U.S. Not to Blame for Saudi Repression

Re “No Oases for Saudi Youths,” Feb. 7: The problem is very clear. As long as the clergy is in power, Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries will not progress out of the 12th century into the 21st century. If Muslim countries want to progress, then they need to stop blaming Western society for their plight and see what in their society is wrong--and right it. What makes the West progress? We have separation of church and state. Women have a certain degree of independence. Our young people are not ashamed to work in menial jobs. No job is lowly and all have dignity.

My suggestion to the Muslim young people: The future of your country is yours. Hating Americans for their lifestyle or culture is ridiculous. We have nothing to do with the morality police or the Muslim extremists who keep you centuries behind the rest of the industrialized nations.

Yolanda Colon

Anaheim

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Your article on disgruntled Saudi youth provokes more questions than it answers. For instance, it’s not difficult to understand why they have a problem with the stifling, repressive social policies of their country. But how is this the fault of the United States? We don’t write their laws for them.

How do they connect the oppressive morality police of their land with cheering for the terrorist attacks on America? It’s not hard to understand why they are demoralized by decreased economic opportunity in their country. But how is this the fault of the U.S.?

If we didn’t buy so much of the oil they are selling, how much scarcer would good jobs be in their desert kingdom? We may be a global power, but we are not responsible for how all the countries of the world run themselves. We’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t. If we’re too proactive in guiding these countries, we’re evidencing our boundless arrogance and interfering inappropriately.

Or if we give them credit for being able to run their own countries, then our arrogance in not caring about bringing them liberty is infuriating. It’s time some of these hot-headed countries blamed themselves for the state of their unions, not the U.S.

Ross Parker

Los Angeles