User:Noofa2401/sandbox

 Oil Crisis

On November, 1964 Faisal became the new King. His brother Saoud was exiled in Athens (Greece), and died there on January 1969. The new king wanted to help Saudi Arabia to develop but for them modernization means westernization and they didn’t want to become like the Americans, they wanted to keep their ancient beliefs. Although he decided to educate the girls which was completely new at the time. After the death of Nasser in 1970, King Faisal became closer to Egypt's new president, Anwar Sadat. During the 1973 Arab-Israeli War also called Kippur War, King Faisal decided to withdraw Saudi oil from world markets, in protest over USA’s support for Israel during the conflict.This embargo made the oil’s price increase and was the principal force behind the energy crisis in 1973.

The embargo ended in 1974, because the American soldiers in Vietnam (Vietnam War) didn’t have everything they needed to survive so they convinced the king to stop the embargo. Shortly after, King Faisal was shot and died on March, 25th 1975.

 Saudi Arabia’s development and jihad.

On March 1975 Khalid succeeded to Faisal. King Khalid’s reign saw massive development of the Saudi Arabia power. After that Saudi Arabia became one of the richest countries in the world. First he decided to help domestic affairs and particularly agricultural development. The industrial cities of Jubail and Yanbu – now huge complexes – were created during his reign. His other main plan was the development of education. To keep the country’s economy and compete with western nations he created new educational facilities. In 1975, there were 3,028 elementary schools, 649 secondary schools and 182 high schools. In 1980, there were 5,373 elementary, 1,377 secondary and 456 high schools. He was also the creator of the establishment of King Faisal University. It was a construction boom. The problem was that there was a lack of skill in the kingdom. Despite a lot of corruption in the real estate world, the result was worth it.

In 1974, an Islamic Revolution occurred in Iran, The Saudis feared a revolution in the country. Shortly after, a high jacking occurred in Mecca, it was a warning for the royal family. In order to please the population the royal family became more conservative like in the ancient time, because they feared the loss of the power. They even did Charity (Zakat) to support the Muslims all around the world, because for them no one was really needy in their own country. But, the charity was a way to promote. When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and the United states made a secret deal. Thousands of young Saudis were sent there to fight with the ‘Mujahidin’ (referred to the guerrilla type military outfits led by the Muslim Afghan warriors in the Soviet war in Afghanistan). Their goal was to defeat a military superpower.

The rise of the Anti-Americans

When King Khalid died on 13 June 1982, Fahd succeeded to the throne. In 1990, Iraqi forces under Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, placing the Iraqi army on the Saudi-Kuwaiti border. The problem was how to let hundreds of thousand none Muslims Americans into the country. King Fahd agreed to host American-led coalition troops in his Kingdom, later on he allowed them to be based there.[34] This decision brought him considerable criticism and opposition from many Saudi citizens, who objected to the presence of foreign troops on Saudi soil. Osama Ben Laden told the Saudi officers that he could bring his army, that they were very well equipped. He didn’t want to fight for Kuwait but to protect the Holy lands: Mecca and Medina. They dismissed him. Half a million Americans arrived, many Saudi imams protested. It created a lot of hate and hostility. It also had an impact on the women, who started driving (which is prohibited in Saudi Arabia), it led to the arrest of 47 women. Americans presence was politically irritating. On November 13th 1995 a bombing occurred in Riyadh, it was orchestered by Ben Laden, 5 people died. The main goal of Ben Laden was the regime, he wanted to overthrow it. A year later, another bomb this time at least 19 Americans died. George Bush, who was the president of United States at this time wanted to stop the violence.

Three days later 11 September occurred. After the attack, people received messages saying “Congratulation! Our prayer to Ben Laden”. It was a general shock and slowly people around the world started seeing Saudi Arabia as the heart of the problem. USA was using Saudi’s Airbases for bombing. The Saudi’s militant captured in Afghanistan would be sent to Guantanamo in Cuba. Few days later Americans left Saudi Arabia.

On May 12th 2003, 35 people died and over a 100 wounded during an attack by Ben Laden, for the country it was more important than 9/11.

Taj ma Taj one of the most successful TV shows in Saudi aired an episode where extremist teachers showing young people to hate Wahhabis. Another teacher decided to complain but the teacher he wanted to complain about was in charge.

America continues to promote women rights. There’s a book describing women as inferior, it is by the biggest university in Saudi. But for the country, there’s no other religion who honors more women. The war that is still occurring in Iraq has only help intensifying the anti-Americans. Even during the holy month of Ramadan, they released a jihad against Americans. Since the bomb of 2003, at least a hundred people have died, killed by al Qaeda. Today thousands of Americans are flying out of the country and USA wants to suspend the flights between the two countries. The house of Saud believes that the country will survive.