Customer Reviews

Inside The Mirage: America's Fragile Partnership With Saudi Arabia

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Lippman presents readers a unique, detailed, highly readable and timely look at Saudi Arabia. This book is a needed starting point or supplement for readers striving the understand the role of traditional society, petroleum, development and politics on the Saudi-US relationship.

This is the new and indispensible tome for the library of any serious scholar of Saudi relations with the United States.

A well researched and well documented book by a veteran expert. Lippman has been studying and writing about the Middle East for a long time. Inside the Mirage benefits from his extensive travels and interviews. It is an eye opening, people oriented account. Read The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Saudi Arabia to get an overview. Read this one to delve deeper.

Thomas Lippman has provided a prescient discussion of the long and interconnected relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia. This relationship has been among the forefront of the problems U.S. policymakers have been reexamining since 9/11, and is among one of the most complicated of the U.S.'s bilateral relationships today.

At the turn of the 20th century the area that is now Saudi Arabia was then a disparate mixture of clans soon to be united by Abdul Aziz ibn Saud. The lifestyles of the inhabitants of the land were not much different than their ancestors from millennia before. Within a few years a relationship would be started that would change the world.

The first American geologists came to Saudi Arabia in the early 1930s. These geologists first found oil in 1933 and found the first large and profitable oil fields in 1938. From the time of that first large discovery of oil on, the U.S. and Saudi would a close mutual relationship. The Arab American Oil Company, or Aramco, was set up to extract the new oil finds. In exchange, the Americans were charged with creating a modern, industrial society in the Kingdom. For the next 60 years, American government officials, private contractors, and the U.S. military would undertake projects that would lead to such things as a modern infrastructure for moving oil out of the ground and the country (Aramco, Bechtel), would establish the Saudi national airline (TWA), create a modern civil service (the Ford Foundation). In addition, U.S. government officials helped establish a paper currency and a central bank. In addition, since 1951, U.S. policy has been to recognize the protection of Saudi Arabia from outside threats as a vital national interest. This policy meant supplying military equipment and training for five decades and condoning harsh treatment of Saudi dissidents or those who long for many of the freedoms Americans hold dear, such as freedom of religion and speech.

U.S. Middle East policy, including the invasion of Iraq, the inability of the Saudi leadership to create the conditions for its newly educated young people to find jobs, and other issues are all swirling to create conditions inimical to the continuation of this marriage of convenience. While Lippman is unable to provide answers or speculation about the future, he has provided a valuable service by giving a remarkably balanced telling the story of the long, complicated relationship.

Thomas Lippman has accomplished a brave thing. In his book, he takes a look at a difficult relationship without succumbing to the post-9/11 quest for demons.

Unlike Baer, who never worked in Saudi Arabia, or Schwartz, who has never even been to Saudi Arabia, Lippman bases his book on first-hand experience with the country and people who have lived there for extended periods. He also takes the time to talk with Saudis, an almost unheard of tact in this day of instant experts.

The early parts of the book are excellent. His rendition of the history and slowly-built alliances between America and Saudi Arabia are both factually and contextually correct. He might spend a little too much time on the "Cleaver family" nature of ARAMCO housing, but the effect it had on the Saudis working for and with ARAMCO is accurately captured.

In some ways, this book might have been better had its publication been delayed for a while. More information, rather than allegation, has come out about Saudi cooperation in the war against terror. For instance, contra the Washington Post review, Saudi Arabia did, in fact, begin anti-terror efforts immediately following 9/11, though the efforts were more highly charged after the 5/12 bombings in Riyadh. Too, Saudi efforts against terrorists in the midst continue today.

This author describes an interesting history of Saudi Arabia and its relations with the U.S. The book traces the Saudi-American alliance from its emergence after the birth of the Kingdom in 1932 and the signing a year later of the first oil-prospecting agreement with Standard Oil of California up until the present time, ending with a discussion of the strategic ties that bind the United States and Saudi Arabia. In particular, it describes the experience of many Americans who have worked in the Kingdom, giving particularly unique insight for instance into what it was like for many to work for Aramco, to be a wife of an Aramco worker, to be married to a Saudi male, or be involved in one of many other possible relations involving folks from the US and Saudi Arabia. Thomas W. Lippman is an adjunct scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington. In four years as the Washington Post's Middle East bureau chief, three years as the Post's oil and energy reporter and a decade as the newspaper's national security and diplomatic correspondent, he has traveled extensively to Saudi Arabia. In all, he has spent more than thirty years as a reporter, editor, and foreign correspondent for The Washington Post, specializing in Middle Eastern affairs and American foreign policy. He is known for and described as writing in a very even-handed manner. Unlike most other books I have read, the author remains respectful towards the Saudi people. One of many messages that I got from his book is that some Americans have not been able to adapt to life in Saudi Arabia while others have done amazingly well at settling into the unique and very different culture. Americans who have been able to adjust to life in the Kingdom showed a great willingness to bend to Saudi's cultural norms and a willingness to reach out (and frequently live) outside of the compounds and/or otherwise seek opportunities to actually connect with Saudis. For instance, he talks of the Nance Museum in Missouri, perhaps the only museum dedicated to traditional Saudi Arabian art and crafts in the U.S., developed by a former Aramco couple (the Nances) who simply fell in love with the native traditions. Although Lippman acknowledges that there are a lot of problems in Saudi Arabia which they must face and resolve, he generally shows the Saudis in a very positive light. He has travelled to Saudi Arabia a number of times since September 11 and his last chapter discusses changes in Saudi culture since this terror attack. In the paperback version he has added an additional chapter. Lippman is a very responsible writer, taking seriously the affect he knows his words can have upon the reader. His love for the US is clear. However, he is not arrogant about his nationality. He also shows sympathy and agreement with many of the complaints registered by Arabs, while not being an apologetic. He is among the most diplomatic of all authors on Saudi Arabia and he concludes his book with at least the possibility for hope. Lastly, while admitting the need for real change - both in the U.S. and in Saudi Arabia - he doesn't feel the need to resort to cheap alarmist warnings.

