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Britain
Saudis lathered up about war
2003-03-26
The Saudi perspective on the war is the same as that of every other Arab country. They are against it.
Say it ain't so!
There have been no public manifestations of this, because the Saudis are not a demonstrating kind of people. They don't go out onto the streets like they do in Egypt and Jordan. It is not really part of the tradition, and the authorities wouldn't allow it anyway.
Demonstrating is an, um, unhealthy spectator sport in SA.
Yet the feeling here is as strong and passionate as anywhere else: in fact, you could argue that it is more intense. There was an opinion poll recently, which suggested that, among the nominally officially pro-western Arab countries of Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, UAE and Saudi, public hostility to America was greater here than anywhere else. Only 3% of the population had what could be defined as a favourable view of the US, whereas last year it was 12%.
They realize who the real enemy is. And they're hoping Iraq's a flop, because if it isn't, they're eventually toast.
The Saudi regime, like every other Arab regime, wants the war to be finished as quickly and painlessly as possible. They want as few casualties and as few spectacles of dead civilians seen on their television sets as possible.
Wouldn't want anyone to get any ideas, you know.
They'd prefer that the pictures of dead Iraqis, civilian or military, be vastly outnumbered by pictures of stacks of dead Merkins...
Everyone is glued to the television here. Most Arabs watch al-Jazeera, and the Saudis are no exception. They are also listening to the Lebanese Hizbullah radio station. They aren't watching their own TV stations.
Reminds me of the old Yakov Smirnoff joke: "In Russia there are two TV stations. Channel 1 has propaganda. Channel 2 has KGB agent telling you to turn back to Channel 1."
Saudi newspapers are pretty similar to other Arab newspapers.
That bad?
There is a good deal of hostility to Saddam Hussein, but this in no way detracts from the anger about the invasion.
Well, okay then, no more hypocritical than the Independent.
There is great resentment that an Arab country with an Arab population is being invaded by a foreign power. It is also noticeable that the pockets of Iraqi resistance are generating a lot of Arab pride. People feel that this is what Arabs should be doing.
Wonder how much pride they'll take in the good people of Basra off'ing the Fedayeen yesterday. If they ever hear about it.
Officially, the US troops stationed in Saudi are not playing any part in the war, but they obviously are. There are no ground troops, but the regime is very ambiguous and evasive about it.
"We know nothing. NOTHING!"
The Saudi people only learn about it from foreign radio stations and gossip. It seems to be an established fact that US troops in Saudi do have a role directing the air war, even though no fighter planes actually take off from here to participate in action. Saudi people are very opposed to US troops in their country. This situation exemplifies the dilemma facing the Saudi regime, which is officially opposed to the war. They are trapped between their need to please the Americans, on whom they think they depend for their survival, and their public's anti-American opinion."
They won't be depending on us for their survival much longer. As Glenn Reynolds would say, "Heh."
Posted by:Steve White

#3  To paraphrase Rupert Giles- "When I want your opinion, Saud-- I will never want your opinion."
Posted by: Hermetic   2003-03-26 14:30:49  

#2  Taro:

I hope we stay in some of those bases. They'll make nice staging areas for the invasion of the Arabian peninsula to depose the House of Sa'ud.
Posted by: Mike   2003-03-26 05:37:34  

#1  I hope we get out of there soon as the war is over. Dramatic reduction, if not total withdrawal. Bases in Iraq and Kuwait should be good enough. Let the Saudis fend for themselves.

Do you think Bush is thinking along those lines?
Posted by: Tokyo Taro   2003-03-26 00:43:07  

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