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How did the Saudi attack on 9/11/2001 change your view of the country? Similar to the author of the article?
by david_draco 7y ago
How did the Saudi attack on 9/11/2001 change your view of the country? Similar to the author of the article?
- cs02rm0 7y agoI'm not sure it did, immediately. We'd had the Khobar Towers bombing, my dad was in the first Gulf War and even before that I remember him checking under the car in the UK for devices before we could get in because of the IRA. So I was already aware it was a relatively messed up part of the world, but separately terrorism and plane crashes were perhaps already more part of my worldview than for most people. I felt slightly numb to it compared to those around me at the time if I'm honest. I think it was probably the wider Western reaction to 9/11 rather than my own, that meant I increasingly viewed Saudi as a more isolated, riskier place. Since then overheard comments about how you never saw anyone in a wheelchair have reverberated over the years with more meaning as an adult hearing about human rights records and becoming a father has moved me further from any personal desire to return. I always found the people we met genuinely welcoming and kind though, as is so often the case when you meet individuals rather than succumb to broad strokes. On that level I think the relationship went deeper than oil but we've undone a lot of that. When I hear about things like beginning to issue tourist visas or even just getting the Ruiz Joshua fight it leaves me hopeful that in time we'll overcome the divisions that seem apparent despite talk of special relationships.