Who owns who?
Remember Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah's recent visit to Crawford? We saw pictures of them holding hands on TV and the talking heads explained that Bush was going to talk Abdullah into selling more oil so that the prices go down. After the meeting Bush said that there was nothing he could do about oil prices. But while Bush didn't get what he "wanted," Abdullah did.
"After Sept. 11, Bush reluctantly allowed the State Department to impose some tightened restrictions on Saudi visitors attempting to enter the United States. Up until then, all a Saudi citizen had to do was fill out a form at a travel agent's office and they were here in a jiffy. That's just what the 15 Saudi hijackers did.
But the tighter restrictions required security reviews and sometimes long waits. Saudi businessmen whined about the inconvenience, and after a few of them were denied visas, they went to the prince. He carried their complaints to the president, who listened.
In a remarkably under-reported story, the Arab News carried an announcement from James C. Oberwetter, the U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, declaring that visa restrictions for Saudi visitors would be eased."
from BUSH MENDACITY WILL SHOCK HISTORIANS by Bill Gallagher
posted by SLC Library Boy at Thursday, May 12, 2005
2 Comments:
Having worked in the US Embassy in Saudi Arabia, I can assure you that Saudis--even in the days of "easy visas"--had to do considerably more than go to a travel agency to get their visas.
Until 9/11, the main criterion for getting a visa was to show that you would return to your country of origin and would not be a financial burden on the US taxpayer. That's the law that Congress wrote.
Historically--again, until 9/11--Saudis were the ideal visa applicants. They almost always returned home--over 99% of them. And they spent lots of money in the US, whether they were students, tourists, or businessmen.
US Visa law, until 9/11, was not focused on terror. Immediately afterwards, it was. As a result, it became extremely difficult for Saudis with legitimate reasons to travel to the US to obtain visas.
Consequently, US-Saudi business--over $100 billion/year--dropped by over 60% in some sectors. In education alone, over $2 billion was lost to American universities.
Even things as mundane as Disney World lost tens of millions in business when Saudis couldn't get visas. Saudi Airlines used to run four or five daily flights between Riyadh and Orlando. There are now no direct flights.
Enhanced security is certainly an important fact. But realistically enhanced security should be the target. Even were you to assume there were 20,000 Saudi terrorists--a figure no one in US security operations would use--that means they represent 0.125% of all Saudis.
If you'd care to read more about US-Saudi relations and Saudi reform efforts, please visit my blog Crossroads Arabia.
8:58 PM
Very interesting, and thanks for the comment Hatcher. And for the record: It is my opinion that just about anyone (excluding criminials) should have access to the "land of the free." If we are to get strict about immigration/visiting etc, then only Native Americans should have "full citizenship." I think the Bush Administraion and the media are always sending us smokescreens. The Crown Prince's visit to Crawford was another case of this. The media was saying one thing while they were apparantly discussing another.
1:57 PM
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