Posted on 11/17/2001 3:47:19 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
Can America still count on one of its most important allies in the Arab world -- Saudi Arabia? Or does an undercurrent of militant Islamic fundamentalism threaten the stability of both Saudi Arabia and the entire region? FRONTLINE and The New York Times explore these and other questions in "Saudi Time Bomb?"
Through interviews with U.S. and Saudi officials, political analysts, religious experts, and observers, this report outlines the history of U.S.-Saudi relations, the internal problems and contradictions within Saudi society, the growing Islamic fundamentalist movement that threatens Saudi Arabia's stability, and the troubling connections between Saudi Arabia and some Islamic religious schools, or "madrassas," which propagate an extreme form of Islam, known as Wahhabism, throughout the Muslim world.
"Saudi Time Bomb?" explores how Wahhabism is one of the undercurrents of Islamic extremism. This form of Islam, rooted in Saudi Arabia, is based on a particularly austere, literal interpretation of the Koran. (Critics say that Wahhabism's rigidity makes it open to misinterpretation and distortion.) Observers say some madrassas -- though intended to spread literacy among underprivileged youth through study of the Koran -- have evolved into Wahhabi schools that use the Koran to justify waging war against non-believers.
FRONTLINE chronicles how these madrassas grew into the thousands during the ten-year Afghan war against the Soviets. And how -- because of the nature of that war -- the madrassas, most notably in Pakistan, became training centers for jihad.
"They were recruiting, organizing schools which used Islamic ideology as a way of creating a very efficient guerrilla army," says Vali Nasr, an authority on Islamic fundamentalism. "You have the whole rise, if you would, of Islamic West Points."
Exploring the far-flung influence of Wahhabism, FRONTLINE tells the story of an impoverished boy from the Comoros Islands, Haroun Fazul. Schooled by a Wahhabi cleric at a madrassa, he received a scholarship to study at a Wahhabi madrassa in Pakistan, and from there went on to join Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. In 1998, he bombed the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, Kenya.
This report also examines the role of Saudi charities in funding some of these madrassas; the Wahhabi sect's close ties to the Taliban, many of whom were educated in Saudi-financed madrassas in Pakistan; and the current tensions between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia arising from the kingdom's seeming reluctance to cooperate in the war on terrorism.
In his interview with FRONTLINE in late September, the Saudi ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, maintained that the kingdom's relationship with the United States remains strong. Yet former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft concedes that there is much resentment among Saudis and other Arabs over America's strong support of Israel. And U.S. policymakers say there is also lingering resentment over the presence of U.S. troops stationed in Saudi Arabia. But both Scrowcroft and former Secretary of State James Baker maintain that America's Saudi-based troops are necessary to protect the region and its vast reserves of oil, on which the United States economy depends.
The Saudis are real good at finding and killing Christians--this should be a piece of cake for them.
Either THEY will have to clean up their act or we will have to do it for them.........precipitating alot of unforseen consequences.
It is a very sticky problem for the Saudis. Since the holiest sites for a world religion are located on their soil, and since a particularly puritan form of that religion (Wahhabiism) is widely practiced by their own people, it is not possible to envision any easy path forward.
What that means, I think, is that the matter has to be handled very carefully and indirectly. We can't overthrow the Royal House of Saud, but we could conceivably intervene if somebody else does. We can't go near the Holy Sites, but we could conceivably divide the country into two parts, one containing the oil, the other containing Mecca and Medina. Like the Vatican, these sites are too important in a religious sense to be combined with worldly power and wealth. As a Roman Catholic, I think it has been a very good thing for the Church that the Popes were separated from their former wealth and power as secular rulers, and what was true for the Vatican would probably also be true for Mecca and Medina. The Holy Sites need to be separated from the immense oil wealth and corrupt political agendas now intertwined with them.
Finally, this Saudi danger is a powerful argument to work toward energy independence ASAP. By blocking any movement, Democrats in congress are performing an extreme disservice to the security of our country.
The other problem is one to which America should pay special attention. The importing of millions of foreigners not as a part of society but to do their menial tasks and act as a base for discontent and revolution.
But the Saud family came to power thru Wahabi Islam and are promulgating it around the world. They ARE the Wahabi.
I sat up and watched rerun of this show from 2-3 a.m. this morning...well worth the loss of sleep. The transcript is not up at their web site yet, but will be in a few days. Suggest you catch the show or read the transcript.
Frontline and reporter Lowell Bergman have done an excellent job of tracking bin Laden and related issues for years. If you'd like to read transcript of their insightful show on bin Laden and his terrorist henchmen, created after bombing of our embassies in Africa a couple of years ago and updated after 911, go here: (Hunting BinLaden)
The Saudi Time Bomb show is so astonishing and so compelling, I may take the time to format it and post it here when it's available at PBS/frontline later this week. Unless there's someone out there who REALLY has time to do so.
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