Inside the Kingdom

by Robert Lacey

  303 into the desert: In France this small wooden ball is known as the cochonnet, or piglet.

  303 king tends to win: Related by a foreign player of Saudi boules. Several Saudi sources have denied that the king plays with an extra boule, but people in Prince Charles’s party in 2004 have a clear memory of the home advantage.

  303 comforts of his farm: These details were described to the author by a confidant of the king’s.

  304 “He is our Muawiyah”: Hala Al-Houti, interview with author, Jeddah, February 1, 2009.

  304 pull them gently: Algosaibi, Yes, (Saudi) Minister!, p. 17.

  304 classical learning: Ibid.

  304 the “Thunder” sura: Koran, sura 13, verse 11.

  304 the royal eye: Adviser to King Abdullah, interview with author, Riyadh, November 20, 2006.

  305 “cloud of confusion”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Kt4oFP_N1k.

  305 “nineteen types of rice”: Al-Jazirah (newspaper), August 17, 2007.

  306 been with other men: This account of the rape of the Qateef girl is based on an interview with Fouad Ali Al-Mushaikhis in Al-Awjam, January 16, 2008, and on follow-up conversations in Dhahran and Qateef, November 24, 2008; on visits to some of the sites of the incident with Al-Mushaikhis and with Ali Al-Marzouq; on interviews with Abdul-Rahman Al-Lahem in Riyadh, February 9, 2008, and March 10, 2008, and on interviews with Ebtihal Mubarak, Suzan Zawawi, and other journalists who covered the case.

  307 a small plastic tree: Fouad Al-Mushaikhis, interview with author, Dhahran, November 24, 2008.

  307 “a boy and a girl”: Fouad Al-Mushaikhis, interview with author, Al-Awjam, January 16, 2008.

  308 importance of “face”: Interview with clinical psychologist, Riyadh, March 2008.

  309 processing rape allegations: Survey by Safaa Al-Ahmad, 2007.

  310 “ ‘more afraid of them’ ”: Fouad Al-Mushaikhis, interview with author, Dhahran, November 24, 2008.

  311 “improper premarital closeness”: Sheikh Abdul Muhsin Al-Abaiqan, interview with author, Riyadh, March 11, 2008.

  312 “hovering around”: Fouad Al-Mushaikhis, interview with author, Dhahran, November 24, 2008.

  313 “invited by a sinful woman”: Ibid.

  313 tarnished the court’s reputation: “Saudi Arabia: Rape Victim Punished for Speaking Out,” Human Rights Watch, New York, November 17, 2007. http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/07/18/saudia16399.htm.

  313 “the death penalty”: Interview in Okaz, November 27, 2007, reported in “Saudi Rape Case Spurs Calls for Reform,” by Rasheed Abou-AlSamh, New York Times, December 1, 2007.

  314 “my wife’s ‘honor’ ”: Ebtihal Mubarak, interview with author, Jeddah, February 24, 2008.

  314 pardons for the Qateef girl: Abdul Rahman Al-Lahem, interview with author, Riyadh, March 10, 2008.

  314 “the dark tunnel of iniquity”: Abdul Rahman Al-Lahem, interview with author, Riyadh, February 9, 2008.

  315 had to leave: Fouad Al-Mushaikhis, interview with author, Dhahran, November 24, 2008.

  Epilogue

  317 some ten million: Galal Fakkar, “Many Land Lucrative Jobs Dodging the Rules,” Arab News, November 13, 2008.

  317 seventy-three per year: Robert F. Worth, “Saudi Arabia: Executions Rose in 2008,” New York Times, October 15, 2008.

  317 forty-two per year: “Facts About the Death Penalty,” http://www.deathpenaltyinfo. org/FactSheet.pdf , Death Penalty Information Center, April 1, 2008.

  317 three hundred people: “Ashcroft Announces Closed-Circuit Telecast of McVeigh Execution,” CourtTV (2001-04-12).

  317 shamefully tortured: Hollingsworth and Mitchell.

  317 “Have you been tortured”: Off-the-record interviews.

  317 “soft policing”: See, for example, Christopher Boucek, Saudi Arabia’s “Soft” Counterterrorism Strategy: Prevention, Rehabilitation, and Aftercare (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Middle East Program, no. 97, September 2008).

  318 were a running club: Fouad Al-Farhan, interview with author, Jeddah, November 12, 2008.

  318 “a cake in prison”: Ibid.

  318 rice and sheep: Fouad Al-Farhan, interview with author, Jeddah, February 5, 2009.

  319 “hunt down al-Qaeda”: Fouad Al-Farhan, interview with author, November 12, 2008.

  319 security reasons: Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, interview with author, Riyadh, February 3, 2009.

  319 “as God commands”: Off-the-record interview, Washington, October 2008.

  320 “Isn’t that mental—and physical—abuse?”: Fouad Al-Farhan, interview with author, November 12, 2008.

  320 “a different opinion”: Mohammed Saeed Tayeb, interview with author, November 27, 2008.

  321 “ ‘not your thobe’ ”: Ibid.

  321 in the course of revision: Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, interview with author, Riyadh, February 3, 2009.

  321 middle of March 2009: Mohammed Saeed Tayeb, telephone conversation, March 15, 2009.

  321 “no reformers there”: Fouad Al-Farhan, March 16, 2009.

  322 “control your hunger”: Ahmad Sabri, interview with author, Jeddah, September 20, 2007.

  324 earning fatwas: Pascal Ménoret, “Saudi TV’s Dangerous Hit,” Le Monde Diplomatique, September 16, 2004.

  324 receiving death threats: Mahmoud Ahmad, “Tash Ma Tash Actors Receive Death Threats,” Arab News, October 27, 2004.

