Face to Face With Royalty

North Miami Beach, FL April 27, 2002
A.H. Schectman

THINKING ALLOWED

Essays on Issues, Ideas and Reflections on the Times. Published now and
then. Opinions pro or con are welcome.

FACE TO FACE WITH ROYALTY

We have just seen the latest confrontation between a
democratically elected leader - leader of the largest and most powerful
nation in the world - and a "King" of a small nation. This King may be of
royal blood - (a claim that could be made by thousands of children in
specific households) but is not connected to God by a code of divinity. He
rules by power.

"King" is just another title despite the Arabian version having
power of life and death over his subjects. He rules by whim and arbitrary
decision. Neither you nor I would like to be in "Saudi" Arabia being judged
by their criminal courts - or social courts for that matter. Should you
commit the sin of adultery you could suffer stoning or being beheaded. We
hear no great outcry among the Saudi's or the Arabs in that part of the
world against the planners and the pilots who murdered thousands in the
Saudi, Osama bin Laden's, crime against America. We do listen carefully to
what a King says.

George Bush treated King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia as a visiting
dignitary. This dignitary came not to bargain with the President but to
dictate the way Americans should perceive and deal with the Middle East.
The King came with his proofs of legitimacy, his quasi religious role as a
spokesman for Islam and his ownership of pools of oil beneath his desert
kingdom. It was curious to watch him demand rather than be the recipient of
"this is how it is going to be" language from the most powerful leader of
the world.

I would have hoped that the King would have gone away mad. He was
not told anything to cause this reaction. He left after instructing
President Bush that he expected America to stop coddling Israel and make
everything right with the poor Palestinians. If Saudi Arabia had accepted
the "refugee" Palestinians or if any Arab nation had welcomed them when the
British mandate was partitioned there would never have been the festering
sore of "camps" for over half a century. The Saudi King did not go away mad.
He went away heartened by the result of a democratically (well there was
Florida) elected leader being cowed into non-response.

Carol's Evaluation: 10 out of 10.