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| Volume IX, September 2002, Number 3 |
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| EXCERPT: European Perspectives on The Gulf: Similarities and Differences With the U.S. |
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| Michael Siebert |
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Mr. Siebert was political counselor at the German embassy in Washington when this was written. He is now in the German Federal Chancellor's Office in Berlin. The opinions expressed below are the author's and do not necessarily reflect those of his government.
IRAQ
To start by stating the obvious, Saddam Hussein's regime is a serious problem. He is a brutal dictator responsible for horrendous wars. He has manufactured weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and has used them against his neighbors as well as his own people. He attacked Iran and occupied Kuwait. Saddam personally, as well as his regime, poses a serious threat to the stability of the region and world peace.
IRAN
In the case of Iran, there is also a lot of common ground in our assessments: a people striving for more freedom and opportunity, a powerful clerical elite and a democratically elected parliament struggling for its rights. I think we agree that Iran is in no way comparable to the monolithic dictatorship of Baathist Iraq. Iran is a country in motion, with an emerging civil society, with a freer press than exists in many other countries of the region, with more than half the students being women.
SAUDI ARABIA
Saudi Arabia is a very different case, of course, a country that has been a partner to the West for decades, a country with a crucial role in the international oil market, but at the same time a country with a corrupt and repressive regime, no free media, no religious freedom – not even for differing Muslim denominations, let alone Christians – a country that denies rights to women and has a very poor human-rights record. Fifteen of the 19 highjackers on September 11 came from Saudi Arabia. Well-known deficits have since come into much sharper focus: economic problems, lack of modernization and a deepening alienation between the royal family and the population. The long-term stability of the regime appears uncertain. U.S. media highlighted this in an unprecedented "Saudi-bashing campaign" some time ago.
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