EDITORIAL: Listen to the king
By MIDDLE EAST TIMES
Published: November 22, 2007
The U.S. government invitation to Saudi Arabia to attend the Annapolis peace conference on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a welcome development, but Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice still has far to go to dispel the all too unjustifiable suspicion around the region that this invitation is just pro forma. Washington cannot make any substantive progress on the peace process unless Saudi Arabia actively supports it. And that will only happen if Riyadh's real interest and concerns are truly recognized and accommodated.
Over the past decade successive U.S. administrations, both Democratic and Republican, have been disastrously short-sighted and self-defeating in their dealings with the Saudis. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's failure to assuage Saudi concerns about the then-collapsing global oil price in 1998-9 drove Riyadh into Iran's arms for a highly successful production-limiting agreement that restored the global clout of OPEC.
So far, current Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has echoed Albright's incompetence in dealing with the desert kingdom. But Annapolis will be doomed unless she wakes up fast.
Saudi King Abdullah has made very clear over the past month of his willingness to play a far larger and more positive role in the peace process. The king's unprecedented meeting with Pope Benedict XVI declared to the world his determination to try and avert the suicidal nightmare of a war of civilizations between the Christian and Muslim worlds, and of his readiness to run major risks with Arab public opinion in order to do so.
The king's leadership at the latest OPEC summit in Riyadh was also a model of courageous and constructive statesmanship. He stood up to the Iranians and the Venezuelans in asserting that the revived economic power of the global oil cartel should be used moderately and wisely. All this signals Saudi willingness as well as capability to play a major constructive role at Annapolis.
The Saudi position on the greatest danger facing the Middle East today - the continuing stand-off between the United States and Iran over Tehran's nuclear program - is also clear-cut, practical and constructive. It is that Washington should take an active lead in containing Iran and discouraging it from any reckless actions, but that the U.S. should also take pains to defuse tensions, enter into a constructive dialog, and make clear it is moving away from the risk of stumbling into a catastrophic war with the Islamic republic.
The stated goal of the U.S. and Israel is to revive the credibility of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to make the West Bank a successful and attractive society for Palestinians in contrast to what Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement, is doing in Gaza. After years of ignoring Abbas' warnings and seeking to undermine him at every turn, such a policy should be welcomed as better late than never. But it cannot hope to succeed without very substantial Saudi financial support.
Bush and Rice therefore can only gain from embracing King Abdullah as a major partner and player in the peace process: They should be under no illusion that they can advance it without him.
CIA Used Jordan to Detain Suspects
Barbara Ferguson, Arab News
WASHINGTON, 2 December 2007 — Terror suspects were reportedly held in custody by a Jordanian spy agency working covertly with the US CIA that used its ties with its Jordanian counterparts to detain and interrogate at least 12 terrorism suspects in Jordan.
Citing unnamed documents, The Washington Post reported yesterday that former prisoners and human rights advocates said that for the past seven years a secret detention center located on the outskirts of Amman was mostly used as a covert transit point for CIA prisoners captured elsewhere.
The building is the headquarters of the General Intelligence Department, or GID, Jordan’s powerful spy and security agency, The Post said.
“The GID has received money, training and equipment from the CIA for decades and even has a public English-language website.
“The relationship has deepened in recent years, with US officials praising their Jordanian counterparts for the depth of their knowledge regarding Al-Qaeda and other radical networks,” the paper said.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=104211&d=2&m=12&y=2007&pix=world.jpg&category=World
Programs to Boost Intelligence Gathering Skills Set, Says Muqrin
Raid Qusti, Arab News
RIYADH, 2 December 2007 — The Saudi Intelligence Presidency has provided computer training to all of its administrative employees as part of a government strategy to prepare the organization to cope with rapidly evolving technology, Chief of Intelligence Prince Muqrin said yesterday.
