TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2001 — With Attorney General John Ashcroft’s warning yesterday of a " credible " threat of terrorism during the next week — the second such warning issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation this month and front-page news everywhere — Americans face the grim reality that winning the " War on Terrorism " is not going to be easy. The successful prosecution of the war has been undermined by a feature identified by the Phoenix as troublesome less than one week after the September 11 attacks: over-reliance on a broad coalition that includes questionable allies such as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan (see " Easier Said Than Done, " News and Features, September 20, 2001) .

New York Times columnist Tom Friedman reinforces that point today by questioning the United States’ dependence on Saudi Arabia’s corrupt and duplicitous al-Saud regime. Friedman did something most US commentators fail to do: that is, he quoted from textbooks that teach young Muslim schoolchildren to hate the West, more of a " root cause " of terrorism than anything identified by Noam Chomsky or Susan Sontag. Here’s the Saudi schoolbook’s " up-with-people " language: " It is compulsory for the Muslims to be loyal to each other and to consider the infidels their enemy. " That must explain why it’s considered okay for Muslims to kill Muslims or, better yet, infidels during Ramadan (see the Iran-Iraq War and the Yom Kippur War a/k/a Ramadan War), but strictly forbidden for Americans to wage war during this holy period.

Last Sunday night, CBS’s 60 Minutes provided an even better example of what actually goes on in Saudi Arabia. Correspondent Bob Simon — the one taken prisoner by the Iraqis during the Gulf War — spent some time with Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the Saudi plutocrat who donated $10 million (chump-change for Saudi princes by the way) to New York City disaster relief with the condition that the US address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A sleek designer-clad female assistant (a far cry from the total coverage she’d be forced to wear outside the house) led Simon on a tour through bin Talal’s cavernous estate. More obscenely, the show depicted the grotesque spectacle of the prince meeting with money-seeking retainers, who regaled him for standing up to the " Jews. "

Relying on such people means a long war for Americans — a fact hammered home by the Taliban’s capture and execution of opposition leader Abdul Haq last Friday. How big a blow Haq’s death is to US efforts is unclear, but we do know one thing about his untimely demise: It didn’t help. Worse, the ease with which the Taliban were able to nab Haq signals the worst thing about pairing up with unseemly partners. Even if the top dog in one of these countries — such as Pakistan’s Pervez Musharraf — is with you, it doesn’t mean that the people are, or, more important, the military or the intelligence services. Suspicion is now focused on Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence agency, the ISI, in the unfortunate episode. Continued failure to understand the implications of Secretary of State Colin Powell’s beloved coalition will only lead to more failures.