It is definately a political decision. If we think some of what they do is useful to us, we look the other way. I think this is wrong, but it is how our government works, for sure.
International Level: Diplomat / Political Participation: 320 32%
QUOTE |
It is definately a political decision. If we think some of what they do is useful to us, we look the other way. I think this is wrong, but it is how our government works, for sure. |
International Level: International Guru / Political Participation: 1089 100%
I could go off on a rant here, but in the interest of being brief I will say that there are many in the U.S. who realize how much our government ignores in the world -- unless it is an event or situation the Fed.Gov decides it wants to acknowledge. And it is always directly related to whether or not it benefits USA in some way.
But since the inception of the "Patriot Act," it's getting less popular here to say that out loud (or in print) -- and in some cases it's downright dangerous. Terror isn't exclusive to Saudi Arabia.
In my opinion, of course.
Roz
International Level: Ambassador / Political Participation: 595 59.5%
Here is a little piece from IMRA today. ( https://www.imra.org.il/ )
QUOTE |
+++JORDAN TIMES 10Sept/'06:"Saudi Arabia's schoolbooks still in dispute 5 years after 9/11"by Lydia Georgi, Agence France Presse QUOTE FROM TEXT: "The Saudi education system ... needed to be revamped ... to foster independent thinking. . . . Our students now don't have a critical mind." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- EXCERPTS RIYADH - The September 11 attacks in which 15 of the 19 suicide hijackers came from Saudi Arabia triggered a torrent of US accusations that the Muslim kingdom's education system was fostering extremism.Five years on the debate continues. Saudi educators argue that the problem lies in misinterpretation of religious texts or their "exploitation" to justify intolerance.... But some religious texts are interpreted by extremists to back up their thinking, while other texts fuel extremism when taken out of context, ...Saudi officials,..., should "look at this matter without sensitivity and remove whatever could be misinterpreted" from curricula, he said...since September 11, curricula have been reviewed by specialised committees which dropped some of the material that could be misunderstood or "exploited" to promote extremism..... Other factors are more liable to fuel extremism, such as "the injustice inflicted on some Muslim peoples" and US support for Israel, which creates hatred towards the United States, Awwad argued. According to Aziza Al Mana, a US-educated professor of education at King Saud University, "the flaw can be traced to the insertion of personal views of the authors in religious schoolbooks." "...the author adds his personal, fanatical views," she said. ... the Saudi education system...needed to be revamped to introduce more relevant sciences, change teaching methods and foster independent thinking. "If we can create a student who thinks freely, he will not be unduly influenced by personal opinions featuring in some books ... Our students now don't have a critical mind," Mana said.Officials are also trying to "curb the extremism" of some teachers, she said. Saudi schoolbooks have been accused of promoting intolerance of not just non-Muslims...Books taught in schools and at universities are written by Salafis, some of whom put in their own explanations to "incite [students] against any trend that differs from Salafi thought"...anything said about sects [in books] is an interpretation by scholars," she added. Saudi Arabia has a large minority of Shiites and smaller communities of Ismailis, an offshoot of Shiism, and Sufis....it was only three years ago when Al Qaeda struck at home that Saudis began to talk in public about "other (non-Salafi) sects", whose existence was hitherto totally ignored. The debate was sparked by triple suicide bombings of residential compounds in Riyadh in May 2003 that ushered in a wave of attacks in the oil-rich kingdom. "This was our own September 11. Before that, no one would believe that there is extremism or even that Saudis carried out the September 11 attacks. Saudis were in a state of denial," Fassi said. |
International Level: International Guru / Political Participation: 854 85.4%
Word on the street is Saudi Arabia is an enemy of USA.
Actually I think they are number 3 or so on our list of "nations we watch" (2 russia / 1 china).
Saudi has definite power and weapons of certain destruction. Granted they are not are threatening as Russia or China. I think the only reason we did not attack them is they played ball with Bush.
International Level: Junior Politician / Political Participation: 70 7%