Our friends, the Saudis

Lift up the 9/11 rock and there are the Saudis.

Jim Pinkerton: Getting to the truth of Saudi-US ties

" ARE THE Saudi Arabians our friends? And what about those Wahabi Muslims? These questions weren't much discussed two years ago. But now they are, thanks in large measure to Steve Schwartz's 2002 book "The Two Faces of Islam: The House of Sa'ud From Tradition to Terror." And now Schwartz expresses further concerns about the direction of American policy in the Middle East. For half a century, Americans lived with the idea that Saudi Arabia was a moderate ally, first in the Cold War, then in the struggle against Islamic militance. To be sure, there was evidence to the contrary, such as the 1973-74 Saudi oil embargo against the United States. But for the most part the reality of the Saudis' enormous oil wealth, which the United States had to have access to, and a megabucks public relations operation -- which Schwartz calls "the Wahabi lobby" -- soothed and smoothed American feelings.

So who are these Wahabis, and what's their relationship to the Saudi government? In his book, Schwartz delves deeply into the history of Wahabism, a radically puritanical sect of Islam that came to power in the Arabian Peninsula in the 18th century. The Wahabis enacted harsh Sharia law, enforced by amputations, stonings, and beheadings..."