Essay on Saudi Kingdom

Here's an essay I did about the alliance between the Saudis and the U.S. This was an assignment for my English class. How do you like it?

Saudi Arabia;
Should We Still Trust Them?

Corruption within the Saudi kingdom, U.S. greed for more oil, terrorism, and anti-American fervency within the Saudi religious community have damaged the alliance between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. The friendship between the U.S. and the Saudi kingdom is a friendship in name only and therefore it is useless.
On September 11, 2001, nineteen Saudi nationalists boarded planes that would never come back. Later on, the U.S. government discovered that not only were the nineteen hijackers from the U.S.�s closest ally in the Middle East, but that these hijackers were members of the middle class and well to do families.
This profile was unique; terrorists in the past came from uneducated and poor backgrounds. The U.S. then realized that the anti-American fervency once thought only to have a strong influence among the lower classes, had now influenced much of the upper class as well.
In the past, it was thought that terrorists came mainly from poor backgrounds and took such actions because they had no voice in the political community. But, now learning from the events of 9/11, we now know that anyone can become displeased with the U.S. This shows that many more citizens of the
Saudi kingdom had become influenced with the anti-Americanism that has almost taken over the country. Because of this anti-American hatred that has begun to sweep across the kingdom, the U.S. government should think twice about their friendship with the Saudis.
In spite of the terrorist issue, Saudi Arabia is a vital ally in the Middle East for the U.S. After Iraq invaded Kuwait, Saudi Arabia allowed for 400,000 Kuwaiti refugees including the royal family, to come from Kuwait during the war to live temporarily in the Saudi kingdom. The Saudis also allowed the Allied forces to deploy its troops on its land.
The U.S. is an oil importing country. The United States purchases a lot of oil from Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is ranked as the larges exporter of petroleum, and plays a major role in OPEC. Because of Saudi Arabia�s influential decisions they make and the role they play within OPEC, the United States would like to continue the friendship with the kingdom. The Saudis also allow for American businesses to have contracts that are quite valuable to the United States.
Although there are benefits that are associated in the alliance with the Saudis, the alliance also comes with many consequences that the United States and Saudi Arabia must deal with. Many Islamic charities have been thought to funnel money to causes such as Osama bin Laden�s. Apparently, before 9/11 there was no governmental agency overseeing where the donated proceeds would go and who is donating the money. Many of the wealthy families of our closest ally in the Middle East are donating money to charities that funnel proceeds to Islamic militants, we therefore cannot trust the Saudis to cooperate with us on the War on Terror.
According to a poll by Time/CNN and conducted by Harris Interactive, the question was asked; �Do you think Saudi Arabia is a country the United States can trust as an ally, or a country that we can�t trust as an ally?� Out of 1,003 adults with a margin of error of around 3%, 72% said the United States should not trust the Saudi kingdom as an ally and only 17% said we could trust them. Only 11% said they were not sure. These statistics indicate that American citizens do not want to see their government cooperate and be friends with a kingdom, that provided most of the 9/11 hijackers, and, while its country is on the verge of civil war.
It seems like the Bush administration will do anything to keep relations going smoothly with the House of Saud. In an article done by Jeff Jacoby of aish.com, a quote from the article says that the Saudis are involved in every aspect of terrorism from cadre to foot-soldier; �[the Saudis] are active at every level of the terror chain, from planners to financiers, from cadre to foot-soldier, from ideologist to cheerleader.�
Responding to this statement, Bush once again reassured the American citizens that the friendship between the two countries remains intact �Such talk, Bush assured Abdullah, �cannot affect the eternal friendship between the two countries.��
For many years, the government of Saudi Arabia had allowed to the religious community to preach whatever type of Islam they chose. Most mullahs preach a very strict and extreme form of Islam called Wahabism. Wahabism refers to Muhammad Ibn Abdulwahhab of Nejd in the Arabian Peninsula who lived in the eighteenth century C.E.
Because of this religious extremism, the mullahs continue to preach anti-Americanism. As a result of this, many young children and grown adults have grown up with the ideologies that have been preached by the mullahs and, which cause hatred for the United States.
Realizing these important issues concerning the War on Terror, the relationship with the Saudi Kingdom should be looked at again. We can see that there are many factors alienating the Saudis from the U.S. because of these issues. Therefore it is best that the U.S., if it wants to be successful in it�s War on Terror, should reconsider it�s friendship with the kingdom.

I think it's good, but again, I've never been really good at writing texts at school. But I love the subject, and I think it's under-looked at.

I think Saudi Arabia is the biggest country of terrorists, and should have been made a priority WAY before Iraq. You brought up some really interestings points, stuff that I hadn't read anywhere yet.

Thanks for the response. Oh yeah, the assignment was that the essay was supposed to be a persuasive one, were you persuaded or not??

[Edited on 23-5-2004 by TheCatalyst]

Well I was already convinced that the Saudi Arabia governement was knowingly harboring terrorists, but if I wouldn't had been, you would have probably changed my mind.

Originally posted by m0rbid
Well I was already convinced that the Saudi Arabia governement was knowingly harboring terrorists, but if I wouldn't had been, you would have probably changed my mind.

Thanks.