In recent days, Saudi Arabia has taken steps to crack down on the religious extremism that fueled the Sept. 11 hijackings and last month's terrorist attacks in Riyadh. Authorities have arrested suspects in the May 12 bombings and fired Muslim clerics who preached hatred of Americans and Jews.
But a glaring fact remains: The U.S. and Saudi governments have long tolerated the extremism that has been so damaging to both countries.
Consider the following:
Every year, the State Department does an exhaustive survey of religious freedom - or lack thereof - in other nations. According to the latest report, issued in March, "religious freedom does not exist in Saudi Arabia."
You can't get much worse than that. The report notes that Islam is the official religion and all Saudi citizens must be Muslims. The public practice of Christianity, Judaism and other faiths is banned; customs officials routinely confiscate non-Muslim items like Bibles and CDs of Christmas music. Non-Muslim foreigners have been arrested, tortured and deported.
Given the State Department's findings, you might expect Saudi Arabia to be among the "countries of particular concern" that the department says engage in "systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom." But no. While China, North Korea, Iraq, Iran, Myanmar and Sudan made the list this year, Saudi Arabia was conspicuously absent.
"I'm appalled and disappointed," said Felice Gaer of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an advisory body created by Congress. "But I'm not surprised."
Released shortly before the war in Iraq, the State Department report drew little attention despite omitting what is arguably the world's most religiously repressive nation now that the Taliban are gone from Afghanistan. A spokesman said Saudi Arabia was left off the list because its violations were not "particularly severe."
There are two other likely reasons. No. 1, the United States always has been shy to criticize the country with a fourth of the world's known oil reserves. No. 2, the Bush administration didn't want to anger the Saudis while seeking use of their air bases for strikes against Iraq. Regardless, the omission fits what critics say is a disturbing pattern of deference to Wahhabism, the puritanical form of Islam that governs behavior in Saudi Arabia.
In contrast to moderate Muslim nations like Turkey and Morocco, the kingdom bans the use of alcohol and prohibits movie theaters, discos and most other forms of entertainment. Men and women are generally banned from working together or mingling in public. Wahhabism is especially hard on women, who must cover up when they go outside and cannot drive.
While Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Abdullah, is pushing limited reforms, other Saudi leaders have made it clear they like things the way they are.
As the New York Times reported, the government last week ordered the removal of a Saudi newspaper editor who questioned whether the religious establishment promoted militant views. And at a press conference after the May 12 bombings, which killed 25, Interior Minister Prince Nayef snapped at another Saudi journalist who asked whether any thought was being given to reshaping the religious police.
The prince denied any such plans and told the journalist: "As a Saudi, you should be ashamed to be asking this question."
The job of enforcing Wahhabism falls to the Orwellian-sounding Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. In a recent letter to a Saudi newspaper, a divorced mother of two described how difficult Wahhabism and the mutawah or religious police have made her life in a rural area with no public transportation.
"The problem is that strict laws prevent women from driving," she wrote. "If a woman decides to hire a driver, he must be a (male guardian) and if she wants to hire one who is not, he must be accompanied by his wife. I am a low-level government employee and my modest salary barely supports us, let alone enables me to hire a driver."
The woman said she bought a car anyway and started driving herself, only to be harassed and finally threatened by the mutawah.
"What shall I do?" she asked. "How can I get a driving license? ... I continue to suffer, as do my little children and parents for whom I bear great responsibility."
There's no question that religious extremism in Saudi Arabia has produced terrorists - most of the Sept. 11 hijackers were Saudis. But as this letter shows, an equally insidious effect is to keep women, who make up half the Saudi population, from fully contributing to a society that could sorely use their skills, work and common sense.
The United States insists it is working behind the scenes to promote greater religious tolerance in the kingdom. It also announced publicly that it is transferring most U.S. troops from Saudi Arabia to other Persian Gulf nations. But this seems more a move to appease the extremists than to eliminate them.
There may be sound diplomatic reasons for America to occasionally turn a blind eye to human rights abuses committed by its allies. But if the State Department is going to the trouble of identifying "countries of particular concern," you'd think it would include the country with one of the most dismal records of all.
