Sisters man will stay in troubled Saudi Arabia

Sisters native Lee Ingham has worked as an engineer for the oil producer Aramco in Saudi Arabia for more than a decade. And, despite recent terrorist attacks on western oil workers and the beheading of American arms industry consultant Paul Johnson, Ingham will stay in the country.

Ingham acknowledged in an interview with The Nugget that many westerners with whom he has worked are leaving -- "moreso than ever before." But there's more involved than fear of al Qaeda terrorism and U.S. government advisories to get out of Saudi Arabia.

Ingham notes that western workers in Arabia have retirement packages that are tied to U.S. Treasury bond rates. With rates low and danger higher than it used to be, it makes sense for people at retirement age to leave.

"Most of the people who are leaving are leaving because of the bond rate and they're close to retirement age," Ingham said.

Ingham himself is 18 months from achieving his retirement goals and will stay in-country at least that long.

Still, life is not the same for an American in Saudi Arabia. Ingham is security-conscious in a way he's never had to be before.

"Until a month ago, I didn't take the keys out of my car at night," Ingham said. "Things have changed, no doubt about that."

Ingham said he feels a sense of duty to do his job in Saudi Arabia -- and that job is to produce oil. He doesn't much like hearing his own government telling him he should leave.

"If I turn tail and run, I give in to Osama bin Laden," he said. "For my government to tell me to turn tail and run -- it's insulting."

Ingham is, however, happy to have his children out of Saudi Arabia. Two are in Sisters. A daughter just left for college in Texas, leaving Ingham and his wife on their own -- and Ingham admitted to breathing "a sigh of relief."

Ingham's commitment to Saudi Arabia is deeper than his strong loyalty to the company for which he works. He has deep respect for his Saudi friends, people he refers to as "my brethren."

He said his brethren are as outraged as anyone by the acts of al Qaeda terrorists in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. They find the recent beheadings abhorrent and un-Islamic, resonant as they are of the ritual slaughter of animals.

"The style of execution, beheading people the way they are, is completely unacceptable in the Koran," Ingham said. "It's barbaric."

Ingham said that Saudis have suffered deep shame, grief and hurt from the September 11, 2001, attacks, in which 15 of 19 hijackers were of Saudi Arabian origin. Guiltless Saudis, many of whom have ties of education, friendship and even family with the United States, now find it very difficult and sometimes degrading to get a travel visa to come here. A 70-year bond between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia is being frayed. Many Americans now view Saudis with suspicion -- people Ingham knows to be good people, sincere in their religion and steadfast in their friendships.

Ingham has great sympathy for members of the bin Laden family. He has worked with the family's construction firms for years and found them honorable and highly competent. They have disowned Osama bin Laden (whom Ingham refers to derisively as "Ussy").

"They are wholly a reputable family inside this country," Ingham said. "They are a good family. He has tainted their name, unfortunately, forever."

Ingham said it is critical to bear in mind that al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden pose a serious threat to Saudi Arabia -- a more direct threat than that posed to the United States.

"Osama wants the kingdom of Saudi Arabia," Ingham said. "He wants the royal family. He wants to take down the oil industry and wreak havoc in the world."

There is certainly fertile ground for al Qaeda inside Saudi Arabia, where there is an underclass of unemployed and uneducated young men.

"Arabia is wrestling with huge issues," Ingham said. "Arabia has to diversify their economy and grow. Idle hands are the devil's workshop. People can be influenced very easily when they don't have a job."

Al Qaeda preys on these dissatisfied young men. Ingham likens the situation to inner city America, where young, violent men are drawn to gangs.

"It's not the Crips and the Bloods like it is in L.A.," he said. "Here, you get involved with al Qaeda if you're going to go that way."

Still, he said, only about 1 percent of the population at most can be considered affiliated with those al Qaeda groups that mysteriously call themselves "The Twenty-Seven." He said the Saudis are quite willing to go after the gunmen and terrorists and many Saudi security men have fallen in firefights with these men.

Ingham said that the fear and hatred of Osama bin Laden made the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan a popular move in the region.

"When we went into Afghanistan, this part of the world was delighted," Ingham said. "Everyone wants to get Osama."

Iraq is a different story. From Ingham's point of view, invading Iraq poses problems for the region and for the U.S. He sees dealing with Saddam Hussein and stabilizing and controlling Iraq as a separate matter from eradicating the threat from al Qaeda.

"You can't be a policeman in Iraq," he said. "You don't even speak the language. You don't have a right on the streets; you're an occupier.

"This is not wholly a bad thing," he said of the invasion. "Having Saddam out of Iraq is kind of nice. But it misses the problem. I hope we make a graceful transition out of Iraq -- but Iraq wasn't the problem."

The problem, in Ingham's view, is always al Qaeda.

Ingham said that al Qaeda has seized the opportunity to make Iraq a battleground.

"Al Qaeda is going to take advantage of this situation and kill as many American boys as they can get their sights on," Ingham said.

As dangerous as the region has become, Ingham still feels relatively safe -- except on the highways. Only half-jokingly, he said his biggest fear is being killed on the road by a young driver with poor driving skills and no respect for traffic laws.

That, Ingham said, is the biggest danger in Saudi Arabia -- much more common than terrorism.

Ingham still has family in Sisters and visits his mother Ruth here during the generous leave periods allowed by Aramco. He plans to visit this summer.