Bob Barr

Saudi Envoy's Visit Tightens Nations' Bond

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

March 8, 2006

The fact that an ambassador from a foreign country visited Atlanta is not, in and of itself, big news. The fact that an ambassador from a country in the Middle East with which the United States has maintained more than 60 years of strategic friendship may not be worthy of front-page news.

The fact that our city was visited by a newly accredited ambassador from a country that is a key ally in the Middle East that supplies a not-insignificant portion of our petroleum imports, as one of the very first stops in a series of visits he is making to key U.S. cities is significant. Deeply significant.

Last week, Prince Turki Al-Faisal, newly accredited ambassador from the kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United States, visited Atlanta. The official visit was the kickoff for what embassy officials described as a tour of key U.S. cities to both familiarize the prince with business, community and political leaders in the United States and to provide forums in which the relationship between the two countries might be explained and better understood by Americans. That Atlanta was chosen as one of the first stops speaks volumes about the rise of our city as an international center.

In no small measure, too, the visit was a tribute to the consistent, methodical work of a number of folks to present a more comprehensive and objective view of this vast kingdom that many Americans know—if at all—as a desert country sitting atop huge quantities of petroleum. Chief among these leaders has been former U.S. Sen. Wyche Fowler of Georgia, America's ambassador to the kingdom in the Clinton administration.

Fowler, who counts the new ambassador among his friends, hosted a private dinner meeting with Prince Turki and a much larger luncheon the next day, open to media and many business, academic, political and community leaders from the metro area.

At both events, those in attendance saw and heard a man with a ready sense of humor who practiced what he preached. He said he had been directed by his king to "maintain an honest and frank" relationship with the United States as befitting the "strategic partnership" that has existed for more than six decades. That relationship was forged in 1945 at a wartime meeting between President Franklin Roosevelt and Saudi Arabian King Abdul Aziz.

During his talks in Atlanta last week, Prince Turki harked back to the inception of the U.S.-Saudi partnership and to his own work over the years as longtime intelligence chief in the kingdom, which brought him face-to-face with the serious internal terror threats his country has faced even as we meet those directed at America.

The picture he painted was not all rosy. He admitted serious problems his country must continue to face in dealing with internal reforms and strife occasioned by the same extremist forces threatening the status quo in countries from Western Europe to the United States, and from Colombia to the Middle East and Asia.

While the new ambassador would not comment directly on the so-called Dubai ports management problem, nor sing his country's praises in recounting how Saudi security forces thwarted an attempt to blow up an oil production facility in the eastern part of the country the previous week, such issues hung heavy over the discussions. Saudi Arabia clearly recognizes that at least over the short term, the security of its oil production and shipment facilities—which supply the United States and many of our allies with millions of barrels of crude oil per day—remains an essential factor in determining whether our joint economies will rise or fall.

The swift and efficient manner in which that country's security forces stopped the would-be saboteurs well short of their goal, and the follow-up investigation that netted further arrests of ringleaders within just a few days, clearly rebut those who would offer knee-jerk arguments against entrusting Middle Eastern entities with important security and management responsibilities.

Toward the end of the lengthy question-and-answer session at the luncheon, Prince Turki waxed philosophical. Drawing on his own religiosity and deep belief in God—a characteristic long shared by our two countries, he correctly noted—the new emissary urged everyone in both countries to reject the extremism that continues to hold sway over a violent but small minority and support the positive, rational principles on which our societies are founded.

One hopes this new ambassador finds sufficient time to visit an awful lot of cities across the length and breadth of America, because he brings a message all reasonable people need to hear and heed.

Bob Barr occupies the 21st Century Liberties Chair for Freedom and Privacy at the American Conservative Union Foundation.