THE quality I most admire about President Bush is that he isn't afraid to lead. Buoyed by election triumphs — first at home, then in Iraq — he made his State of the Union Address a trumpet call for freedom and democracy. Above all, our president did one thing that I've longed for him to do: He called on the Saudi royal family to give their country's citizens a voice in their own future. It was an enormous step, discarding decades of diplomatic practice. Our government long ignored Saudi complicity in turning Islam into a creed of irresponsibility and venom. The Saudis spread money on both sides of the aisle in Washington, buying silence. The Bush family itself has long and friendly ties to the House of Saud. But Wednesday night our president put the Saudis on notice: Freedom's not for sale. Not even for oil.
His words were carefully chosen. But the Saudis must have been stunned. For all of our concerns about an Iran with nuclear weapons, the Saudi threat cuts deeper. From the Black Sea to the Indian Ocean's extremities, I've seen how Saudi wealth funds the spread of intolerance. Thousands of Saudi-sponsored mullahs blame the United States and Israel for the Islamic world's home-grown ills. Saudi money and bigotry created the terrorist movements we face today. And the Saudis are still funding hatred. When the monstrous House of Saud collapses — as it is bound to do — we may not like the immediate results. But the longer the reckoning is delayed, the worse the blowback will be. Better to side with the people now and take our short-term lumps. We have dues to pay for supporting those hypocritical princes at the expense of our noblest principles.
Likewise, Bush called on Pharaoh Mubarak to allow democracy on the Nile. For far too long, the United States has rationalized and subsidized authoritarian rule in Egypt — while Cairo encouraged the people to blame us for their every misery. We cannot permit the current pharaoh to inflict his son upon his captive state. Let the Egyptian people vote in free elections, as courageous Iraqis have done. Give them real choices, not a dynasty. As with Saudi Arabia, we may not like the early results, but the current state of affairs is unsustainable — and appallingly unjust. |