[Mb-civic] FW: Pipes in NYSun on "The Saudis' Covert P.R. Campaign"

[Michael Butler]

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From: villasudjuan <villasudjuan at free.fr>
Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 12:32:51 -0400
To: <michael at michaelbutler.com>
Subject: FW: Pipes in NYSun on "The Saudis' Covert P.R. Campaign"

The Saudis' Covert P.R. Campaign
by Daniel Pipes
New York Sun
August 10, 2004
http://www.danielpipes.org/article/2006
http://daily.nysun.com/standard/ShowStoryTemplate.asp?Path=NYS/2004/08/10&ID
=Ar00901&Section=Foreign
<http://daily.nysun.com/standard/ShowStoryTemplate.asp?Path=NYS/2004/08/10&a
mp;ID=Ar00901&amp;Section=Foreign>

A range of public figures—former ambassadors, university professors, think
tank experts – routinely opine in America about the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
while quietly taking Saudi funds. They learnedly discuss Arabian affairs on
television, radio, in public lectures, and university classrooms. Having no
visible connection to Saudi money, they speak with the authority of
disinterested U.S. experts, enjoying more credibility than, say, another
billionaire prince from the royal family.

Saudi funding for opinion makers has been known but not its exact specifics.
I can for the first time expose how the Saudis manage their covert publicity
campaign in America thanks to a Saudi-employed public relations firm having
incautiously contacted a senior professor at a major research institution.
Although the professor did not accept the offer of the speakers, he showed
enough interest to document the proposed transaction and then made the
details available to me.

An employee at a leading public relations firm in Washington offered the
professor Saudi-funded speakers for the lecture program he runs, doing so as
part of a program to provide ongoing education to communities around the
country about "the importance and value of strong U.S.-Saudi relations. 

One of our campaign components is to implement a speaker's bureau program on
behalf of the Kingdom that reaches into target markets across the nation. I
think there is a wonderful opportunity," she gushed, "to develop a very
stimulating event with [your speakers' series]."

The letter invites further inquiries, with the p.r. employee adding eagerly
that she is "available to come speak with you in person if possible." The
letter then lists five lecturers ready to speak on the Saudi tab. They make
for an interesting group.
*  
* 
* Walter L. Cutler and Richard W. Murphy – two former U.S.  ambassadors to
Saudi Arabia. Like too many others who served in Riyadh, Cutler  and Murphy
have translated their government service into apologizing for the  Saudis.
Their actions are all  too typical of
<http://www.danielpipes.org/article/995>  Americans who deal with Riyadh in
their high-level official  capacity and then take Saudi funds to promote
Saudi interests. 
*  
*  
* 
* Sandra Mackey – a free lance writer who makes  statements to the media
<http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/06/19/MNGVD78VD81.DTL>
like, "The only thing that is holding Saudi Arabia  together today is the
House of Saud with its strength and its shortcomings.  The worst thing the
United States could do is go after the House of Saud."
*  
*  
* 
* Mary E. Morris – a staffer at the Los Angeles World Affairs Council  who
praises  the kingdom
<http://www.arabialink.com/Archive/%20GWPersp/GWP2004/GWP_2004_01_29.htm>
as "one of the U.S.'s staunchest allies and oldest friends in  the Middle
East" and ascribes  anti-American public opinion
<http://www.saudi-american-forum.org/Newsletters2004/SAF_Item_Of_Interest_20
04_01_29.htm>  in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East to  American actions
alone – "the U.S. invasion of Iraq without international  validation and the
lack of a strong U.S. support of an unbiased settlement of  the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
*  
*  
* 
* Samer Shehata – an assistant professor of politics at Georgetown
University who unabashedly lauds Riyadh in the media: "the Saudis have been
staunch allies. And it's absurd really to characterize them in any other
way,"  he said on MSNBC in April  2002
<http://www.renewamerica.us/show/transcripts/02_04_25akims.htm> . "I don't
think that the Saudis are trying to hide anything," he  added on MSNBC in
July  2003 
<http://www.defenddemocracy.org/in_the_media/in_the_media_show.htm?doc_id=18
6284&amp;attrib_id=7379> . "Saudi Arabia is our ally. 
 I think that the
Saudi regime,  certainly the royal family is the ally of the United States,
and they have  been the ally of the United States for quite some time. 

since 9/11 the  Saudis have really done a huge amount in terms of getting on
top of charities,  limiting money flows, arresting people."

Because the professor can pay only modest honoraria, he inquired about
funding these speakers and was assured that the university need not pay any
of their honoraria or expenses. The Saudis would, via the p.r. firm, handle
these pesky matters.

The Saudis are engaging in an underhanded propaganda campaign that subverts
the U.S. debate concerning Arabian issues. It is vital to prevent such
corruption, especially on the delicate issue of Riyadh's self-proclaimed
role as America's "friend" in the war against Islamist terrorism. To do so,
editors, journalists, radio and television producers, think tank directors,
and speaker-series hosts need to ascertain that whoever deals with Saudi
issues is not on that country's dole. A simple question, "Are you receiving
funds from Saudi Arabia," should do the trick.

To comment on this article, please go to
http://www.danielpipes.org/article/2006#comment
<http://www.danielpipes.org/article/2006#comment>
To see the Daniel Pipes archive, go to http://www.DanielPipes.org
<http://www.danielpipes.org/>

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