Saudi Arabia and Al Qaeda

The tricky subject of Saudi relations with Al Qaeda keeps popping up.

The Chicago Tribune (not my favorite newspaper, although they do publish my favorite film critic) has has investigated two firms in Germany which allegedly have links to the terrorist network. These companies also have links to Prince Turki al-Faisal, the Saudis' former chief spook. Indeed, the firms in question may have been intelligence fronts.

Turki quit his post only a couple of weeks before the attack on the World Trade Center; he is now the Saudi ambassador to the U.K. He has always denied any link to Osama Bin Laden, although the two men did meet during the Afghan/Soviet war.

The long-ish Chicago Tribune story paints a complex picture, and includes such diverse elements as the Bosnian war and the Bali bombing. Read this article cautiously -- but by all means, read it.

The Saudi connection remains thorny for American progressives. On the one hand, the Bush "royal family" has long maintained close ties to its cognate dynasty in Riyadh, and many have scored W for protecting his Saudi friends. On the other hand, neocon theorists tend to despise the Saudi regime, which they consider a choice target for removal. (I can think of no other major area of contention between W and the neocons.)

Any attempt to realize the neocon dream scenario in Arabia would prove an incomparable disaster. While few Americans truly like the Saudi monarchy, most of us would prefer to avoid further costly military adventures in that region. Neither should we feel eager to take on the "challenge" of "democratizing" another massive Muslim populace enraged against us. An ungovernable Arabia cannot serve the interests of the United States. Iraq's current instability has interrupted the oil flow from that country; imagine the price of oil if Arabia should descend into chaos and other OPEC countries decided to punish American aggression.

The left must therefore exercise care. The Saudi-Bush-9/11 connections may provide a cudgel against W, but those who stress this linkage may inadvertently serve the neocons' warmongering agenda.

It's pretty clear that the Saudis have given Bin Laden go-play-somewhere-else money. It is less clear why they would favor the undertakings of a man who clearly hopes to found a new dynasty in the land of the Prophet. If the Chicago Tribune story is accurate, the American people need some serious answers -- and soon.