Posted on 11/17/2003 7:52:14 PM PST by yonif
WASHINGTON: US President George W Bush has picked Texas oil lobbyist James Oberwetter to be US ambassador to Saudi Arabia, the White House said on Monday.
The intention to nominate Oberwetter comes as a battle against terrorism is gaining importance in US relations with the Arab petroleum giant and Bush is urging Saudi Arabia to implement democratic reforms.
Oberwetter is vice president for governmental and public affairs at Hunt Consolidated Inc., and former head of the American Petroleum Institute, an industry lobby group.
He was a press secretary to Bush's father, former President George Bush, when the elder Bush served as a US representative. He also worked on the current president's transition.
Oberwetter gave $2,000 to Bush's 2004 re-election campaign in June, according to a campaign finance database maintained by the Center for Responsive Politics. He gave $1,000 in 1999 to Bush's presidential campaign.
US-Saudi relations soured over the summer after a congressional report suggested a link between individuals in the Saudi government and some of the hijackers who took part in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were Saudis.
Saudi Arabia has denied any connection and sought in vain for the report's classified section on Saudi Arabia to be made public.
Attacks this year in Saudi Arabia that have been blamed on the al-Qaeda network of Saudi-born militant Osama Bin Laden, whom Washington also accuses in the Sept. 11 attacks, have led Washington to pledge solidarity with Riyadh against terrorism.
Bush earlier this month urged Saudi Arabia to give the Saudi people "a greater role in their own society."
Oberwetter's nomination is subject to Senate confirmation.
That's exactly what OBL and Hussein sought to accomplish when they hand-picked 15 Saudis to attack America on 9/11 (our bases in Saudi Arabia were a key reason for Bin Laden's fatwa). Only when that failed to divide us did AQ begin attacking the Kingdom.
Saudi Arabia is a problem, but it becomes a much bigger problem when you remove U.S. influence.
To divide us? You call Saudis our friends?
Saudi Arabia is a problem, but it becomes a much bigger problem when you remove U.S. influence.
US influence? What influence do we have over Saudi Arabia? I don't see them stopping their harboring, funding and support of terrorists like Bin Laden.
Amen.
I think that without the US bases there, Al Qaeda would own Saudi Arabia — its oil fields (to fund much more massive terrorism against Israel, the US, Kuwait, et,), to manipulate oil prices/OPEC, to control Mecca (to increase the influence of the "religion of peace" over the masses), etc, etc.
I call them squeamish allies with a very tricky Islamist problem. They're not friends, like Italy, Poland or the U.K. Nor are they enemies, like North Korea or Iran.
If we stop our efforts to move them towards the former, we'll push them towards the latter. It's taken me some time to come around to this line of thinking, but the more I realized how badly OBL wanted to damage U.S./Saudi relations, the more I saw the wisdom in trying to strengthen them.
Exactly. The average oilman is heads and shoulders more experienced in practical foreign policy than you average State Department weanie. They made their bones getting things done, and they are used to dealing with tinhorns who want to shake them down.
15 out of 19 were Saudis, therefore King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdallah support terrorism. That's what has been implied for over two years now, the roots of which can be traced back to the liberal media.
You're not easily swayed by catch phrases and sourceless Democrat leaks are you?
[Reuters]: US-Saudi relations soured over the summer after a congressional report suggested a link between individuals in the Saudi government and some of the hijackers who took part in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were Saudis.
The kind of militant Islam Al QUeda is talking about is already allowed in Saudi Arabia with its wahabbi sect schools all over the country.
Because doing so legitimizes their terrorist government, recognizes it. It is not legitimite and it is more of a mafia. Should we have relations with the North Koreans? Do you want an embassy of theirs in Washington DC?
They fund terrorists who murder Americans, more so then North Korea.
It's taken me some time to come around to this line of thinking, but the more I realized how badly OBL wanted to damage U.S./Saudi relations, the more I saw the wisdom in trying to strengthen them.
Al Queda hates the Saudi goverment. It wants to overthrow it. That is why Saudi Arabia fears it, not because Osama murdered 3000 people on 9/11
I'm gonna make sure I have no obers in my house when he stays overnight.
Leni
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