Gulf Crisis, confidential （１５）　

１５) The clash of the civilizations, continued

The most frequent religious crime among foreigners was drinking.
Even if you drank a glass of whisky in your hotel room, you sometimes were arrested. Employees of the hotel were oftentimes spies for the religious police. You were able to drink in embassies or official residence of the diplomat, because they have extra-territorial rights. However, religious police waited for the guests leaving the residence and arrested them if they were apparently drunk. I heard from a Japanese diplomat that some of Japanese were also arrested. The diplomat had to visit police department and rescue them.

Our medical team members often dined at a Korean restaurant in Riyadh, because we were familiar with Korean foods and the prices were reasonable. We tasted non-alcoholic beer with Korean barbecue for the first time and it was not bad. Regarding beer, Budweiser donated tens of thousands of cartons of non-alcoholic beer to US army stationed in Saudi Arabia.

The U.S. military was sensitive to the religious feelings of Saudi Arabians. They made TV programs in English for U.S. soldiers explaining how to behave there. It was specific: Women soldiers off duty should avoid wearing clothes exposing too much naked skin, for example like a tank top, or they should avoid wearing short pants in religious facilities, or soldiers of both sexes should avoid wearing necklaces with a cross.

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