Try _The Kingdom_ by Robert Lacey. The British
did support Abdulaziz in 1929, as I indicated. But the
claim that the British supported the expansion of the
Saudis over the Arabian peninsula is plain false. The
Philby faction only gained an edge after the Saudis had
essentially completely their expansion (except for the
province of Abha in the southwest) with their 1924
conquest of the Hejaz (with Mecca, Medina, and Jeddah)
which meant the end of the British-backed Hashemites
in the peninsula. They had opposed the Saudis for the
same reason they opposed his ultrafundamentalist tribal
opponents. They were disturbers of British imperial order
in the region.
Abdulaziz was always friendlier to the US than he
was to the British, although Philby was his closest
adviser and converted to Islam. The meeting in 1945
between FDR and Abdulaziz cemented that friendship.
BTW, the use of the name "Ibn Saud" is pejorative
and colonialist, even by erstwhile radical critics of the regime,
although the Saudis have become used to it. That name
literally means "Son of Saud." but Abulaziz's father was
named Abdul-Rahman. Thus, he was Abdulaziz ibn
Abdul-Rahman al Saud, the latter meaning "of the House
of Saud." He was descended from Mohammed ibn Saud
who in 1740 allied himself with Mohammed ibn Wah'hab,
founder of the ultrafundamentalist Wah'habist sect of Sunni
Islam. This was the beginning of the long and slow rise
of the Saud family to power on the Arabian peninsula.
Barkley Rosser
-----Original Message-----
From: S Pawlett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Monday, April 19, 1999 3:19 PM
Subject: [PEN-L:5507] Re: Re: Saudi Arabia
>
>
>"J. Barkley Rosser, Jr." wrote:
>
>> This guy Aburish is way off one detail. Britain did
>> not support Abdulaziz ("Ibn Saud"). They supported the
>> Hashemites who were the local viceroys of the Ottomans
>> in Mecca before WW I. After Prince Faisal saw Arab
>> protesters in Beirut gunned down (protesting imposition
>> of wearing the Turkish fez) the Hashemites supported the
>> Arab nationalist revolt against the Turks, with Lawrence of
>> Arabia being the link with Prince Faisal who was later to
>> become King of Iraq while his brother, Abdullah, became the
>> king of Jordan.
>> There was a split within Whitehall between the McMahon/
>> Lawrence faction who backed the Hashemites (and were
>> dominant) and a faction associated with Harry St. John Philby,
>> father of Soviet spy, Kim Philby. Philby backed the Saudis
>> who drove the Hashemites out of Mecca in 1924. In 1928
>> Saudi Arabia was given to the US by the world oil interests
>> in the Red Line Agreement (no oil had been found there yet)
>> and thus it was Jersey Standard who found it in 1936, leading
>> later to ARAMCO.
>> In 1929 Philby provided crucial aid with some support of his
>> government to King Abdulaziz against a fundamentalist revolt
>> by some tribes traditionally opposed to the Saudis. Crucial
>> was providing radios. Philby suggested to Abdulazis the trick
>> of getting the approval of the ulama by broadcasting sections
>> of the Quran over the radio. These same tribes revolted again
>> in 1979.
>
>Thanks for the details. What is your source of information on this? Curtis
>does not mention details about Beduoin tribes nor does he quote Aburish
doing
>so. I can't speak for either author but can only represent their views as
>accuretely as possible. Aburish's book is called " The Rise, Corruption and
>Fall of the House of Saud". Bloomsbury Press, London 1994. Hassan
al-Alkim's
>book is "The GCC states in an unstable World". Saqi Books, 1994.Here are
the
>parts of Curtis I left out of the previous quotation:
>
>" ... The BRitish government had sent Harry St. John Philby to assist Ibn
>Saud in 1917, and he remained with him until the latters death in 1953.
>Philby's role when not at Ibn Saud's side,was, according to Aburish 'to
>consult the foreign office over ways to consolidate the rule and extend the
>influence of Saud. Ibn Saud'd expansions across Arabia were 'Britisn
>sponsored conquests' Aburish notes...
> " The RAF and troops from the British controlled army in Iraq helped
Ibn
>Saud put down a rebellion against his regime in 1929-30: British was thus
>instrumental in 'saving' the Saudi regime, one senior British military
>officer commented...In his study of the Gulf states Hassan Hamdan al-Alkim
>correctly notes that Britain's support for Ibn Saud, and especially his
role
>in putting down the rebellion, 'were highly apprecited by Ibn Saud and
paved
>the way for the development of relations between the Saudi kingdom and the
>West that became the core of Saudi foreign policy.' In his memoir, Winston
>Churchill noted of Ibn Saud that 'my admiration for him was deep because of
>his unfailing devotion to us.'
>
>Sam Pawlett
>
>
