U.S.-Saudi Relations
Dawood Al Shirian Al-Hayat 2005/04/28
A major consequence of 9/11 was the destruction of the U.S.-Saudi relations. In fact, there was mutual doubt and tepidity on both the political and popular levels. The U.S. administration yielded to public opinion and media orientations, which portrayed Saudi Arabia in a really bad image due to 15 out of 19 Saudi young people took part in carrying out the attacks. This persisted for a long while, despite Riyadh's movements to contain what soured this historic relationship. These efforts, media campaigns and delegations to improve Saudi Arabia's image with the American people and the decision-making institutions in the U.S., failed. Then came Crown Prince Abdullah's visit three years ago, which was extremely helpful in neutralizing some positions, and despite that, the aftermath of 9/11 still taints this interest-based historic relationship.
Last Monday, after the conclusion of the Crown Prince's visit, the image seemed different. The media spoke of warmth of relations between Riyadh and Washington. The final statement declared both sides' agreement on steps to reform this relationship indicated by the increase of military cooperation programs, increasing the number of Saudi students in the U.S., and forming committees to reinforce U.S. investments in the Kingdom. Is it possible to say that this visit ended a period of misunderstanding between both states and turned a new page?
Over the past three years, both sides discovered that restoring relations to what they used to be cannot be done through renovation, because what soured them needs deep rooted changes and different conditions. This is why a committee, headed by the U.S. Secretary of State and the Saudi Foreign Minister, was set up to reconstitute the entire relationship; from strategic levels, to details and machineries of this relationship. As such, it could be said that the visit was successful in declaring the serious will in forming a new relationship between Saudi Arabia and the U.S. True that this is vital to stress the two countries' need for each other, but it must be said that last Monday's meeting, as Saudi FM Saud Al Faisal said, was limited to the regional and oil policy, which a priority to the U.S. today, and did not deal with the Kingdom's internal affairs. If we borrow from the rhetoric of Palestinian negotiations, we could say that both sides agreed to postpone discussing the internal situation to the final solution in the negotiations of redrawing this relation. Here, we ask again,: could the delay in discussing the U.S. agenda's demands with respect to internal reforms in Saudi Arabia just a short-acting anesthetic, after which the relations would sour again?
There is no doubt that Saudi non-compliance with the American agenda delayed reaching an understanding that could restore the relations to their former status. This non-compliance will be a hurdle in the work of the committee. The U.S.-Saudi relations observer sees that over the past decades, they ignored the issue of values. However, today, the issue of values imposes itself, not to mention the so-called Greater Middle East (GME) plan, which Washington seeks to implement in the region, is based on values and as such, the forthcoming talks will not be easy.
However, the U.S.'s need for oil price stability is, perhaps, interfering in favor of the Saudi stance. Oil made a strong comeback as a decisive powerful political player, and is now a reliable negotiating card; despite what has been said since 9/11 on the need to not be dependent on Saudi oil and finding alternatives.
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