The Islamic Saudi Academy — a private school owned and operated by the government of Saudi Arabia in the Washington, D.C. suburbs of northern Virginia — is more than just a religious school. While its math, science, and English curricula all conform to American standards, its religion curriculum is the same as the one imposed on all schools in Saudi Arabia. For years, that curriculum has been the target of legitimate criticism for its use of textbooks that promote jihad and justify violence against Christians and Jews.
The U.S. government can’t do much about schools over there. The State Department has urged the Saudis many times to remove the justifications for violence found in its religious textbooks, yet this diplomacy has not yielded substantive results. Last year, Freedom House and the Institute for Gulf Studies released a study based on an analysis of textbooks used during that school year, which found that the books still contained numerous passages propagating hatred toward the Jews and teaching jihad against unbelievers as a fundamental Muslim virtue.
But what about the ISA — the school the Saudis operate over here? In a study released last month, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom — a watchdog group created by Congress eight years ago — recommended that if the Saudis could not at least clean up the textbooks in use at the ISA, the State Department should close the school pursuant to its powers under the Foreign Missions Act.
Nobody expected Foggy Bottom to take swift and certain action. Nevertheless, it was disappointing to see early signs that the State Department intends to ignore the commission’s findings. The official pushback came in the form of a leak to the Washington Post, published in Monday’s edition:
But State officials and others with knowledge of the issue, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing inquiry, said U.S. officials believe the commission was premature in asking that the school, supported by the Saudi government, be closed. They said the State Department was proceeding cautiously, speaking with Saudi officials about issues of religious tolerance and school curriculum, to avoid creating a crisis.
Short version: The State Department wants to give the Saudis more time. In 2006, the Saudis promised that they would revise their textbooks and change their religious curriculum, but they said it would take a couple of years. A State Department spokesman tells National Review Online that while the department is officially “still looking at the [commission’s] report,” the Saudis have said they won’t be ready until 2008. That’s just how the State Department sees it.
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http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MjQ5Yzc3MzI4ODAxYjRmNTY5NWM4MWIxODU1NDlmNTA=
“They said the State Department was proceeding cautiously...”
and that’s the same as politician who doesn’t want to get involved in an issue, so he forms a committee to “study the problem.”