IRAN V. THE SAUDIS

The New York Post ^ | May 15, 2007 | Peter Brookes

[2ndDivisionVet]

SUNNI insurgency, Sunni-Shia sectarian violence, al Qaeda terror - Iraq doesn't need more problems. But it has one that too often gets overlooked: It's quickly becoming the latest battlefield in the proxy war between the Middle East's rising powers, Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The Saudis are mostly Sunni Arabs, while the Iranians are largely Shiite Persians - and each seeks to dominate the Middle East and lead the Muslim world. Their growing rivalry is a major factor not just in Iraq but also in Lebanon, the Palestinian territories and even Sudan.

* In Lebanon, Saudi Arabia backs the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. Iran backs Shia Hezbollah, which has sought to topple the democratically elected government since the end of the war with Israel last summer.

* In the Palestinian territories, both Iran and Saudi Arabia are courting Hamas. While Tehran has long supported Hamas against Israel, Riyadh cut in on Hamas' dance card in February by brokering a political agreement between Hamas and Fatah at Mecca.

* The Saudis recently stepped in to help ink a peace deal between Sudan and neighboring Chad. They won points for preserving peace within Sunni Islam - but also likely hoped to get Khartoum to stop Iran's funding of the conversion of young Sunni Sudanese to Shiism.

But Iraq is the major flashpoint. The Iranian regime seeks two basic things there: 1) An ignominious defeat for America, leading to a U.S. withdrawal - from the region, if possible; and 2) The establishment of a Shia-dominated, pro-Iran Iraqi government.

Tehran has been co-opting Shia politicians and clerics at least since the war began. Firebrand, anti-Amerian cleric Muqtada al Sadr is a good example of one who's increasingly in the Persian's pockets.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Thought provoking. Two page article.

[rightwingextremist1776]

Time to start playing both ends against each other. If this is accurate, we have found Islam’s Achilles heel....

[2ndDivisionVet]

We need a President Fred Thompson to exploit this. Can you imagine what Hillary/Obama would do? Much less Pink Sapphire, Kucinich, Julie-annie, or Ron Paul...

[M. Espinola]

"Time to start playing both ends against each other. If this is accurate, we have found Islam’s Achilles heel...."

Bingo! The oil rich, Wahhabist death cult Saudis (15 out of 19 September 11th killers were Saudi Wahhabists) are in no way an ally nor a 'friend' as the State Department continues informing the American public.

The Shi'ite Mahdi worshiping Iranian dictatorship, weapons & nuclear fuel (for future missiles) supplied by Moscow, fund Hamas and Hezballah terrorists against Israel. Iran is infiltrating trained terrorists to murder our troops and continue the Iraqi inter-Islamic civil war (with our troops stuck in the middle), while the Wahabist Saudi fuel the terrorism in Iraqi for the Sunnis.

The best option for the free world is overthrown the jihadist régimes of Iran, Saudi Arabia as well as pro-Iranian Syria.