face today in this region.  I’m not saying what we did was wrong.  And I certainly do not think the U.S. had any idea that today's threat of terrorism on the West would be a by-product of our course of action against Cold War enemies.  But we seem to be reaping what we sewed.

  So, how do we move forward?  How do we shape foreign policy to maintain our union and push political reform to a proselytizing nation (and region for that matter)?  Push too hard and you’ll increase radicalism (see Iran and Algeria) in a nation that houses the birthplace of Islam.  Push too fast and you’ll trigger out-right chaos (see Iraq).

 If the rose can be pinned on the religion of Islam alone, we’re screwed.  But, if the problem is at all political, there’s hope.  Policies are malleable; so too are the environments governed by them.

So what do you think?

Don't worry, this is not a change in the overall direction and purpose of this blog.  My capacity to wax rhapsodic on international relations is shallow at best.  Just wanted to mix it up a little and see what y'all think.