Appeasement of Islam

Submitted by Prof. Paul Eidelberg (Israel), Nov 7, 2006 at 16:53

Perhaps the most obvious explanation for the Bush administration's appeasement of Islam will be found in Robert Baer's book, Sleeping With The Devil. A few passages tell the story. Allow me to quote and paraphrase.

With the Carlyle Group in mind, Baer points lout that "There's hardly a living former assistant secretary of state for the Near East, CIA director, White House staffer, or member of Congress who hasn't ended up on the Saudi payroll in one way of another. At the corporate level, almost every Washington figure worth mentioning has served on the board of at least one company that did a deal with Saudi Arabia."

"Every Washington think tank, from the supposedly nonpartisan Middle East Institute to the Meridian International Center, has taken Saudi money. Washington's boiler room—the lobbyists, PR firms, and lawyers—live off the stuff. So have charities, like the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Children's National Medical Center, and every presidential library of the last thirty years."

One may put it this way: On the one hand, the U.S. buys Saudi oil and provides protection and security for the Saudi kingdom; on the other hand, the Saudis buy U.S. weapons, construction services, communications systems, and drilling rigs. Collectively, two-way trade between Saudi Arabia and the United States was $19.3 billion in 2000.

"As the world's largest consumer of U.S.-made armaments, Saudi Arabia virtually makes the secondary market for American fighter planes, missiles, tanks, armored vehicles, and other weaponry and supporting services."

Meanwhile, the Bush administration ignores the following facts:

(1) 15 of the 19 hijackers that destroyed the World Trade Center and struck the Pentagon on September 11 were Saudis.

(2) Since that fateful day not a single indictment or even a useful lead has come out of Saudi Arabia. So thorough has been the blackout that the FBI has not been allowed to interview suspects, including the families of the Saudi hijackers.

(3) The Saudis have financed thousands of mosques, many in the United States, which preach a hatred of the West and of America that is "as vitriolic as anything heard in Iran at the height of the ayatollahs." Saudi mosque schools and universities have become hothouses of militant Islam, the breeding grounds of Sunni global terrorism.

(Here one should not ignore the Shiite terrorism emanating from Iran. A nuclear Iran would constitute not only an existential threat to Israel but also to the United States. With nuclear weapons, Iran could blackmail Saudi Arabia as well as Europe, on which the American economy depends.)

Is it any wonder that the American people are confused about the "war on terrorism" and the continued presence of American soldiers in Iraq? Democrats are repeating the tragic error that led to World War II. Yesterday it was appeasement of the Nazis. Today it is appeasement of their successors, in Riyadh as well as in Tehran.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".