Posted on 07/29/2007 8:38:29 PM PDT by SJackson
The US ambassador to the United Nations said ally Saudi Arabia was undermining efforts to stabilize Iraq.
Zalmay Khalilzad's comments Sunday follow word from a senior defense official that a planned US weapons sale to Saudi Arabia and other moderate Gulf states was expected to be a topic this week when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates visit the Middle East. The sale is expected to total $20 billion in sophisticated weaponry.
Khalilzad, a former US ambassador to Iraq, said an opinion column he wrote for The New York Times this month accusing US allies of pursuing destabilizing policies toward Iraq referred in part to Saudi Arabia.
"Saudi Arabia and a number of other countries are not doing all they can to help us in Iraq," he said Sunday. "At times, some of them are not only not helping, but they are doing things that are undermining the effort to make progress."
US officials have stepped up public criticism of Saudi Arabia but remain cautious in dealing with a crucial ally in the region.
Iraqi officials have accused Saudi Arabia of allowing a flow of funding to support Sunni insurgents and failing to prevent would-be suicide bombers from crossing the Saudi border to infiltrate Iraq.
On their trip, Rice and Gates are expected to ask Saudi King Abdullah for greater cooperation in Iraq. The United States says it will push for forgiving millions in Iraqi debt dating to the Saddam Hussein era and security help for the government of Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki.
Two House Democrats, Representatives Anthony Weiner and Jerrold Nadler of New York, said Sunday they would introduce legislation to block the Saudi arms deal.
"We need to send a crystal clear message to the Saudi Arabian government that their tacit approval of terrorism can't go unpunished," Weiner said at a news conference in New York. "Saudi Arabia should not get an ounce of military support from the US until they unequivocally denounced terrorism and take tangible steps to prevent it."
Weiner and Nadler noted that that 15 of the 19 hijackers on Sept. 11, 2001, were Saudi citizens.
A House Republican leader, Minority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri, said he was inclined to support the sale.
"But on these issues regarding Saudi Arabia, we have a bigger problem in the House all the time, because of the disappointments with the Saudis, who have traditionally been good friends of ours, who have been allies in the region, but continually seem to not understand the situation we're in right now," Blunt said.
"And so, the votes that we've had have been harder and harder as related to Saudi Arabia. And the administration's going to have to really make the case here that this is needed, that there are reasons beyond what we can see, that the Saudis continue to be helpful to us. And that will be a challenge for them, I think."
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Saudi Arabia and Wahabbism go hand in hand.
The moderate states in the list include :-
i.the UAE(one of 3 nations that recognised the Taliban & international money laundering centre).
ii.Qatar(holiday home of Khalid Meshaal,roving chief of Hamas).
iii.Saudi Arabia(the less said,the better).
"We need to send a crystal clear message to the Saudi Arabian government that their tacit approval of terrorism can't go unpunished," Weiner said.
Wow, I'm so impressed with these two 'Rats and their "strong" opposition to terrorism that I'm about to turn carwheels here (only kidding, of course). Where were these two schmucks when support for the war on terrorism and our troops in Iraq was needed? And why are these two and their Dummy pals in Congress so concerned about the "civil liberties" of captured terrorists that they think that they should be tried in US civilian courts for their war crimes? Anyone who thinks that foreign enemy combatants captured abroad are entitled to the constutional rights of American citizens has no comprehension of the Constitution!
A very high percentage of the money funding terrorism, that doesn't come from Iran, comes from the Saudis.
This is not a war on terror - it is a war of civilizations; the civilization of the Christian, Jewish and Secular West against the uncivilized barbarism of Islam, the Sunni and Shia Muslim sects.
