It is preferencial treatment
Reader comment on item: Hearing on "Should the United States Do More to Help U.S. Citizens Held against Their Will in Saudi Arabia?"

Submitted by Terry Walls (United States), Jun 12, 2002 at 13:58

My family and I lived in Saudi Arabia from the end of 1990 to 1996. I have worked with Saudis from 1980-1998. I will confirm what Daniel Pipes has said in this testimony. Unfortunately in order to establish and maintain a good working relationship with Saudis, a person does tend to make a lot more concessions than you receive. One of the reasons is that the Saudis hold the purse strings. You play their game or you don't get the next or a continued contract. In order to work and live in Saudi Arabia you give up free speech, religious freedom, equal rights, and privacy and come face to face with discrimination, nepotism, favoritism, and bigotry, to name just a few.

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened for relevance, substance, and tone, and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome, but comments are rejected if scurrilous, off-topic, vulgar, ad hominem, or otherwise viewed as inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the Guidelines for Comments. For informational purposes, we identify countries from which comments are sent.