Saudia Arabia: Street Cred
From Informed Comment
The New Middle East Cold War: Saudi/Israel/Lebanon versus Iran/Syria/Iraq/HizbullahHelene Cooper with Hassan Fattah of the NYT has the scoop that Saudi King Abdullah told US VP Dick Cheney two weeks ago that if the US withdrew precipitately from Iraq, the kingdom would have little choice but to support the Sunni Arab guerrillas. The Saudi government had pledged to the US not to do so as long as US troops were in Iraq. But it is alleged that Saudi oil millionaires privately already send money to the guerrillas. Saudis, as Wahhabi Muslims, belong to a sect that is to the right of Sunnism. But the Wahhabi tradition dislikes Shiites and in any Sunni-Shiite struggle, the Wahhabis will come in on the Sunni side.
This item is no surprise, of course, and I have brought up this likelihood a number of times myself. What is remarkable is that it is being stated by the Saudi leadership and published in the press. The Saudis are usually circumspect. If they are leaking this sort of thing, their hair must be on fire with anxiety.
This public posturing is no surprise. There is now jockeying to see who will take control of the situation in Iraq. Iran, Saudi Arabia, or al Qaeda.
There is a lot of talk about how the Saudis are worried about Iran but this is not the case as much as they are worried about an al Qaeda friendly Iraq (on their border). The Saudi royals know that an al Qaeda's goal is to take them down and they need to show some "street cred" in Iraq to head off this challenge.
HMMMmmm, this sounds contradictory. Al-Q is made up of primarly Sunni's....so why whould an Al-Q friendly Iraq be a poblem for them. OBL is one of the royal Saudi"s and Sunni. Most of the 9/11 hijackers were Al-Q Sunni's from Saudi....something does not add up here.
Are you inferring that OBL's goal is to take down the house of Saud since they continued to side with America as part of the oil cartel?
December 13, 2006 10:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hasn't OBL been at least semi-explicit in his hostility to the House of Saud? My impression has been that he regards them as a decadent impediment to the flowering of true Islam in the Arabian penninsula.
December 13, 2006 12:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, he has.
I think though that in the end, these folks are saying they are Mulims first (anti US) and Sunni's next (anti Iran) therefore they are pro-Al-Q which is primarily Sunni due to OBL?
The most awful story I read this week, was about the execution o those 3 young boys 9.6.3 on their way to school after the assasination attempt 2 weeks ago against their father failed. I thought this was absolutely horrendous...they shot the one boy in the head 10x!!!
December 13, 2006 2:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well I was hoping to more than infer it with the statement below
With typo, etc. not exactly a clear sentence though.
I think it is fairly well established on two fronts that 1) OBL thinks the Saudi royals are heretics who have made a deal with the devil in their close co-operation with the U.S. 2) that the U.S. is dependent on a co-operative Saudi government for oil price stabilization. A good read (though it has problems) on the close ties between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia is Confessions of an Economic Hit Man which goes into some detail on this special relationship.
December 13, 2006 2:54 PM | Reply | Permalink