Princess: Stepping Out of the Shadows, стр. 28

d’état of the Shah, the Iranian leaders have selected Saudi Arabia as their favoured target, despite fighting eight years of war against Iraq to an undetermined outcome, as neither country could claim victory, although both, in my opinion, were defeated in reality by sheer exhaustion.

Although a lightly populated country such as Saudi Arabia does not seek confrontation with such populous neighbours, we must be prepared for war. Yet many in the West are of the opinion that we have no right to organize. This is incomprehensible when criticism arises only because our Saudi Arabian leaders seek to structure our military so that we may protect our cities and our people. Should we wait like baby lambs for a slaughter? Would that mollify those so hasty to criticize the efforts made to keep my country safe and secure from tyrannical forces?

There are other issues veiling these three nations that cleave closest to my own heart and mind. This crucial problem affects all aspects of family life, for I am speaking about the deterioration of women’s rights. Although I have been the first to identify the debilitating issues affecting Saudi women by the clerics and other extremists in our land, I always felt optimistic for Muslim women in neighbouring countries. At one time, all three countries made impressive gains against discrimination directed at women, but now they are rapidly moving backwards when it comes to this most important issue.

There was intimidation against Iranian citizens in general under the reign of the Shah, but women were not routinely targeted. Those olden days – oftentimes referred to as golden days – under the Shah seem like the purest freedom compared to the present, when the radical and seemingly hate-filled ayatollahs pursue women for special punishments without any justification at all, apart from the fact that they are women!

Prior to the revolution in Syria, women’s lives were as near to normal as is possible in the Middle East. But now everything in conventional life has changed. The revolution has scoured the land of all that is good, erasing the slightest respect for females. It is said that Assad’s all-seeing security forces now routinely arrest, harass and even rape young girls, boys and women.

In Iraq, during the secular days of Saddam, women were sampling a refreshing sense of freedom in the workplace and in public life, despite the ever-increasing threats of war emanating from the president’s palace. Eventually the world turned against the regime and opened up the ancient country for today’s most menacing terrorists, ISIS. Women in today’s Iraq yearn for the personal freedoms they once tasted.

As time passed, the world continued to watch as these three nations plunged ever nearer the precipice of war. As radicalism triumphed, toleration waned and governments have turned against women, once again seeking to control and contain them ever tighter.

The violence and political upheaval in these countries are occupying more of my thoughts, for fears in Saudi Arabia that extremists from Iraq and Syria will intentionally focus on peace-loving nations in the region are valid. Indeed, no one who follows the movements of Iran in particular can deny that it, more than any nation in this area, intentionally deposits fertile seeds of hatred throughout our entire region.

Iran is the acknowledged neighbourhood oppressor, seemingly eager to attack Saudi Arabia through those who are leading Yemen, one of our closest neighbours, with whom we share a border. It is imperative for Saudi Arabia to trust those who rule Yemen, as well as those who live there, which we cannot do at this time.

There is a second motive for my focus on these three nations. My daughter Maha has become personally involved with a small group of women who are reaching out from behind the scenes to assist their refugee sisters in Syria and Iraq. While they are not currently occupied with any Iranian cases, they are aware of the tribulations many women face under the harsh rule of the clerics.

During a recent visit to the kingdom, Maha set up a meeting with two trusted cousins, with a plan to interest them in joining the group since both cousins spend most of the year in Europe, where the group had been formed and carries out its responsibilities to save female refugees whenever possible. With profound pleasure, I had donated a substantial sum of money to the cause, as much financial assistance is required when courageous men are called upon to go to Syria to help in the rescue of women trapped within the war zone – and who require rapid removal from the country or from one area to another, out of reach of Assad’s military forces.

As of the date of the Riyadh meeting, Maha’s group had rescued only three women, but none would have survived without assistance upon leaving Syria. All were young women in their late teens or early twenties, with many years of life stretching before them, and now they would have the opportunity to live in safety and make their lives worthy of the sacrifice others made. Regrettably, I was told by Maha that two young men lost their lives while saving the women.

Reflecting on so much sadness, as I sat sipping tea in the larger of my two offices, I admired my daughter at my desk as she meticulously reviewed her notes. She noticed nothing other than the material she was examining. I watched affectionately while detecting the worry line deepening between her brows. Maha was devoted to the cause of saving lives and her new-found wrinkle was telling.

Maha was undoubtedly lovely to my eyes but, even more, she is a confident woman who cares little for beauty and favours intellect over the trappings of wealth and a life well lived. Never have I felt more contented than at that moment knowing that by raising such a daughter I have ensured good deeds will continue to stream from our palace long after Kareem and I are no longer with the living.

When my secretary escorted Maha’s two cousins