The West Must Stay Friends with the House of Saud: An Intelligence Squared Debate

The West Must Stay Friends with the House of Saud:
Sir Andrew Green, Former British Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and Syria; Robert Lacey, a British historian who has lived in Saudi Arabia and is the author of the international best seller The Kingdom: Arabia and the House of Saud; and Senator Wyche Fowler, US Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia spoke for the motion.

Dr Mark Heller, Principal Research Associate at Tel Aviv University and author of numerous works on Middle Eastern political and strategic affairs; John R. Bradley, author of Saudi Arabia Exposed: Inside a Kingdom in Crisis; and Jason Burke, chief reporter of The Observer and author of al-Qaeda: The True Story of Radical Islam spoke against the motion.

The debate, held on March 23, 2005, was chaired by radio presenter and journalist Jim Naughtie.

Intelligence Squared is London's leading forum for live debate, holding regular debates on the crucial issues of the day and inviting the leading intellectual and political lights on the given subject to participate in them. The format of the debates is modeled on the one employed at the Oxford and Cambridge university Unions: a challenging, sharply defined motion; a team of speakers to propose the motion and a like number to oppose it; and a moderator to keep the speakers and the audience in order and force everyone to stick to the issues. After the main speeches and before summation, contributions are asked from the floor: audience participation is a key feature of the occasion, providing a rare opportunity for the public to voice their opinions and to challenge those of the speakers. A vote is taken before the debate begins and then again at the end so as to give a measure, often a very dramatic one, of the extent to which the audience has been swayed by the oratory and arguments of the speakers in the course of the evening.