Chapter 3, A Consent of Silence Summary and Analysis

In spite of Baer's analysis and conclusions about Saudi Arabia, Washington considers the country to be stable. Baer looks at how Washington treats Saudis. Many Saudis who are granted visas to the United States do not meet the qualifications for those visas. This is true of the fifteen Saudis who participated in the 9/11 attacks. There were no interviews with the visa applicants.

The United States State Department also supports the Saudi government and shields them from attack in areas like human rights abuses. They maintain that the Saudi government is committed to fight terrorism. The Saudis aided the Taliban in Afghanistan and gave foreign aid in the form of oil to Afghanistan and Pakistan. The kingdom provided over one billion dollars for the development of the nuclear bomb in Pakistan. The United States...