SAUDI ROYALS PARTY AND BOOZE IT UP

The Saudi Royal family is the guardian of Wahhabism, the strictest and most conservative branch of the Muslim faith. Consumption of alcohol and certain types of partying are strictly verboten! But while the royals demand strict adherence to the Wahhabi edicts by their subjects, for themselves it's ‘do as I say, not as I do.' You could call it the Saudi version of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’

A LOOK BEHIND SAUDIS’ FACADE
U.S. diplomat’s cable released by WikiLeaks reveals how the wealthy party

By Brian Murphy

Associated Press
December 8, 2010

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - The DJ had the dance floor rocking. The bartender served up a special vodka punch. The host was a prince _ complete with his own entourage.

An A-list LA party? Fashion week in Paris?

Try Saudi Arabia, home of roving Islamic morality police enforcing the most austere codes in the Middle East.

That's the insider account by a U.S. diplomat, whose night on the town in the Red Sea city of Jiddah (mission: to observe "social interaction" of rich Saudi youth) was summarized in a confidential memo released Wednesday by WikiLeaks.

"The underground nightlife of Jiddah's elite youth is thriving and throbbing," the memo said. "The full range of worldly temptations and vices are available _ alcohol, drugs, sex _ but all behind closed doors."

Wait, this is Saudi Arabia they are talking about? The place where women are banned from driving and can be jailed for socializing with men outside their family? The land whose brand of Islam, known as Wahhabism, is perhaps best known in the West for beheadings and its role as somber guardian for the holy pilgrimage cities of Mecca and Medina?

The American diplomat who wrote the January 2009 cable added just enough flourish to give the invitation to a Halloween party an intrepid feel. It's a look, he writes, "behind the facade of Wahhabi conservatism in the streets."

It begins by clearing the prince's security detail. Next up was a coat-check area where women pulled off their head-to-toe black abayas.

Inside, Filipino bartenders served up a cocktail punch using moonshine vodka. An American "energy drink company" _ whose name was blacked out on the WikiLeaks release _ helped bankroll the bash that included, the diplomat was told, some prostitutes mingling in the crowd.

"Not uncommon for such parties," the cable said.

"The scene resembled a nightclub anywhere outside the kingdom: plentiful alcohol, young couples dancing, a DJ at the turntables and everyone in costume," the message continued.

Bottles of name-brand booze were behind the bar, but apparently only for display. A black market bottle of Smirnoff, the cable said, can cost up to $400 "when available" compared with about $26 for a bottle of home-brewed vodka.

The American cable said the religious police were "nowhere to be seen" near the party.


Associated Press writer Maggie Michael in Cairo contributed to this report.