From America … We Deserve More!

Three weeks ago, the U.S. stopped selective screening measures aimed at Saudis in American airports. This procedure, known as double screening, classifies all Saudis as threats. It was a nuisance and a humiliation for Saudis, as some of us were subject to full-body pat-downs, luggage checks and hours-long interrogations. The sick and old were not spared, and nor were businessmen who were friends of the U.S. They used to be faced with embarrassing situations, and funny ones too!

Despite all that happened, this step from the U.S. government should be looked at from a positive viewpoint, as one that strives to usher relations into a new era of cooperation and mutual interaction. We do not want them to be based on quick reactions and a personality cult. There is positive development in this context, which aims at establishing the relationship in such a way that it becomes stable, i.e., through the institutions of the two countries.

In an interview on Monday, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the U.S., Adel Al-Jubeir, confirmed the existence of these new relations. He pointed out that for five years the two governments have been strengthening their relationship so that it is based on direct contact between political, social, economic and security institutions, and also with the private sector. This change into an institutional relationship, and not personal relationship, will deepen the cooperation between the two countries and facilitate communication between various institutions so that problems may be quickly solved. In other words, we want to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. Perhaps this will move the relation away from the influence of those seeking to serve their own interests, especially in the U.S.

It is a known fact that pro-Israel members of the Congress and the media (especially the Fox News channel and the rest of Murdoch’s corporation) are mainly concerned with damaging the relationship between the two countries. When their influence was strong during the rule of George W. Bush, they had the opportunity, following 9/11, to get Saudi Arabia on the list of enemy nations. Saudi Arabia’s friends such as the U.S. played a huge role in setting a limit to the extremism of the conservative Republicans and the Zionist lobby who were at the peak of their zeal and intent to damage the relationship between the two countries. They are the ones who pushed for the strict security measures against Saudis.

These hostile measures against Saudis came as a shock to us, at the level of the people and at the level of the government and the political and ideological elite. We know that Saudi Arabia has endured a lot in the past 70 years due to its relationship with America. We have paid the political and economic price, and there is no other country that has given so much to consolidate its relation with a friendly state as did Saudi Arabia to build continuous, fruitful relations with the U.S. After all this, America inflicts a comprehensive punishment on all Saudis and considers them as threats to its security.

The Saudi people and government alike have stood firm against terrorism, with the state exerting effort at a regional and international level to fight terrorism. It did this to protect its security and the safety of its people. It played this role despite the high price it has had to pay, and did so not to please anyone but because it has a responsibility toward peace and security in the world. It has done this to protect its people from the phenomenon of terrorism and to keep them from involvement in it. This has led to the end of many educational and charitable activities in many countries of the world. However, the U.S. turns a blind eye on Iranian activities in these areas.

It is no longer a secret that America persuaded its friends and allies in the Islamic world to help it tackle the threat of communism. And the youth of the Islamic world are victims of their long involvement in this struggle among nations. America was the political, psychological and ideological motivation, and it would be wise and fair that it does not punish its friends and allies for the consequences of this ideological mess, because it was the U.S. who created and planned it. By doing so it is setting a bad example of a friend who builds his relationship on the basis of interests and not on the basis of values and noble human characteristics.

Generally, we welcome any positive step, and Saudi Arabia deserves much from the U.S. We have never stood at its doorstep begging. In fact, we are paying the highest price for weapons and education, among other things, because we are its friends and it is an ally of Israel (a huge difference!). We should not forget that America has for more than four decades enjoyed oil at a very low price. We have sacrificed a lot and we should continue to do so because America provides much to us too … and this is what we shall talk about later on.