Saudi F-15 Afterburner And The Sword Dance – OpEd

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By Abdulateef Al-Mulhim

The world press is always fascinated by what Saudi Arabia does and doesn’t do. You can see many pages in the Western press full of analyses about political or social issues in the Kingdom but they forget the bigger picture. Many Western observers think Saudi Arabia is a closed country for the outside press and Saudi Arabia can’t or doesn’t have the capability to handle the media. Western observers forgot that on Aug. 2, 1990, the day Iraq invaded Kuwait, Saudi Arabia became a hub for many mega world media companies — CNN, BBC, ABC, CBS, NBC and other news organizations from every corner of the globe. It was Saudi Arabia from where the first televised real-time battle was seen by the world. So, simply put, Saudi Arabia can handle any media coverage and we have nothing to hide in regard to our social or political system. To this day we hear the same stereotype opinion about Saudi Arabia.

The latest analysis about Saudi Arabia came after the death of the late Crown Prince Naif. There were many media reports speculating about the succession procedure and talking about stability in Saudi Arabia. They talked about the Saudi royal family as if it was installed by foreign invaders or ruled Saudi Arabia after a military coup.

The Al-Saud royal family is deeply rooted in Saudi Arabia. It has strong relations with all segments of the Saudi society through marriages and hundreds of years of friendship. Just three months ago, Prince Salman, the newly appointed crown prince told an audience that every Saudi tribe and family took part in establishing and building the country. And just a few weeks ago, Prince Salman had an audience with some members of Al Ajaji family who gave him 1,500 documents which contained many letters between King Abdul Aziz and their grandfather. The same goes for many families and this shows the close relations between the ruler and the ruled in Saudi Arabia.

One Western observer told me he was convinced the Saudi royal family was very close to its people when he watched two events and I happened to be in one of them. Here is what happened at these events.
On a winter afternoon some years ago, there was an air show being held at King Abdul Aziz Air Base in Dhahran. Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, who was crown prince at that time, was the guest of honor at the show. He was accompanied by hundreds of other royals and hundreds of military and civilian officials. The show was open to the Saudi public and expatriates. The number of spectators was in the tens of thousands. Minutes after the arrival of the official parties and out of the blue, a Saudi F-15 Eagle came flying at supersonic speed and almost touched the ground at the right side of the official stand and when the F-15 was parallel to where King Abdullah was sitting, the plane simply took a sharp vertical ascent. I was sitting four rows behind King Abdullah and I didn’t realize how low it was flying till I saw the afterburner flames touching the ground when the plane was in vertical position. And I also didn’t realize how close the F-15 was to the official stand till I felt the heat from the flames of the afterburner. The pilot in the plane was Prince Turki bin Abdullah, the son of King Abdullah. The reader has to bear in mind that an F-15 doesn’t know who is flying it.

After this scary maneuver, tens of other fighter jets flew overhead at very, very low altitude and one of planes was flown by Prince Mohammed bin Faisal, the son of the governor of Qassim Province. The rest of the formation was flown by young Saudis who were not royals. The planes were flying in every direction above the official stand at very, very low altitude. The air show was televised and was seen by many expatriates and the question I was asked after the show by a Western observer was… what kind of security arrangements were made for these stunt maneuvers in the presence of hundreds of government officials? The answer was none. There were no security arrangements or security procedures because the Saudi royal family and the citizens were one body. There is no talk about theories when it came to trust, they were facts.

The second event in which I wasn’t present, but the Western observer was there took place on a sunny day in Abha, the capital of Asir Province. King Abdullah was on a regular official visit and Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, the then governor of Asir Province, took permission from King Abdullah for Ardah dance (traditional sword dance). King Abdullah gave the OK. And the minute the drummers started, thousands of Saudi citizens joined King Abdullah.

Those Saudis were carrying swords and daggers and King Abdullah’s shoulders were touching the shoulders of the sword dancers. No one knew the names of the five thousands sword dancers or had checked their identities, they were simply Saudi citizens who wanted to join King Abdullah in this traditional dance. Only Prince Khaled Al-Faisal and two soldiers were in the vicinity of the king. The rest were simple Saudis who just wanted to dance with the king in the open. No security presence was seen. It wasn’t necessary. For Saudis, this is a common sight.

It was common for the average Saudi to do a sword dance with the king. People saw and participated in sword dance with King Abdul Aziz, King Saud, King Faisal, King Khaled, King Fahd and King Abdullah. And all those Ardahs took place without any security check. The kind of relations between the ruler and the ruled in Saudi Arabia is the biggest known Saudi secret.

Arab News

Arab News is Saudi Arabia's first English-language newspaper. It was founded in 1975 by Hisham and Mohammed Ali Hafiz. Today, it is one of 29 publications produced by Saudi Research & Publishing Company (SRPC), a subsidiary of Saudi Research & Marketing Group (SRMG).

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