The sooner we admit that as a nation, the sooner we can dispense with the niceties.
presumably they assume we are installing a shiite regime with close ties to iran, and thus it is directly contrary to their interests....(and our interests, though they couldn’t care less about that)
J’lem wary of US arms sale to Saudis
Jerusalem Post | 7-29-07 | YAAKOV KATZ
Posted on 07/29/2007 11:38:45 PM EDT by SJackson
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1873492/posts
House Members Say They Will Try to Block Arms Sales to Saudis
IMRA/Washington Post | 7-29-07
Posted on 07/29/2007 10:16:21 AM EDT by SJackson
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1873251/posts
This reminds me somewhat of the furor during the Reagan years concerning the Saudis getting AWACs from the US. I believe they ultimately did, and almost no one ever heard about it since. The difference now is that the Saudis are hampering the American war effort in adjacent Iraq, so selling military hardware to them is more problematic.
:’) Selling AWACS was part of defending the Saudis against Iran, and to keep them from shopping at Moscow Mart. Saudi Arabia is going to be shredded by the time all the constructive chaos is over.
This reminds me somewhat of the furor during the Reagan years concerning the Saudis getting AWACs from the US. I believe they ultimately did, and almost no one ever heard about it since. The difference now is that the Saudis are hampering the American war effort in adjacent Iraq, so selling military hardware to them is more problematic.
To truly deter Iran, countries need to tell Israel that they won’t bash it if Israel goes after Iran’s nuclear program just like it went after an Iraq reactor in the early 80’s.
The US should not try and encourage
an arms race between Saudia Arabia and Iran.
Too smart by half. Take out the Iran nuclear program and leadership and let the 70% born after the 79 revolution establish the secular government they want.
Saudis finance world-wide madrassahs which are jihadi training centers.
Just more kissing up to Saudi butt from the My Child Is An Honor Student At The Council On Foreign Relations bumper sticker bunch.
The Saudis are now, and have been for over 35 years, the GREATEST contributors of money to world terrorism!
The relationship between the Bush family and the Saudi Royal Family borders on incestuous!
The Saudis are NOT our friends! They just have oil that we need.
Remember, in the 48 hours after 9/11 happened, the only aircraft flying in American skies were our Military Aircraft, and the Saudi Royal Family Private Fleet!
The Saudis were suspect immediately, and the enemy within our shores was allowed to fly away, authorized by Pres Bush!
A pox on both their houses .................... FRegards
Well-said.
Cheney has some explaining to do. He gave the impression on Larry King’s show that he considers Saudia Arabia to be one of the US’s best allies over the past six decades.
“Saudi Arabia and Wahabbism go hand in hand.”
Exactly.
This has been their assumption all along. Basically they will accept no Iraqi government that is dominated by Shia, regardless of any real connection with the Mullahs in Teheran.
In the last sixty years, Saudi Arabia has used OPEC three or four times to stunt the USA economy, and there was damn little that we could do about it.
We have our own home-grown nutbars that stifle homeland oil expansion and refinery building, forcing the USA to be dependant on foreign oil.
Then we have to be Militaristic in order to protect our sources, and the looney-left hates that too.
The Saudi Royal Family, over 5,000 of them, are in this for the money! They've taken trillions of USA dollars and built themselves palaces all over the world. They have a huge fleet of private jet aircraft at-the-ready at all times, in case they have to make a quick getaway. The Wahabis are the real power in Saudi Arabia.
The elimination of Iran as a threat is inevitable, and soon. With a strong USA influence in a stabilized Iraq, Libya tossing-in the terrorist-towel, and Syria/Hizbollah about to get pulverized by Israel, Saudi-Arabia just won't have any sizeable Countries to send their terror-dollars to.
The call has gone out to all islamic Countries to defeat the growing democratic-modernization of Iraq, and to 'Send all your fighters and suicide-homicide-bombers to Iraq!' When Iran is rendered impotent, and the 'islamic-State' there falls, a paradigm-shift is gonna happen in the entire Middle East.
The USA will be in a position to administrate Middle Eastern affairs, and drag the muzzies, bitchin' and moanin', into the 21st Century. That's my hope, anyhow ................ FRegards
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