RIYADH: For almost a year now, since the Sept 11 events in New York and Washington, the Saudi-US special relations are increasingly under the spotlight, all around. Almost on a daily basis new issues and debates get under way, undermining the very foundation of the relationship which in past decades had weathered numerous storms and challenges.

For the time being the two governments — in Washington and in Riyadh — appear to be striving hard to maintain the more-than-six-decade-old close, strategic, fraternal ties at reasonable levels.

A number of contentious issues are coming to the fore now. It all started with the identification that 15 out of the 19 hijackers, involved in the 9/11 events were Saudis. The initial reaction, even within official circles in Riyadh, was disbelief and utter denial. However, as things started to settle down, the Saudi authorities finally conceded the fact.

The fact generated much heat in the US. A number of Saudis, other Arabs and Muslims were put behind bars in the US on the slightest pretext. They later reported of humiliation and inhuman treatment in the US prison cells. Travellers from this part of the world complained of racial profiling in the US. The later decision of the US authorities to fingerprint visitors from this part of the world, also caused many eyebrows to be raised here. The facility of the US express visa was withdrawn, resulting in long queues of the Saudis seeking visa at the US embassy in Riyadh and the consulate in Jeddah.

Earlier, most of the Saudi citizens used to get the visa stamped on their passports without appearing for the interview, and pretty quickly. Now, four to five weeks for endorsing the US visa is the norm.

The transfer of almost 600 captives by the US authorities to Guantanamo Bay, about 150 of whom were Saudis, was also seen in the same backdrop. All the Arab and Muslim businesses, including a number of Islamic banks and a number of charity houses originating from this part of the world remain to this day under scrutiny and spotlight in USA. This also caused an uproar in Riyadh and elsewhere in the Kingdom.

The debate in the US on lessening the dependence on Saudi and Gulf oil was also heard with interest and deep concern here. Many here felt that Saudi Arabia is specifically being targeted in this regard. The reports that the US administration was working to promote Russia, other Caspian belt states and even Nigeria to counter-balance the influence of Saudi Arabia — having the world’s largest proven reserves of crude — and other Gulf Arab states in the oil market has been received with distress here.

The recent Rand Corporation briefing to the US Defence Department, labelling Saudi Arabia as an enemy of the United States and advising the administration to freeze the Saudi assets in the US and take over its oil wells came as a serious blow to the relations between the two states.

People in the Kingdom started to question the relevance of The Washington Post report at this crucial juncture of the Arab-US relationship. Many felt that these were specifically leaked to the press to put additional pressures on the Saudi government and people. There was a more sinister aspect to this entire scenario, opinion makers strongly felt and expressed here.

The last and the most recent nail in the coffin has been the lawsuit filed against leading Saudi personalities, financial houses and a number of leading Islamic charities operating from the Kingdom. The lawsuit, filed by the relatives of those killed in the 9/11 attacks, claims trillions of dollars in compensation from these personalities and institutions. People here are bewildered, to say the least, over all these accusations. It is part of a well-orchestrated campaign against the Muslim world, many here argue.

The blind US support to Israel was another reason for disenchantment among the Saudis against the US. The streets in the Arab world were already seething with anger against the policies of the US on the Palestinian issue. The above scenario exacerbated the divide between the two sides. Indeed, the Newtonian theory emphasizes that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The Arab world also could not have remained silent to all that was taking place in the US against the Arabs and their interests. The anger started expressing in many ways.

Initially, the Saudis and the Arab world started boycotting US goods, to the extent possible. The McDonalds and the Pepsi, the torch-bearers of capitalist America at its peak, like many other US brands, became a victim of the boycott campaign throughout the region. The sales of US origin products declined significantly. A number of supermarkets started to abandon stocking US products on their shelves. In order to fill market demand, the Iranian substitute for the US soft drinks, Zam Zam Cola was introduced in the Kingdom and elsewhere in the region.

As a result of all these developments, US exports to the Kingdom in the first half of 2002 plunged to a 12-year low. The value of US exports to Saudi Arabia reached $2.2 billion on June 30, a drop of 30.5 per cent over the same period in 2001, a US report confirmed.

The number of travellers to the US from Saudi Arabia during the summer holidays season also reduced drastically. A number of Saudis simply avoided holidaying in the USA, their favourite destination until the last season, for fear of being persecuted at US arrival and departure points. New destinations within the Arab and the Muslim world emerged as the more favoured tourist destination of the majority among the Saudis and their families.

Despite all the US pressures and wooing, Saudi authorities still appear determined not to support the use of force to dislodge the Saddam government in Baghdad. They are also adamant not to let the Americans use the Prince Sultan Airbase in Al-Kharj for any aggression against Iraq. This is also becoming a major issue of contention dividing the two sides.

With the filing of the lawsuit against senior Saudi personalities and some of the Islamic financial houses and charities in USA, there are also growing calls here to repatriate Saudi money invested in USA. According to some estimates, there are about 750 billion dollars in private Saudi investments in USA and that the total private Arab investments in the US exceeds $1.3 trillion.

Some recent reports show that about $200 billion has already been withdrawn from the US because of the fear that the Saudi and the Arab assets may be confiscated due to the lawsuit filed there.

There are some here who do not agree with the figure of $200 billion. However, everyone agrees that a sense of insecurity has definitely gripped the Saudis and the other Arab private investors and some of the invested money is now bound to flow out of US markets, at a time when the US economy was striving to wriggle out of the recession it has been in for some time, this may not be a very good omen for the emerging US economy.

After 9/11, things have definitely changed in the equation between the US and Saudi Arabia. These are not very good times for the relationship between the two states. If the current situation is allowed to continue to drift in the direction it is moving now, it may have disastrous repercussions for the stability and peace throughout the region.