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.

The wider conflict now engulfing Iraq lays bare the absurdity of liberal interventionism - and the decline of US power

By John Gray

Humility

I'll attempt in this post to clarify what I mean when trying to cultivate humility. Let's employ Einstein for this purpose:

I have never imputed to Nature a purpose or a goal, or anything that could be
understood as anthropomorphic. What I see in Nature is a magnificent structure
that we can comprehend only very imperfectly, and that must fill a thinking
person with a feeling of humility. This is a genuinely religious feeling that
has nothing to do with mysticism.

This is a scientific approach to humility but one that can easily be translated to human relationships. Our reservation in judging others and restraining ego is driven by the fact that we "can comprehend only very imperfectly" how our experiences and conditions relates to others.

Another question that arises in my acceptance of Einstein's observations is how it conflicts with my frequent references to Jesus as a moral guide. Didn't Jesus have everything to do with mysticism? Probably but Jesus experiences, regardless of religion or a belief in God, contain a clear message. To believe in his teachings Jesus doesn't need to be real or the son of God. Just like Humpty Dumpty doesn't have to be real to believe eggs shouldn't sit on walls.

Mourn this...

"I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and
the gays and the lesbians ... the A.C.L.U., People for the American Way, all of
them who have tried to secularize America, I point the finger in their face and
say, 'You helped this happen.'"

-- Jerry Falwell, September 13th, on The 700 Club about last week's terrorist attacks

Preamble

Not enough can be said regarding hijacking a tragedy as a platform for political purposes. There is a fine line in these matters. Likewise there is fine line in questioning the sincerity in a person's expressions of sympathy. Disseminating the lessons from the countries latest tragedy is a balancing act for all of us.

My hope is the shooting at Virginia Tech will expose the lack of access to mental health treatment. This shouldn't be mistaken with reporting other's needs for such treatment, or forcing such treatment on people authorities perceive disturbed. Perhaps a more drastic measure than collecting guns or placing screeners would be deciding mental health is not a commodity to be traded in the open market. It's a line I use all too often but has yet earned due attention. Will universal health care deter all domestic violence? Obviously not but it's one of best deterrents available in a free society.

Living in a country that aims to maximize civil liberties we accept the risk of dangerous ideas as long as reason is left free to combat. The alternative, history proves, is to control thought in the name of security, and this road leads to tyranny.

Hopefully we'll emerge from mourning and realize we can not rush to establish justice and ensure domestic tranquility without promoting the general welfare and securing the blessings of liberty.

ReRead

I am not sure if any of you have picked up the book The Assassin's Gate by George Packer. It's definitely the best survey of America in Iraq, in my opinion. I've just started reading it the second time hoping to absorb everything it has to offer.

Pay particular attention to the issues currently surrounding Paul Wolfowitz. He was the deputy secretary of defense during the build up to Iraq and the aforementioned book really exposed how his neo-conservative ideas where arrogant and misguided. He would literally ignore ANY evidence contrary to his ideas (as did V.P. Cheney). Bush is left, surprisingly, entirely out of the loop.

Wolfowitz is now the President of the World Bank. Among other problems he suspended AID to Uzbekistan after they refused to cooperate with the U.S. in the war on terror. Additionally his position in building developing countries is to displace corrupt governments by force, if necessary. Which is obviously the banner of neo-conservative foreign policy. He appears highly driven ideologically, beyond corporate interests, which raises the question if his arrogance actually blinds him to history. Perhaps my liberal idealogue blinds me to chapters in history.