Saudi Time Bomb (1999)
Saudi Time Bomb (1999) This Frontline documentary, which focused on the Saudi internal time warp a few years ago, provides excellent historical insight into the post-9/11 rock-and-hard place that Saudi leaders face and the dilemmas for U.S. policy makers. Saudi-supported terrorists were in the forefront of 9/11. Saudi funding of Wahabbi fundamentalist education exacerbates the divide between modernization in the Middle East and a dangerous, backward looking status quo. I am reminded of what Francis Fitzgerald wrote about the Shah and Iran in the early 1970s. The question that comes to mind is when, not whether, there will be either an explosion or a major shift towards moderate modernization in Saudi Arabia.
