 Prince Turki al-Faisal, the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States, has said that Wahhabism rejects the type of violence advocated by Osama Bin Laden and his Al Qaeda terrorist network.
| "Yasss... We prefer an entirely different kind of violence!" |
Now on a “listening tour” of the United States, Prince Turki has been speaking to community associations, foreign policy groups and university students. He says his goal is simple. He wants to explain that Saudis share many of the same values as Americans, that the country is a reliable ally in the war on terrorism and that the desert kingdom and centre of Islam is modernising its society.
| That's true: Soddies do share many of the same values as Americans. It's the values we don't share that're the problem, isn't it? One of the values we don't share is the definition of "reliable," for instance. And the definition of "modern." |
According to James Morrison, who writes a diplomatic news column for the Washington Times, at the World Affairs Council of Seattle, the Saudi envoy was asked what he would like Americans to know about his country. “The first, of course, is that we are pretty much human beings. We didn’t come from Mars or Pluto, although we do wear skirts,” he replied.
 | And chop people's heads off. Don't forget that part. |
He said Saudis like Americans want a better life for their children and their grandchildren, to live in peace and harmony and to be contributing to the betterment of the world. He said there were many misconceptions about his country, including the role of the Wahhabi sect of Islam, the status of women, the nation’s modern economy and its initial steps toward some form of democracy. He said most of what is popularly known about the orthodox brand of Saudi Islam is based on “ignorance of and misunderstanding of where we come from.”
| Funny. I thought much of it was based on empirical observation, watching the hands rather than the lips, with some of the holes filled in by the Imam of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, with his homey little sermons asking God to kill us all. |
|