Freedom's Just An Empty Word

In his 20 minute inauguration speech Bush used the word freedom over 30 times and vowed to end tyranny. There are a multitude of examples of US foreign policy that make the word freedom totally meaningless coming from the mouth of George W. Bush. We gave the example of the charming dictator of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang, who is being propped up by the US because of oil. There is the constant interference by the US government to overthrow the democratically elected leader of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, for oil. We have been ignoring the tyrannical and vicious rule of the House of Saud in Saudi Arabia for decades because of oil. Mahan Abedin tells us about the dangers of silencing Saudi dissent in a commentary in the Asia Times.

The inclusion of Saudi dissident Saad al-Faqih and the organization that he leads, the Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia (MIRA), in the United Nations Security Council 1267 Committee's list [1] of terrorist individuals and organizations is not an altogether uncontroversial decision. After all, Faqih has been living openly in the United Kingdom since 1994 and has not once ran afoul of the authorities.

The inclusion of the Saudi dissident, and another Saudi, Adil al-Battarji, in the UN list was a foregone conclusion after the US government declared in late December 2004 that it had frozen their assets and submitted their names to the UN. There are essentially two central questions regarding the inclusion of Saad al-Faqih that have remained unanswered: is the designation fair, and, moreover, is it likely to prove effective in the fight against terrorism?

So who is Saad al-Faqih and what is his crime?

A professor of surgery at King Saud University until March 1994, Faqih moved to the UK in the same year to escape persecution by the Saudi government. Prior to his leaving the kingdom, Faqih was the mastermind behind the "Letter of Demands" of 1991 and the "Memorandum of Advice" the following year. Both documents were signed by a considerable number of prominent personalities and presented to King Fahd.

The "Letter of Demands" was a concise summary of the main demands of the embryonic opposition and the "Memorandum of Advice" presented a detailed program for reform. In 1993, Faqih helped set up the "Committee for the Defense of Legitimate Rights" (CDLR) and was detained briefly in late 1993 for these activities.

On his arrival in the UK, Faqih revived CDLR with fellow dissident Dr Mohammad al-Masari. CDLR was the first effective exiled opposition forum against the House of Saud. In fact, it was so effective that the Saudis applied intense pressure on the UK government to expel Masari. The British government eventually succumbed to the pressures, but its efforts to expel Massari were thwarted by the UK judiciary.

His crime it would appear is wanting some freedom from the tyranny of the House of Saud. So what did the freedom loving Bush administration do? It coerced the United Nations into declaring him a terrorist. What is MIRA, Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia?

The four principles that Faqih outlines apparently define MIRA and its operations. MIRA promotes itself as a reformist Islamic organization that explicitly renounces violence and - unlike other Saudi Islamist organizations - resists the temptation to get involved in pan-Islamic issues. MIRA has a truly radical agenda insofar as it seeks to replace the House of Saud with a popularly elected government. Its command and control center is based entirely in London, and Faqih uses satellite technology to disseminate MIRA's ideas and communicate directly with the organization's followers.
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Another feature of MIRA - as far as its London operations are concerned - is that it is completely in the open. Moreover, the obvious fact that the organization's activities are monitored by "concerned" intelligence services acts as a powerful deterrent against engaging in any questionable activities, let alone maintaining terrorist links. Faqih contends that at least seven intelligence agencies closely monitor MIRA's activities.

Here we have an example of a group wanting freedom and trying to achieve it by peaceful means being labeled a terrorist organization. Once again the only time tyranny is undesirable is when it not in the best interests of the US oil industry. No matter how many times Bush uses the word freedom no one who knows anything about US policy can see it as anything but empty rhetoric. We have been down this road before.

The central importance of Saudi Arabia to the West in general and the US in particular is beyond doubt. Present US policy is geared toward the survival of the House of Saud, irrespective of the wider political, security and geostrategic costs. The short-sightedness of this policy is all too obvious, and US policy-makers may well be advised to review the disasters that followed America's over-reliance on the former Shah of Iran. While talk of an imminent demise of the House of Saud may be exaggerated, the US should still consider revising its position toward Saudi reformers.

But the oil barons never learn.