  324 “don’t make fun”: Nasser Al-Gasabi, interview with author, Dubai, November 8, 2007.

  325 “mental change may follow”: Khaled Bahaziq, interview with author, Jeddah, September 12, 2007.

  325 “permission of their mahram”: Dr. Fawzia Al-Bakr, telephone conversation, June 8, 2008.

  325 “a sort of sisterhood”: Ibid.

  325 The June 2004 gathering: Weston, p. 435.

  327 “a Wahhabi between quotation marks”: Turki Al-Faisal, U.S.-Arab Policy Conference, Washington, DC, October 31, 2008.

  327 dominating the screen: This description comes from several who saw this single episode of the canceled TV series.

  327 shoulder operation: Statement to the author by a representative of Prince Bandar, Jeddah, November 26, 2008.

  327 “low profile”: Explanation to the author by a member of Prince Bandar’s staff.

  327 tribal areas of Pakistan: Nico Hines, “CIA Says Osama Bin Laden Cut Off from al-Qaeda,” Timesonline, November 14, 2008.

  327 some seventy million riyals: Statement to the author by an adviser to the Bin Laden family, Jeddah, November 29, 2008.

  328 surviving wives and children: Bin Laden family member, interview with author, Jeddah, September 2007.

  328 “a more modern Islam”: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2007/07/20/AR200707200188.html.

  328 “sports at home”: http://www.islamlight.net cited in Faiza Ambah, “A Drive Toward the Goal of Greater Freedom,” Washington Post, April 15, 2008.

  329 “realities of modern life”: Tawfiq Al-Seif, interview with author, Tarut Island, June 8, 2007.

  330 “evolving too slowly”: Dr. Ahmad Al-Tuwayjri, interview with author, Riyadh, April 1, 2006.

  330 more than thirty years: Interview with a confidant of King Abdullah, Jeddah, November 30, 2008. Abdullah had to wait until he became king—and until the price of oil rose—to afford his dream.

  330 House of Knowledge: I am grateful to Ambassador Chas Freeman for this insight into the Bayt Al-Hekma and its role in King Abdullah’s vision for KAUST.

  331 $10 billion endowment: New York Times, March 6, 2008.

  331 second only to that of Harvard: Financial Times, May 19, 2008.

  332 palm trees and sand: This account was related to the author by someone who traveled on the bus.

  332 stayed longer at his prayers: recounted by a member of the family who was with the king that evening.

  SUGGESTED READING

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  Akers, Deborah S., and Abubaker Bagader, trans. and eds. Whispers from the Heart: Tales from Saudi Arabia. Beirut: ICCS, 2002.

  Al-Amri, Hasan Zuhair, ed. Post September 11: The Arab Perspective. Riyadh: Ibn Baz Foundation, 2003.

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  Alsanea, Rajaa. Girls of Riyadh. London: Fig Tree-Penguin, 2007.

  Al-Suud, Faisal ibn Mishal. Islamic Political Development in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Washington, DC: National Association of Muslim American Women, 2002.

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  Aslan, Reza. No God but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam. London: Arrow, 2005.

  Ayoob, Mohammed, and Hasan Kosebalaban, eds. Religion and Politics in Saudi Arabia: Wahhabism and the State. London: Lynne Rienner, 2009.

  Azzam, Abdullah. The Lofty Mountain. London: Azzam Publications, 2003.

  Baer, Robert. Sleeping with the Devil: How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude. New York: Crown, 2003.

  Bergen, Peter L. Holy War Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Osama Bin Laden. New York: Free Press, 2001.

  ———. The Osama Bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of the Making of a Global Terrorist . New York: Free Press, 2006.

  Boucek, Christopher. Saudi Arabia’s “Soft” Counterterrorism Strategy: Prevention, Rehabilitation, and Aftercare. Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Middle East Program, no. 97, September 2008.

  Bowen, Wayne H. The History of Saudi Arabia. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2008.

  Bradley, John R. Saudi Arabia Exposed: Inside a Kingdom in Crisis. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.

  Bronson, Rachel. Thicker Than Oil: America’s Uneasy Partnership with Saudi Arabia. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.

  Burke, Jason. Al-Qaeda: The True Story of Radical Islam. London, New York: Penguin, 2004.

  Cave Brown, Anthony. Oil, God, and Gold: The Story of Aramco and the Saudi Kings. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1999.

  Coll, Steve. Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001. London: Penguin Press, 2004.

  ———. The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century. New York: Penguin Press, 2008.

  Commins, David. The Wahhabi Mission and Saudi Arabia. London: I. B. Tauris, 2006.

  Cook, Michael. Forbidding Wrong in Islam: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.

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  Fandy, Mamoun. Saudi Arabia and the Politics of Dissent. London: Palgrave MacMillan, 1999.

  Fisk, Robert. The Great War for Civilization: The Conquest of the Middle East. London: Harper Perennial, 2006.

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  Hegghammer, Thomas. Jihad in Saudi Arabia: Violence and Pan-Islamism Since 1979. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.

  Hertog, Steffen. Princes, Brokers, Bureaucrats: the Politics of the Saudi State. Ithaca: Cornel University Press, 2010.

  Hollingsworth, Mark, and Sandy Mitchell. Saudi Babylon: Torture, Corruption and Cover-up Inside the House of Saud. London: Mainstream, 2005

  Ibrahim, Fouad. The Shi’is of Saudi Arabia. London: Saqi, 2006.

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  Kepel, Gilles. Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam. London. I. B. Tauris, 2002.

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  Khan, Riz. Alwaleed: Businessman, Billionaire, Prince. New York: William Morrow, 2005.

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