|
Jewish World Review August 19, 2002 / 11 Elul, 5762
http://www.jewishworldreview.com |
Though less than a year has passed since 15 Saudi nationals joined four other hijackers in
wreaking havoc on Sept. 11, America is now set to train yet another cadre of Saudi airmen.
I kid you not.
In a report Monday in the English-language daily Arab News, Saudi Arabian Airlines Vice
President for Technical Affairs Ahmad Jazzar announced with evident pride that some 202 of his
employees were being sent to the United States for what he described as ''advanced training in
aircraft maintenance.''
The employees, said Jazzar, would study at various unnamed ''aviation institutes in the U.S.''
and would then receive ''international licenses for aircraft maintenance.'' (The text of the article
appears at: www.arabnews.com/Article.asp?ID=17697).
Call it an overdeveloped sense of deja vu, but doesn't this strike anyone out there as oddly
misguided?
Although Saudi Airlines itself had nothing to do with the horrific attacks on the World Trade
Center and the Pentagon, it does seem more than a tad bit strange to agree to hold such a
training program. After all, the last time a group of the kingdom's nationals studied at American
flight schools, President Bush had to be whisked away to a secret location to ensure his safety.
With all of the recent complications in the two countries' relations, including the debate over
whether to label the Saudis an ''enemy,'' this hardly seems like the most appropriate time for
Washington to be lending a helping hand to the Saudi airline industry.
But there is another little twist to this story--one that only further underlines its utter absurdity.
Ironically enough, on the same day that the news item appeared about Saudi Airlines employees
studying in the United States, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal made an announcement of
his own. He declared that the desert kingdom would refuse any request from Washington to
extradite 16 al-Qaida members recently handed over to Riyadh by Iran.
Speaking to the Arabic daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, al-Faisal said, ''If the involvement of any of the
16 suspects in terrorist acts is proven, they would be tried in accordance with Saudi laws.'' Tried,
but not handed over to the United States, he emphasized.
And so it appears that the Saudis are eminently selective as to who they are willing to send to
American soil and who they are not. They will gladly take advantage of American generosity to
enhance their technical know-how and send 200 Saudis to study at American aviation institutes.
But when it comes to turning over suspected followers of Osama bin Laden, the Saudis are
suddenly no longer willing to cooperate.
Don't expect the Saudis' apologists at the U.S. State Department to raise a ruckus over this one,
though. Since all of the 16 al-Qaida members just happen to be Saudi citizens, we will no doubt
be told that we must take into account Saudi ''sensitivities'' about extraditing their nationals to
the West.
The argument may be stale and facile, but it has worked well enough for Riyadh over the past
decade, so there is little reason to suspect that it won't work just as well now. So much for Saudi
cooperation in the war on terror.
Enjoy this writer's work? Why not sign-up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Why is America about to train yet another cadre of Saudi airmen!?
By Michael Freund
JWR contributor Michael Freund served as Deputy Director of Communications & Policy Planning in the Israeli Prime Minister's Office from 1996 to 1999. Comment by clicking here.
So, why is there no "Jews for Jihad"?