New Wikileaks Release Reveals Saudi Arabian Royal Debauchery

Included in today's release of State Department Cables is an item that was classified only because it could possibly embarrass the Saudi royal family. Since the document is already public and there is no loyalty here to the Saudi Royals (or the Kansas City Royals for that matter) I decided to pass along this story of hypocritical Wahhabi debauchery.

The Saudi Wahhabi version of Islam is pretty heavy duty. There are the usual prohibitions against alcohol, western music, mixing of the sexes, etc., that is prevalent in Middle Eastern Islamic countries, but in the Saudi Kingdom the religious police are particularly zealous. Sometimes their rulings seem as if they came out of some sort of parody or a bad imitation of a Monty Python movie. Like that ruling that banned Barbie Dolls because they were part of a Zionist plot to bring promiscuity to Saudi Arabia. Pokemon faced a similar ruling. Then there was the business woman who was sent to the pokie by the Saudi Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. Her "lewd" crime was having a cup of coffee with a male colleague in a very public Starbucks.

According to the cable released today, many of the Saudi Royals are conservative in public, but in private they do their best to ignore the rulings of the "Ministry of Silly Sharia Laws" This cable sent on 11/18/09 was sent by the US Consul General Martin R. Quinn, describes a very un-Wahhabi-like Halloween party.

Summary: Behind the facade of Wahabi conservatism in the streets, the underground nightlife for Jeddahâ elite youth is thriving and throbbing. The full range of worldly temptations and vices are available -- alcohol, drugs, sex -- but strictly behind closed doors. This freedom to indulge carnal pursuits is possible merely because the religious police keep their distance when parties include the presence or patronage of a Saudi royal and his circle of loyal attendants, such as a Halloween event attended by ConGenOffs on.

To be honest, I am not sure whether it is legal to celebrate Halloween in Saudi Arabia.  I know that Christmas is banned, if people want to have a tree in their houses they have to keep it in a room without windows so the religious police don't find out. 

Over the past few years, the increased conservatism of Saudi Arabia’s external society has pushed the nightlife and party scene in Jeddah even further underground. End summary. Elite party like the rest of the world, --------------------------------------- just underground ----------------- 

 Along with over 150 young Saudis (men and women mostly in their 20's and early 30's), ConGenOffs accepted invitations to an underground Halloween party at PrinceXXXXXXXXXXXX residence in Jeddah on XXXXXXXXXXXX. Inside the gates, past the XXXXXXXXXXXX security guards and after the abaya coat-check, the scene resembled a nightclub anywhere outside the Kingdom: plentiful alcohol, young couples dancing, a DJ at the turntables, and everyone in costume. Funding for the party came from a corporate sponsor, XXXXXX U.S.-based energy-drink company as well as from the princely host himself. Royalty, attended by xxxxx keep religious police at bay

 Religious police/CPVPV (Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice) were nowhere to be seen and while admission was controlled through a strictly-enforced guest list, the partygoers were otherwise not shy about publicizing the affair. According to a young Saudi from a prominent Jeddah merchant family, the Saudis try to throw parties at princes houses or with princes in attendance, which serves as sufficient deterrent to interference by the CPVPV. There are over 10,000 princes in the Kingdom, albeit at various levels and gradations

How wild are these parties? We are talking booze, drugs and hookers.

Alcohol, though strictly prohibited by Saudi law and custom, was plentiful at the party's well-stocked bar, well-patronized by Halloween revellers. While top-shelf liquor bottles were on display throughout the bar area, the original contents were reportedly already consumed and replaced by sadiqi. On the black market, a bottle of Smirnoff can cost 1,500 riyals when available, compared to 100 riyals for the locally-made vodka. It was also learned through word-of-mouth that a number of the guests were in fact working girls, not uncommon for such parties. Additionally, though not witnessed directly at this event, cocaine and hashish use is common in these social circles and has been seen on other occasions.

 You see in Saudi Arabia rank has it's privileges, as long as you are rich and know a prince you get to enjoy  social freedom, intoxicants, indulge in fleshly pursuits behind closed doors.