# State department pro-Arabic? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 6, 2002, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-department-pro-arabic/122685 "2002-08-06T22:21:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2002, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-department-pro-arabic/122685/1 "2002-08-06T22:21:46Z")
I have heard a lot of times, even before george w arrived on the scene, that the state department is pro-arabic and that the rest of the country and the president are pro-israeli. First, is this true? Second, how in the world could this be true? did the president’s appointees say “i love israel” with their fingers crossed? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2002, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-department-pro-arabic/122685/2 "2002-08-06T22:28:17Z")
The President is the boss of the State Department. What he says goes. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2002, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-department-pro-arabic/122685/3 "2002-08-06T22:36:24Z")
Hmm… what a timely question with this Washington Post article fresh off the vine. [Briefing depicted Saudis as enemies](http://www.msnbc.com/news/790452.asp?0dm=C14ON) > [@](#): > > ## A briefing given last month to a top Pentagon advisory board described Saudi Arabia as an enemy of the United States, and recommended that U.S. officials give it an ultimatum to stop backing terrorism or face seizure of its oil fields and its financial assets invested in the United States > > The briefing did not represent the views of the board or official government policy, and in fact runs counter to the present stance of the U.S. government that Saudi Arabia is a major ally in the region. Yet it also represents a point of view that has growing currency within the Bush administration — especially on the staff of Vice President Cheney and in the Pentagon’s civilian leadership — and among neoconservative writers and thinkers closely allied with administration policymakers. > One administration official said opinion about Saudi Arabia is changing rapidly within the U.S. government. “People used to rationalize Saudi behavior,” he said. “You don’t hear that anymore. There’s no doubt that people are recognizing reality and recognizing that Saudi Arabia is a problem." ---
**Author:** ![Shiva](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@Shiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shiva)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2002, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-department-pro-arabic/122685/4 "2002-08-06T23:43:12Z")
And then there’s this from the State Department: > [@](#): > > State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said the Bush administration is “pleased” with Saudi anti-terrorism cooperation and especially its efforts on the problem of terrorist financing. While acknowledging policy differences, Mr. Reeker said the relationship remains sound… [http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=C286BF56-0348-4FB0-855EFAB4A45784D3&title=Powell%20Disavows%20Report%20on%20Saudi%20Arabia&catOID=45C9C78D-88AD-11D4-A57200A0CC5EE46C](http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=C286BF56-0348-4FB0-855EFAB4A45784D3&title=Powell%20Disavows%20Report%20on%20Saudi%20Arabia&catOID=45C9C78D-88AD-11D4-A57200A0CC5EE46C) IMO, the answer to the OP is Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-department-pro-arabic/122685/5 "2002-08-07T00:06:32Z")
A self-interested support of the House of Saud doesn’t necessarily translate into “Pro-Arab.” ---
**Author:** ![JMRossi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@JMRossi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JMRossi)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-department-pro-arabic/122685/6 "2002-08-07T12:05:20Z")
Any support of an Arab is usually catagorized as pro Arab and anti Isreali.Given the massive pro-Isreali bias in the media,anyone who speaks out asking about the rights of the Palestian people is immediatly labeled an anti-semite.Most people don’t know the difference between Zionism and Judaism.Judaism is the Jewish religon and Zionism is ,to put it simply,the belief that God gave the Jews this land 2000 years ago so all the people living there since should just leave and let the Jews alone.This is why the pepole are fighting back against the Isrealis.