JEDDAH: Khaled Al Maeena spends hours every day creating “calm mail out of hate mail,” he says. Since Sept 11, the editor of Saudi Arabia’s leading English-language daily has been answering e-mails from Americans venting their anger about the Sept 11 attacks.

In his replies, Al Maeena stresses Saudi respect for the US, ties between the two nations, and the fact that “we don’t hate you.” Al Maeena gets largely gracious answers, but admits that he is deeply frustrated by the way Americans see Saudi Arabia these days. Three months after the attacks, Saudis of all stripes echo his irritation.

There is a deep discomfort here with US criticism of Saudi Arabia and unease about where the US “war on terror” will lead. While there are strong incentives for both countries to maintain close ties, anger and resentment here could strain Saudi support for the US counterterror drive, particularly if it extends beyond Afghanistan.

“Since Sept 11, there is all this anti-Saudi bias in the US,” complains Khlood Al Sheikh, a student at Jeddah’s King Abdul Aziz University, as she sits in a cafe at a posh new mall. “What makes it worse is that Americans are so convinced they are right.”

Saudis like Al Sheik speak of their disquiet about the US bombing of Afghanistan, a poor Muslim country. But they express even greater concern about what is happening within US borders - harassment of Muslims, the targeting of Arab-Americans by law enforcement, and a general failure to distinguish between terrorists and Muslims.

The Saudi government has repeatedly rebuked the US media for its depiction of Saudi Arabia as a tacit supporter of radical Muslim groups and, by extension, terrorism. “Some foreign newspapers have said that the Holy Quran is the cause of crimes God forbid,” Prince Abdullah, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, told a gathering of provincial governors in November, before going on to condemn these “ferocious campaigns.”

Layla, a US college graduate, says her greatest concern is harassment of Saudis and Muslims in the US. Saudi media has devoted considerable newsprint to US hate crimes against Muslims and to the return of Saudi students who no longer feel comfortable continuing their studies in the US.

Al Maeena, the Arab News editor, echoes his charge that Americans are engaging in dangerous stereotyping. “People do not act in the plural - you don’t say all Christians do this or that - but the media portrays us this way and demonizes Islam,” he says. “What’s bugging Saudis is that you’ve made a blanket judgment,” he continues. “Just because 15 of 19 of (the Sept 11 attackers) were Saudi doesn’t mean we’re all Jack the Ripper.” —Dawn/LATS Service (c) Christian Science Monitor.