The Chinese and Indian societies are two of the oldest, continuously-existing societies in the history of man. Both share many similarities; one of which is that in either society, when one enters into a business arrangement with another person, it often involves a comingling of families such that the spouses get to know each other, the children get to know each other, and so on and so forth. Many Americans find this to be quite difficult to handle upon first encounters. For example, many Americans doing business in China are quickly frustrated how their Chinese business partners request positions for their family members and friends. Though it seems cumbersome, this type of arrangement serves a very useful purpose; it helps each group get to know the other group better, thereby reducing the chances of surprises down the road.

By this example, we can now examine the US-Saudi relationship over the past ~80 years, and specifically how it is portrayed in this book. In short, the US has had a very special relationship with Saudi Arabia, and one that is built on mutual ignorance. Specifically, when oil was discovered in the Saudi desert, American companies were so quick to get it flowing out and to the market, that neither side had the time to learn about each others cultures, norms, values, etc... Yes, many American geologists learned Arabic and some even became Muslim. Yes, many Arabs went on to work in America and send their children to American schools. But overall, this exchange of ideas was limited to a small minority, even within the expatriate community of each side. American oil workers lived in their own neighborhoods in Saudi Arabia, and Arabs in America tend to be concentrated in a few cities; i.e. Detroit. The relationship was essentially all business. But like any relationship between two persons or two countries, nothing is ever all business; politics sooner or later gets involved. In America's case, the vast majority of Americans were so ignorant of Saudi-American relations, that the terrorist attacks of 9-11-2001 came as such a big surprise.

This book shows the extent of the American - Saudi relationship at various levels in business, politics, and military relations. It shows how Saudis and Americans related and dealt with each other's cultures and persons in both American and Saudi Arabia. These including interesting stories of how Saudi women first learned about the bra; by seeing it on the wives of American oil executives and geologists. This book also shows the lack of understanding between the two cultures and peoples, and how this is often the unstated goal of the governments of both countries; out of sight - out of mind.

This book does not go too much into Osama Bin Laden, Wahabism, Al Queda, or the extent of terrorism in Saudi Arabia. Instead, it is more of a primer on American - Saudi relations. Overall, a good book to read.

I chose to read Lippman's book in an effort to better understand Saudi Arabia's history and place in the Muslim world. The author offers a detailed and nuanced survey of U.S.-Saudi relations from the 1930s up to the recent war in Iraq. His book filled many of my knowledge holes (which I expect are shared by many other Americans) and unexpectedly made me very interested in this fascinating nation.

Lippman describes how Saudi Arabia's Saud dynasy has quickly modernized the country in terms of technology and wealth while retaining staunchly devoted to a specific brand of conservative Islam. The combination of close economic and military ties with the U.S. and a contentious position in the Muslim world is highly complex and truly unique, and it has given rise both to important partnerships and some strong resentments. Saudi Arabia has been a vital ally in recent conflicts, yet many of the September 11 hijackers hailed from there. Lippman helps sort out this strange tangle of relations, and he does it in a very reasonable, non-polemic way and with a compulsively readable writing style. I'd like to see this very thoughful history be widely read by people interested in one of the United States' most vital yet precarious allies against terrorism.