“In response to the directives of our leaders to make government bodies more computer savvy, the presidency has begun implementing several programs to improve intelligence gathering techniques,” said Prince Muqrin during his keynote speech at the inauguration of a three-day international conference entitled “Information Technology & National Security.”
“Special attention has been given to the presidency’s employees. All administrative employees have been given training in computers,” he added.
Prince Muqrin mentioned that the presidency had established a “new vision” for the government agency.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=104210&d=2&m=12&y=2007
Thoughts on Annapolis
Daniel Levy, Arab News
WASHINGTON, 2 December 2007 — Theories abound as to why an Annapolis conference and why now. Jerry Seinfeld would be excused for thinking that this is all a personal conspiracy against him — his visit to Israel was dominating the headlines until Annapolis came along. In fact, some in the Israeli media have been drawing a rather unflattering analogy: the Annapolis conference resembles a Seinfeld episode — it’s about nothing. Yada, yada, yada.
It’s easy to be cynical, but Annapolis does matter. Israelis and Palestinians formally re launched permanent status negotiations after seven long, violent and destructive years. The Bush administration is finally engaged and expending some capital on this issue. The Arab world, including Saudi Arabia and Syria, attended. At the very least, it is the kind of gathering that cannot be convened every fortnight. The uninvited naysayers back home — Hamas, Iran, you know the list — may look like meanie spoilsports today, but if a month from now negotiations are stalled and the situation on the ground is just as dreadful (place your bets), then it is they who will be wearing the Cheshire cat grins.
Annapolis could signify the rebirth of hope, but for this to be the case the credibility gaps that have the skeptics buzzing will need to be addressed.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=104221&d=2&m=12&y=2007
Middle East Still Lives Under War’s Dark Shadow
Sir Cyril Townsend, Arab News
On Nov. 15 the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) produced a report that claimed Iran had been cooperating to a limited extent with its inspectors, but might be able to produce an atom bomb within a year. This has raised fears in both London and Washington of an attack by Israel on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
The IAEA report stated: “Iran has provided sufficient access to individuals and has responded in a timely manner to questions and provided clarifications and amplifications on issues raised.”
It went on to say that the IAEA: “was not in a position to provide credible assurances about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran.”
It concluded that Iran has expanded uranium enrichment to about 3,000 centrifuge machines, and that is enough to start industrial production of nuclear fuel and could provide the material for an atom bomb within a year.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=104222&d=2&m=12&y=2007
Ahmadinejad to attend Gulf Arab summit
By Mohammed Almezel, Deputy Managing Editor
Last updated: December 02, 2007, 14:17
Doha: A senior Gulf official on Sunday welcomed the participation of Iranian president in Monday's Gulf Cooperation Council summit.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will take part in the GCC leaders' meeting here for the first time. He was invited by the summit host, Emir of Qatar Shaikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, amid increasing tension between Tehran and Washington over Iran's controversial nuclear programme.
"We welcome the presence of the Iranian guest in the summit," GCC Secretary General Abdul Rahman Al Atiyyah told reporters in Doha today, ahead of a meeting of the six GCC states finance ministers.
He declined to state the reasons behind the invitation but said, "It is not the first time we invite leaders on this level to the summit."
http://www.gulfnews.com/news/gulf/gcc/10171861.html
Meeting to review unified currency deadline
Gulf News Report
Published: December 02, 2007, 09:23
Doha: Gulf officials are set to announce a final decision on the long anticipated unified currency in the run up to the meeting of the GCC leaders.
The finance ministers of the six GCC states will meet on Sunday in Doha to finalise “the economic agenda” of the 28th summit, to be held in Doha on Monday and Tuesday, a GCC official said.
They are expected to declare the group’s plan to go ahead with the original deadline of 2010 to issue a unified GCC currency or to defer the issue to the widely expected 2015 new timeframe.
The new deadline seems more likely since Oman announced earlier this year that it was unable to meet the 2010 deadline.
http://www.gulfnews.com/news/gulf/gcc/10171852.html
