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Saudi Scapegoating

(New York Sun) Editorial - Prince Saud al-Faisal, speaking Tuesday at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, depicted the kingdom as the victim of "an unjustified intense onslaught" that made it the "scapegoat" of September 11, 2001. To hear the prince tell it, the cause of terrorism against the West, and indeed of all conflict in the Middle East, is the intransigence of Israel. He complained of Prime Minister Sharon's remarks at the UN referencing Jerusalem as Israel's capital and defending Israel's security fence. Once the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs is resolved by Israel's "total withdrawal," the prince claimed, "the other conflicts in the region would vanish and fade." Let the prince not take Americans for fools. The notion that the Baathist remnant in Iraq or the al-Qaeda cells in London will desist the minute Israel abandons Judea and Samaria is understood by Americans as just flaky. They comprehend that the conflicts among Lebanese factions and the Syrian government in Damascus, or between Iraqi Shiites and Sunnis, are about something other than land disputes between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs. They have to do with religious differences among Arabs and with the effort by forces of evil to thwart freedom and democracy. What little credibility the prince had was further shredded when he was asked about the flow of Saudi "foreign fighters" into Iraq. The prince might get a warmer reception on his next visit to America if he stopped trying to drive a wedge between America and Israel and focused on trying to stop Saudis from killing innocent Americans and Iraqis.
2005-09-23 00:00:00
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