Media distort image of Saudi Arabia

By Mohammed Farraj Alshehri

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The U.S.-Saudi relationship has been founded on mutual respect, since the reign of King Abdulaziz and President Roosevelt era to the present day, and it remains steadfast, despite the cold political approach of the current U.S. administration toward a number of issues in the Middle East, especially the Syrian crisis.

Saudi Arabia fought probably the most successful campaign against terrorism in all its strength, starting from military means all the way to rehabilitation programs for individuals involved in terrorist activities. When it comes to foreign policy, Saudi Arabia is a forerunner in what serves the global peace and security, at the same time it does not interfere in the affairs of other countries, and does not want others to interfere in its own affairs.

From time to time, however, there appear journalists and writers in the U.S. media who give ideas and views far from the political reality between the two countries, and try to fish in troubled waters by distorting facts. These “spin doctors” market their own contrived ideas as truths, by simply and utterly misinforming the American public.

A fresh example of this trend is an article by Ahmed Souaiaia, a professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Iowa, published in the Iowa City Press-Citizen on Nov. 13, in which he attacks Saudi Arabia with extreme vengeance. Most striking is the title, which reads “Saudi Arabia is now more dangerous than it was prior to 2011.” I wonder if this blurred vision can explain why this so-called dangerous country was the only OPEC member to be invited to the membership of the G-20, the group of the largest economies of the world.

Defamation and insults will never rise to the level of truth. When Mr. Souaiaia ran out of tricks, he began to utter ad hominem statements such as “the Saudi rulers have lost their cool and started to act as radical as they really are.” This is neither accurate nor logical, and as an academic in a respected academic institution, Mr. Souaiaia should refrain from making such attacks.

His views about the refusal of Saudi Arabia of a seat in the U.N. Security Council are ill-informed. The fact is, the Security Council has been plagued by the stalemate of the Russian and Chinese veto over the past two years, especially in the case of the Syrian crisis, which left the international community paralyzed and incapable of any action to save the Syrian people. So, is this refusal in protest to incapacitating the Security Council considered an act of terror!

Could Souaiaia recall the unprecedented chemical weapon attack by the Syrian regime against its own people last August, which caused nearly 1,700 deaths of innocent civilians? The Security Council was unable to even condemn this atrocity because of the Russian-Chines veto in support of the Syrian regime, and certainly Saudi Arabia will not simply sing in the band of the Syrian State-harbored terrorism.

Continuing to repeat lies will never make them truths. Describing those who are defending themselves against the tyranny of the Syrian regime is like blaming the victim instead of the red-handed murderer. I should remind Souaiaia of the continuous Iranian supply of militants and arms to the Syrian regime and the Iranian revolutionary guard who are committing atrocities in Syria alongside the Syrian regime forces.

The Iranian-supported Lebanese Hezbollah group is fighting a war by proxy for their Iranian masters in Tehran by slaughtering the Syrian people on Syrian land. They use anything at their disposal to continue the terror campaign against the Syrian people, including waging a war of sectarianism similar to what they have already done in Iraq, in Lebanon and now in Syria.

It is unfortunate that we can still hear voices in support of regimes openly committing fascist activities without any discrimination between good and evil, but I will leave that to the conscience of the good American public. An old Arabic proverb translates to: The Sun will not be covered with a sieve, and, I add, especially not with the squeaky sieve of Ahmed Souaiaia.

Mohammed Farraj Alshehri of Saudi Arabia, a well-known writer/journalist in the Middle East, is a retired high-ranking Saudi National Guards officer, and founder and former editor-in-chief of King Khaled military magazine. Two of his children studied English at the University of Iowa. Comments: alfrrajmf@hotmail.com