Accept for the major caveat at the end, the book deserves the full 5-star rating, particularly since there are so many polemical and false books on the Kingdom available. Mr. Lippman has taken the time to interview numerous Americans and some Saudis on their interactions. His book chronicles the Saudi - American partnership, which he correctly asserts in the Prologue: "The people of Saudi Arabia have benefited, not suffered, from the American presence." He structures his book into various chapters focusing on different economic sectors. Naturally this begins `at the beginning,' with the discovery of oil in the Eastern Province in the `30's. (An excellent complement to these chapters is Stegner's book, "Discovery!"). Other chapters however break new ground, and cover sectors not discussed in other books, specifically the creation of SAMA (the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency), with the concurrent development on a modern monetary system; the introduction of radio and TV; TWA's development of a modern airline system, along with the national carrier, Saudia; the Ford foundation's participation, and ultimate failure in developing governmental systems along American lines; the unusual background, and even more unusual function of JECOR (US-Saudi Arabian Joint Economic Commission) in which US government employees worked in an advisory role in virtually all the Saudi ministries. Personally I found the chapter "Down on the Farm" the most informative and fascinating, and it started with a tall blonde woman, age 23, arriving in Al-Kharj in 1950 to help manage a farm with her husband. Naturally there was also an informative chapter on the involvement of the US military in the development of their Saudi counterpart. More briefly, probably through lack of contacts, he covers those who worked at American schools as well as the medical sector. Regrettably, one of his chief medical references was Dr. Seymour Gray. As Mr. Lippman says about his serious lapses in medical ethics: "American doctors generally refrain from discussing their patients in public, at least by name, but no such compunction inhibited Seymour Gray (p 261).

Another excellent aspect of this book is that he updates two of the classic accounts of Saudi Arabia, Lacey's "The Kingdom," and Holden and Johns "The House of Saud," with chapters which cover the impact of the two Gulf Wars, as well as the impact on 9-11 on American-Saudi relations. By interviewing so many Americans who chose to work in Saudi Arabia, one is treated to snippets of insights into their own motivations for going to the Kingdom, and why for those who made the necessary cultural adjustment, they considered the country an attractive place to live. He renders a balanced assessment by Richard E. Undeland, an USIA employee who said: "there was much that was right, admirable, and promising" in Saudi Arabia. More tellingly still, there is a vignette involving General William H Riley Jr., in which he learns from the Saudis, as opposed to the normally assumed role that Americans can only teach; that the Saudis have nothing to teach us. (p 293). In three other separate chapters he deals with issues along that so-called, as well as the very real cultural divide, include Christian and Jewish practices in the Kingdom, and some of those Westerners who were caught up in the Kingdom's judicial system.

And therein lays the caveat. Lippman correctly reports the strong reluctance of any Saudi to admit the evolvement of their compatriots in the 9-11 attacks. Likewise there is a strong reluctance to admit that an American caught up in the Saudi judicial system might actually be guilty, or would fabricate how he was treated. Lippman got completely snookered in the case of Scott Nelson, as did the rest of the US media, even though this enormous red flag was flying, which Lippman reported. Nelson submitted a phony diploma indicating that he had an electrical engineering degree from MIT in order to secure a position as "monitoring systems engineer" at King Faisal Specialist Hospital. Lippman calls this action a "serious mistake," (p229) though stronger descriptions might be more appropriate. Why, oh why wouldn't a journalist not wonder that if Nelson lied about his credentials, and produced phony documents, what else might he lie about? Ask a few follow-up questions: What exactly is Nelson's educational background? Did he have any sort of education, or more importantly, did he possess any sort of KNOWLEDGE that would justify his assumption of the position of "monitoring systems engineer."? It would be a few short steps until the journalist asked Nelson the following: Perhaps you are the largest safety violation at the hospital, not the allegedly improperly connected gas lines? The lawyer defending HCA in this case did such a background check, uncovering a serial pattern of deception, which is one of the reasons the charges against the company were dismissed. Lippman could still review this case, not for the insights it might reveal about the Saudis, but for those about ourselves, and that "Orientalism" framework that we view events in the Middle East.

In the murky world of US/ Mid East foreign policy, this book shines like a beacon. One could only hope that Oprah might select this for her book club, rather than flying to a million piece. But that's my perfect world. Mr. Lippman has written an insightful and extremely well researched book that opens the curtains of US-Saudi alliance and friendship. The new paperback afterword, written in January 2005, provides timely insight: "The most important reason is that Saudi Arabia is no longer economically or technologically dependent upon the United States. The Saudis no longer need Americans to show them how to fly their planes, irrigate their crops, manage their money...."
I told my Polish friend about the book and then refused to give him my copy. He's a stickler for accurate history, and considers most American authors inadequate and biased. That he has ordered a copy is a remarkable compliment to the author.

Both well written and well documented, this book provides a basic history of the US-Saudi Relationship, a relationship that basically spans the existence of the country. A sizable chunk of the book deals with the oil industry and this section of the book is especially illuminating, as foreign companies and governments behaved very differently in Saudi Arabia than in neighboring countries. The analysis of the oil industry's comportment in Saudi Arabia would have seemed almost too rosy to me, but I have read similar accounts from several others sources. Although the United States has dealt much more fairly with Saudi Arabia than with many other countries, this book left me somewhat depressed. It brings up so many compelling questions: Is it right for the US to deal with a government that is both non-democratic and sometimes downright repressive? Was there a way for this wealthy though sparsely populated country to protect itself without US involvement? Do the huge levels of unemployment breed fundamentalism in this wealthy country as poverty and class disparity seem to in poorer countries? I could go on. Lippman's book doesn't provide the answers; it is much more history than current analysis or policy-suggestion, but certainly worth reading for inspiring such reflection.