Wikileaks: The Saudi Spin

Today, I read the Saudi spin to Wikileaks in the NY Times' WEEK IN REVIEW. It came in a column penned by Chas Freeman, who had served as assistant secretary of defense from 1983 to 1994 and U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia during he Persian Gulf war. The Freeman piece was titled "Why Iran Loves WikiLeaks."

I too fell in love. In my case, it was with the column by Freeman. First, it again shows how Saudi Arabia chooses to present its views; namely, through its special friends in the U.S. Let's not forget that after serving in the U.S. Senate, the late Sen. Wm Fulbright became a registered lobbyist for the Saudi government. Today, people find it easier to circumvent registration requirements despite essentially acting as lobbyists. Whether people are registered or not, speaking for the Saudis is rarely without handsome remuneration. The only downside is that you've got to be the kind of American who can hold his nose as he, or she, observes decapitating people who run afoul of Wahhabi stricture, observes the religiously condoned abuse of women, Saudi treatment of gays, and the hypocrisy endemic in Saudi society.

Saudi hypocrisy is not confined to its domestic culture, but extends to its diplomacy. Amb. Freeman so much as says this when he writes, "The Middle East (read 'Saudi Arabia') is a place where yes means maybe, maybe means no, no is never heard (except in Israel), and a plea for foreign solutions to regional problems is a cop-out, not a serious request for action, It is where hypocrisy first gained a bad name. WikiLeaks has hurt America without changing that."

Freeman is certainly worth whatever it is that the Saudis may be paying him, but when the Saudis refer to the Iranians as a snake and suggest that the snake be "decapitated" (an interesting choice of words in light the Saudi's preferred means of capital punishment) it becomes exceedingly difficult to put this off as a mere cop-out.