Anti-American feelings in Saudi Arabia heighten rulers' dilemma
By David Hirst in Riyadh
Friday March 21, 2003
The Guardian
guardian.co.uk
<<...Saudis marked the long-expected start of the war against their neighbour - a war which the kingdom has battled long, hard and unsuccessfully to prevent - with a flurry of anti-American text messages sent to friends on their mobile phones...>>
<<...Crown Prince Abdullah said failure to stop the war was a wider Arab failing. That argument, together with his personal popularity and nationalist reputation, finds considerable favour. "Of course," said a former newspaper editor, "it is shameful that non-Arab Turkey should have been the one to deny access to US troops, not the Arabs themselves. But it is an Arab shame, not just ours."
For Saudis, as for other Arabs, it is all but axiomatic that, with one of their states about to be invaded, occupied, or even - as some see it - "colonised" in 19th-century style, they have sunk to one of the lowest points in their history...>> |
