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Carol Marin: For
that group that wants hope but is disorganized, what are the building
blocks of reform, the concrete blocks by which the Saudis...
Joseph Biden: The family has to recognize let's
throw our lot with them and begin to ease our connections with this
other. And the way you do that is you begin to reform the education
system so that you can provide the jobs that pay fifty, a hundred, two
hundred thousand dollars to Saudis instead of importing people from all
over the globe to run your oil fields.
Carol
Marin: What else?
Joseph Biden:
Secondly, you teach people. You allow for political expression at the
local level. You allow you let the local municipality decide on were the
water line is going to go, whether or not they're going to build a road
or not build a road. Give people some vehicle. Allow for elections to
the advisory body to the royal family. And it still only remains
advisory but engage people. Give them some piece of the action. Give
them some reason to believe that their economic and their political
circumstance can in fact change. If you don't give people hope when
people don't have hope they go underground. When they go underground
they become part of those who have solutions that are not anywhere,
anywhere, remotely approaching peaceful.
Carol Marin: So reading, writing, arithmetic?
Joseph Biden: Reading, writing, arithmetic, jobs.
Making sure that there is political outlet. I don't know why -- don't
get this. Allow people to vote, vote for the local councilmen.
Carol Marin: Get a little practice in voting.
Joseph Biden: Vote, not practice. Get
the ability to change. Hey look if you can't even change which way the
highway goes in your neighborhood, you're completely helpless. You're
completely helpless.
Carol Marin: But what
you seem to be saying is since they don't know how to do it quite yet,
you've got to get them started on some road, of some voting, some
voicing --
Joseph Biden: No, it's not
they don't know how to do it right. It's that you're not going to be
able to get the royal family to do what they should do. I don't know why
I'm not getting through here. I mustn't be very articulate. The best of
all worlds would be to wave a wand and say, 'look reform the whole
system.' You all -- the royal family -- have a meeting and say you know
we need a constitutional democracy. And invite a constitutional
convention and rewrite a constitution. That's never going to happen.
There's never been a government in charge that's ever willingly to
totally give up the absolute control they have. So in the meantime you
got to say to them, 'Look, you've got to give them something.' You've
got to at least let them decide whether or not you're going to build a
power plant in their back yard. Whether you're going put the gas station
on their corner. Whether or not you're going to be able to build a road,
which way the road goes. What is the stuff in the neighborhood you live
in that matters the most? When the county decides which way the sewers
going to go. Whether you're going to get a sewer hookup or you're not
going to get a sewer hookup. Why is that so difficult for people to
understand? It doesn't require the king to say 'I give up my seven
747's that have gold-laden faucets in them.' It doesn't require that.
I'm not asking him to do that. I'm just saying, give them a little bit
of control. Because if you don't give them hope, they're going south on
you man. They're going to continue to be radicalized. You are going to
be the first target. And therefore it's in our interest for you to begin
this process. Put it another way, if tomorrow they said 'We'll have a
general election,' that would be very bad, you know why? The only
organized entity in all of Saudi Arabia besides the royal family is the
Wahhabi Sunni religion and the mosque that connect that country. They
will win. And they will not in any way represent anything remotely in
the interest of the United States of America.
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Senator Joseph R. Biden (D - Delaware) is the ranking Democrat on the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
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