"The Saudi press has been awash with praise for the "visionary"
(but stupid) Prince Nayef who has just been named as crown prince - i.e. next in
line to the throne. Indeed, if the Saudi reports are to be believed, world
leaders are also overwhelmed with joy at the news of his appointment.
As John
Burgess notes in his Crossroads Arabia blog, "It never hurts to be on the
good side of a future ruler. I’m sure that businesses, particularly those with
government contracts, will be taking out full page ads commending the prince
..."
During his 36 years as interior minister Nayef has overseen
the extraction of confessions through torture, as well as the execution of
numerous adulterers, suspected witches, drug offenders, etc.
For a long time he
denied that the kingdom had an al-Qaeda presence in its midst and in 2001 he
initially claimed that Saudi militants were not involved in the September 11
attacks on the United States, blaming the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and/or
Zionists instead.
The terrorism problem which he eventually had to confront was
partly one of his own making, since his efforts to enforce Wahhabi values helped
to perpetuate a climate in which Islamic militancy could flourish, while
suppressing liberal voices that could have played a vital role in challenging
extremism.
My one and only encounter with the prince in the flesh came in
2003, at a news
conference following a series of bomb attacks on housing compounds in
Riyadh.
Prince Nayef announced triumphantly that "some people" had
been arrested in connection with the attacks, but then seemed astonished when
asked how many had been caught.
He was asked three times during the press conference and gave
slightly different answers each time. After some prompting from an official
sitting nearby he said the number was four, adding that these people were not
among the 19 being sought but were "from the same group" and had "the same
ideology"." (thanks "Ibn Rushd")
