Word: fahd
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Fifteen years ago, when King Fahd was still Crown Prince, he pledged to establish a citizens' consultative council upon ascending Saudi Arabia's throne. But after he came to power in 1982, Fahd found ample excuses to confine decision making within a narrow family circle. Then came Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait and the subsequent arrival of more than 500,000 U.S. troops in the region. While President Bush maintained that Desert Storm was not designed to promote democracy in the gulf's oilagarchies, the campaign to liberate Kuwait prodded conservative Arab rulers to broaden public participation...
Last week King Fahd finally introduced modest but significant political reforms. He extended the concept of shura (consultation) beyond the informal tradition of hearing petitions from private citizens. In an 83-article decree, he announced plans to establish a 60-member consultative council, and he also codified governmental protections of personal freedoms for 7 million subjects and 5 million foreign residents. Since the edict also affirmed the absolute authority of the monarch, it neither transforms Saudi Arabia into a model democracy nor positions Fahd as a regional pioneer. The Emir of Kuwait, for instance, has made a bolder pledge...
After months of clamoring for more high-tech aircraft, Saudi Arabia has reversed the throttle and quietly backed off its request for 72 more F-15 jet fighters. KING FAHD's surprising flip-flop may prove to be a pragmatic move. The Saudis relish their role as Washington's pre-eminent Arab partners in the Middle East peace process, so they would rather not risk embarrassing GEORGE BUSH. The $4 billion transaction would have undercut the President's vow to scale back arms sales to the Middle East and would surely launch a bruising battle between the White House...
...Saudi tradition, the slightest movement toward liberalization is noteworthy. It was not until the 1960s that slavery was abolished and women were allowed to attend schools. A Consultative Council is a concession to the concept of political dialogue, if not to the principle of power sharing. Fahd, who governs by family consensus, should not shy away from a modest extension of the political franchise, particularly if it represents no dilution of his own power. He might even find it easier to control the religious extremists who pose such a threat, in the moderates' view, to the stability of the kingdom...
Moderates fret that Fahd will once again back down rather than confront the conservatives. "He will never fight them," says a Saudi intellectual. But failure to institute reforms now will only serve to encourage the extremists. Fahd's father, King Abdul Aziz, founder of the kingdom, did not hesitate to sever his alliance with the puritanical Wahhabi warriors when they defied his rule. As the struggle over Saudi Arabia's future intensifies, Fahd could do worse than recall his father's choice when challenged by his kingdom's zealots...