Opinion On The Saudi Kingdom

I'm writing a persuasive essay for my English class. Our teacher let us chose the topic, I chose our alliance with the Saudi Kingdom and how we should think twice about this friendship. My main points are that 19 of the 21 (or something like that) hijackers on 9/11 were Saudi nationalists, the wrest of Osama Bin Laden's family lives in Saudi Arabia and is one of the countries' wealthiest families, and my last point is that we have gone to far with our dependency on Saudi oil, oh yeah and Bush is also friends with Bin Laden's brother. Tell me if this is a good start or not. Thanks.

Excellent start. I would also reference that the Saudis agreed to US bases in exchange for US protection of the Saud family against any uprising by the Hawabi imams.

Don't forget Prince Bandar, the exodus of the bin Laden family on the 13th of September, and Zapata oils erection of oil derricks in the Persian gulf.

there is a recent National Geographic on the current Saudi society and economy














[Edited on 5/11/2004 by panchovilla]

U.S. bases in Saudi Arabia were for the first Iraq war, they never left. For the muslim world this is not acceptable, the reason, holy sites. The U.S. since helped to keep the Saudi monarchy in power. The Saudi royal family has kept known ties to the Bush family.

Get yourself some information on The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm based in Washington.

G. Bush Sr., ex-US President (1988-1992), Former Director of the CIA (Carlyle Senior Advisor),

Sr., F. Carlucci, Secretary of Defense, Reagan Administration (Carlyle Chairman/CEO),

James Baker III, Secretary of State, Bush Administration (Carlyle Senior Counselor),

John Major, Former Prime Minister of UK (Carlyle Europe Chairman),

Fidel Ramos, Former President of the Phillipines (Carlyle Asia Advisory Board),

Richard G. Darman, White House Budget Advisor, Bush / Clinton Administrations (Carlyle Managing Director)

C. Powel has also worked for them, as many prominent individuals worldwide also do.

The Carlyle Groups investors include, members of The Saudi Royal Family and used to include Bin Laden Family members.
Ties are broken with the Bin Laden Clan, well that's what they say.

Related Sources
The ex-presidents' club
The Carlyle Group
Causes of 9/11: U.S. Troops in Saudi Arabia?


[Edited on 11-5-2004 by Hoaks]

You may want to check out Craig Unger's book, House of Bush, House of Saud

Here's the essay, what do you think?:


Saudi Arabia;
Should We Still Trust Them?

Corruption within the Saudi kingdom, U.S. greed for more oil, terrorism, and anti-American fervency within the Saudi religious community have damaged the alliance between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. The friendship between the U.S. and the Saudi kingdom a friendship in name only and therefore it is useless.
On September 11, 2001, nineteen Saudi nationalists boarded planes that would never come back. Later on, the U.S. government discovered that not only were the nineteen hijackers from the U.S.�s closest ally in the Middle East, but that these hijackers were members of the middle class and well to do families. This profile was unique one; terrorists in the past came from uneducated and poor backgrounds. The U.S. realized that the anti-American fervency once thought only to have a strong influence among the lower classes, had now influenced much of the upper class as well.
In the past, it was thought that terrorists came mainly from poor backgrounds and took such actions because they had no voice in the political community. But, now learning from the events of 9/11, we now know that anyone can become displeased with the U.S. This shows that many more citizens of the
Saudi kingdom had become influenced with the anti-Americanism that has almost taken over the country. Because of this anti-American hatred that has begun to sweep across the kingdom, the U.S. government should think twice about their friendship with the Saudis.
Many Islamic charities have been thought to funnel money to causes such as Osama Bin Laden�s. Apparently, there is no governmental agency overseeing to where the donated proceeds go and who is donating the money. This shows that many of the wealthy families of our closest ally in the Middle East are donating money to charities that funnel proceeds to Islamic militants, we therefore cannot trust the Saudis to cooperate with us on the War on Terror.
According to a poll by Time/CNN and conducted by Harris Interactive, the question was asked; �Do you think Saudi Arabia is a country the United States can trust as an ally, or a country that we can�t trust as an ally?� Out of 1,003 adults with a margin of error of around 3%, 72% said the United States should not trust the Saudi kingdom as an ally and only 17% said we could trust them, while only 11% said they were not sure. Looking at these statistics proves that the American citizens do not want to see their government cooperate and be friends with a kingdom, just for oil, which has corrupted itself, while its country is on the verge of civil war.
It seems like the Bush Administration will do anything to keep relations going smoothly with the House of Saud. In an article done by Jeff Jacoby of aish.com, a quote from the article says that the Saudis are involved in every aspect of terrorism from cadre
to foot-soldier; �[the Saudis] are active at every level of the terror chain, from planners to financiers, from cadre to foot-soldier, from ideologist to cheerleader.� Responding to this statement, Bush once again reassured the American citizens that the friendship between the two countries remains intact �Such talk, Bush assured Abdullah, �cannot affect the eternal friendship between the two countries.��
For many years, the government of Saudi Arabia had allowed to the religious community to preach whatever type of Islam they chose. Most mullahs preach a very strict and extreme form of Islam called Wahabism. Wahabism refers to Muhammad Ibn Abdulwahhab of Nejd in the Arabian Peninsula who lived in the eighteenth century C.E. according to The Institute of Islamic Information and Education. Because of this religious freedom, the mullahs continue to preach anti-Americanism. As a result of this, many young children and grown adults have grown up with the ideologies that have been preached by the mullahs and, which cause hatred for the United States.
Realizing these important issues concerning the War on Terror, the relationship with the Saudi Kingdom should be looked at again. We can see that there are many factors alienating the Saudis from the U.S. because of these issues. Therefore it is best that the U.S., if it wants to be successful in it�s War on Terror, should reconsider it�s friendship with the kingdom.

Anyone have any opinions?