In mid-September the Pentagon confirmed that 250,000 Iraqi troops with 1500 tanks were  massed on the Saudi border. Saudi Arabia's leaders, briefed by the US, believed they faced  an existential dilemma: invasion and overthrow by Saddam Hussein, or infidel troops using  the Holy Cities of Islam to attack fellow Arab Muslims. Under great American and domestic  political pressure, Saudi leaders allowed US troops to stage and launch their war upon  Iraq from Saudi soil.

Although the Pentagon to this day refuses to declassify the photographs of the Iraqi troop  build-up, images obtained from commercial Russian satellite imagery companies have become  available. Two high resolution photos in particular provide a comparison. The first  clearly reveals Iraqi vehicles massed in and around Kuwaiti oil field infrastructure.    (See exhibit #1)
 

Exhibit  #1 Satellite Image: Vehicles massed around Kuwaiti oil fields – September 11th  1990   Exhibit  #2 The Kuwait-Saudi Arabian Border September 11th 1990: No Iraqi troops on the border between Kuwait  and Saudi  Arabia.  There were no tanks. There was nothing. Just empty desert for miles on end.

The  second image reveals a Kuwait/Saudi border completely devoid of Iraqi vehicles. Independent  satellite analysis revealed no Iraqi troops on the border between Kuwait  and Saudi  Arabia.  There were no tanks. There was nothing. Just empty desert for miles on end. (See exhibit #2) The  Saudi leadership had been deceived into an alliance, and America  would pay dearly 11 years later.   George  H. W. Bush and the Pentagon had done more than manipulate a long term friend and ally.  By failing to understand and consider the level of  perceived defilement the presence of U.S.  troops in Saudi  Arabia  would generate, Bush triggered a series of reactions that led directly to the terror  attacks of 9/11.

Still  in Saudi  Arabia  at the time, Osama bin Laden approached Crown Prince Abdullah with an offer to raise an army and fight Iraqi troops, to preclude the need for the presence of US troops upon the Holy  Land.   Prince Abdullah rejected the offer. 

Although the Saudi government ultimately permitted US troops to launch attacks against  Saddam Hussein to protect the kingdom, Muslim adherents saw it a different way. They saw  infidels launched from the Holy Land of Islam to strike down fellow Muslims.   Osama bin Laden abandoned any allegiance to  the Kingdom at that moment, vowing to bring down both the United  States  and the House of Saud.


Saudi  Arabia  – A Desert  Island

The  Kingdom  of Saudi  Arabia  stands alone in the world, an island in the sand.  In  100 years it has gone from uniting a land of tribal leaders, warlords, Bedouin and traders  to a closed society protecting its Muwahhadin form of Islam.     The state has come to be despised by many fellow Arab nations for  projecting a conservative form of Islam that does not represent the majority.  It is simultaneously loathed by many Saudi  ex-patriots for its failure to provide for the Saudi people.

The Kingdom is feared and reviled by Americans on both sides of the political fence  and from almost every member  of Congress for its decadent ruling family, business connections to the Bush family, as  the origin of Osama bin Laden, or all. 

The  Kingdom is facing its biggest crisis to date.  Should  Saudi  Arabia  not change from within, it will be a lose-lose situation for the Kingdom and the United  States.  As one of the fastest climbing nations from  complete underdevelopment to global prominence, Saudi  Arabia  could descend even more rapidly.  Glacial  reforms have usually been more successful and less painful to any nation’s populace.   Saudi  Arabia  no longer has this luxury. 

 The  message to the Kingdom from the United  States  has become deafening. The US  demands “reform” of the Kingdom  of Saudi  Arabia  according to “American” democratic ideals. The US  wishes to see its own image reflected in a Saudi democracy.    The Bush administration remains steadfast in its conviction that forcing democracy upon Iraq  will yet be a remarkable success, and will be a model for change throughout the Middle East.

 Despite  a decade long plan of action cautiously implemented by the Kingdom to reform from within,  on its own terms and according to its culture, the US  demands instantaneous results. The Kingdom  of Saudi  Arabia  has come to a point of no return.

 The  questions remain: Will the Kingdom move ahead and show the world that Islam, the Holy  Cities (Mecca and Medina),  and the people are not the fearsome shadowy entities being portrayed? How will this be accomplished, and can it beat the clock and proceed before Al-Qaeda and others decide to  change Arabia  for them?  How easy will it be to change  perceptions in the US  where think tanks such as the highly influential and media savvy American Enterprise,  Brookings and Washington Institutes with their varied “scholars” continually hold Saudi  Arabia  accountable for nearly all present Middle  East  woes? 

 Other  groups and movements outside of the Kingdom are dedicated to changing the Saudi  Kingdom  and overthrowing Muslims who are not true practitioners of Islam: Saudi Salafi “apostates”.  Clearly these groups oppose the hard-line position  of the “Wahhabi” ruling family, in their view oppressive to the Saudi people. 

Honest  scholars find Islam to be a religion of equality and charity, beauty and compassion.  Not providing for the general population is haraam  (forbidden) in Islam.   The royal House of  Saud is perceived not to have changed since King Abd al-Aziz stated, after the discovery  of oil, “fill my belly and I don’t care about it” and “don’t  educate the children too much or they will rebel”.

A  resistance leader, who prefers to call his organization a “Renaissance Movement”,  agrees that change within “Arabia”  is necessary and timely.  In a personal  interview with this author, he described his dream for the nation as follows: ...Continued

Policy Briefs
IRmep policy briefs are widely read and circulated by key legislators and foreign policy makers.  They provide an analysis of current US foreign policy in the Middle East, analysis of true US interests, and strategies for closing the gap. 

Coming in Part Three (December, 2004):  US-Saudi Relations, The Financial Terror Trail & Reform in Saudi Arabia