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Article: Of Bedouins and bombings.(Saudi Arabian culture)(Column)
- Article from:
- U.S. News & World Report
- Article date:
- November 24, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 All rights reserved. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The House of Saud issues no engraved invitations to just come visit. Travelers to the desert kingdom come for business, to see family, or to make the annual pilgrimage to Islam's holiest sites. That the Saudis take their faith seriously can be seen on the visa application, which asks not only for my address and passport number but also my religion and "sect."
This land of petro-dollars and piety, of Bedouins and, now, bombings, is like no other. Small wonder that American GIs call it the Magic Kingdom. Riyadh, its capital and largest city, was a backwater town of 20,000 until the 1930s, when the oil began to flow. Today it's a sprawling metropolis of nearly 5 ...