Early Saudi-American Relations

Before I return to the bookstore to finish Khalidi's book I wanted to make some short comments about early Saudi-American relations.

In 1945 a few months before Roosevelt dies he meet with King Ibn Saud in Egypt. This early meeting was arranged by Col. William Eddy who later wrote a piece about the meeting, FDR Meets Ibn Saud. At the time of this meeting Saudi Arabia was in a unique position not having been fully controlled by a European power, for the most part they were independent. FDR's meeting was used to springboard full strategic cooperation between the Saudi dictatorship and the U.S., a relationship that continues today. Our effort to promote democracy casually overlooked this brutal dictatorship, then and now. The manner in which the Saudi dictatorship, now in its 5th generation, rules leaves little concern for a public uprising. However, the U.S. would have serious problems if the people of Saudi Arabia overthrew the government and decided they wanted to manage their own resources. Not to mention the problems the world would encounter with the religious fanaticism that has been breeding in that country for the past 50 years.

Another interesting anecdote mentioned by Khalidi is the manner in which Truman continued the relationship with the Saudi dictatorship. Their was tension in early Saudi-American relations regarding the establishment of an Israeli state. King Ibn Saud made comments to FDR and Truman, I am paraphrasing, "What Arab has ever harmed a Jew" and "What has a Palestinian ever done to the Jewish race that would require them to be displaced." Truman's response was his constituents have little regard for the Arab population but are very determined to support Zionism. Both sides overlook their differences and continue their strategic arrangements. Think about Truman's response though. How did this line of thought influence our position today?

Cold War Blowback

Picked up a new book tonight looking to break from philosophy and 18 hours of Ricky Gervais podcasts. The book is Sowing Crisis: The Cold War and American Hegemony in the Middle East by Rashid Khalidi. Read through the first four chapters, should finish it on my day off tomorrow. The author's name rang a bell when I picked up the book, though I couldn't exactly place it. The first cue was in the preface when Khalidi references the Project for a New American Century. My mind immediately returned to a book by New York Times journalist George Packer, The Assassins Gate: America In Iraq, that I read a few years back and wrote quite heavily about on here. Packer interviews and quotes both Khalidi and PNAC. Key players in the Bush Administration signed on to the mission of PNAC. 

The Project for the New American Century is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to a few fundamental proposisitions: that American leadership is good both for America and for the world; and that such leadership requires military strength, diplomatic energy and commitment to moral principle.

I believe there is little dispute that this organization guided the policy of the early Bush Administration and the key members of the administration that supported this neo-conservative thought quietly left the administration as the war in Iraq continued, most notably Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz. The data today is overwhelming in how this ideology is an utter failure. You should really check out PNAC's webpage.

Today's issues are not all pervasive in Khalidi's book as it deals with historical context primarily but it consistently ties the historical context to its modern day products. The most perplexing results of Khalidi's scholarship is how we could let such daft logic in regards to history translate into foreign policy today. It seems we almost entirely dismiss academia when designing foreign policy. Let's see if the new administration continues this line. 

When I finish the book I'll summarize points that are worth reflecting when we hold our elected representatives accountable for their decisions. So far the issues that really caught my attention deal with early Saudi-American relations, how these relations were started with Truman even Roosevelt and the Arabian American Oil Company (ARMCO). Saudi-American relations kind of acted as a staging point for our hegemony in the Middle East and have fascinating consequences. I'm hoping Khalidi considers how Cold War maneuvering impacted human rights in the Middle East today but that may be a bit off focus for this book.

In my opinion a good non-fiction book keeps one finger busy guarding the endnotes for a quick reference to the author's sources. If each chapter doesn't contain at least 20 endnotes I have to question the author's generalizations.

A quick Google search on Khalidi will show how controversial he became during the 2008 presidential elections but my attention to major media outlets is dismal. 

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On a side note I was listening to Kid A while I was typing. I think the music is so creative the trance it induces lends itself to thoughtfulness. Am I going out on a limb when I say it is the best album of the new millennium? Perhaps.