Posted on 05/24/2004 7:07:00 PM PDT by Land_of_Lincoln_John
DUBLIN (Reuters) -- The U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was a colonial war and there were some in the United States who saw it as a means of getting their hands on Iraqi oil, a senior Saudi ambassador was quoted as saying on Monday.
Prince Turki al-Faisal, ambassador to Britain and Ireland, told the Irish Independent newspaper Washington's stated aims in going to war in Iraq masked a more cynical reality.
"No matter how exalted the aims of the U.S. in that war, in the final analysis it was a colonial war very similar to the wars conducted by the ex-colonial powers when they went out to conquer the rest of the world ...," Prince Turki said. "What we have heard from American sources
[is that] they were there to remove the weapons of mass destruction which Saddam Hussein was supposed to have acquired."
Saudi Arabia, a key U.S. regional ally, opposed the war despite tensions with Iraq since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
"What we read and hear from our commentators in America and sometimes congressional sources, if you remember going back a year ago, there was the issue of the oil reserves in Iraq and that in a year or two they would be producing so much oil in Iraq that, as it were, the war would pay for itself," the envoy said. "
[This] indicated that there were those in America who were thinking in those terms of acquiring the natural resources of Iraq for America." Prince Turki said U.S. pledges to bring freedom and democracy to Iraq remained "still just aims".
"The individual Iraqi, until he can actually declare that his government is truly representative of his wishes and aspirations must still consider himself occupied," he said.
On the wider conflict in the Middle East, Prince Turki described Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as "a living martyr", persecuted by an Israel "that is ruthless and generally devoid of any human considerations (toward the Palestinians)".
Critics of Saudi Arabia, cradle of Islam and the birthplace of Osama bin Laden and 15 of the September 11 hijackers, have accused it of allowing religious militancy to flourish.
The envoy described bin Laden's al Qaeda network as "not so much an organization as a cult with a cult leader and a cult philosophy". "One of the main drawbacks of the operations in Afghanistan is that bin Laden has not been caught," he said. "To bring bin Laden to justice will go a long way to removing some of his mystique."
"I realize now that we attacked the wrong country. Tonight, we will correct this error. We have secretly assembled a sizable force which is currently ringing Saudi Arabia. Until this moment, this force of arms has gone undetected and I am now giving the order to my field commanders to attack and drive into the desert the source of all radical Islam throughout the world. At the same time, all assests of the House of Saud have been frozen worldwide and will be used to reconstruct Iraq."
At least that's my pipe dream.
Someone needs to remind Prince Faisal, that without US support the House of Saud would be out of power and its family members would probably be dead. If the Saudi's had controlled their own, the US military wouldn't be overthere killing and dying for America's freedom.
Article is here: Saudi Envoy: Iraq War Was 'Colonial' and About Oil
Sounds like this guy has been in the DNC war room.
The lying crooked liberals always accuse others of what they have done, are doing, or plan to do, and we all know who was benefiting from Iraqi Oil under Saddam, the French and Russians via the UN.
It always amazes me how far the left will go to find a negative story, there could be 10 uplifting stories of the struggling Iraqi people in their quest for freedom, and 98% of the Media Maggots would skip right over them to interview some scumbag like this one, they would skip over everything to show a pic of a dead American Soldier and blame President Bush for not waving a "Magic Wand" and delivering peace to a Nation that has only known torture and war for Centuries, and keep in mind that this is the guy they call a moron and a brainless idiot.
The Press in this Country should be widely condemned for their anti-American bias, and their willingness to hurt this War effort, in the name of bringing down President Bush. In my neck of the woods, I call that TREASON
Saudi. China. A Certain Class of Volks in Euro-ville.
The muslim terrs are their pawns.
And Saudi Arabia naturally responded, with Iran, in destabilizing Iraq and its pipelines to earn themselves more money, increasing the price of their own oil.
It's easier to do this way. With Saddam, he might fight back. With the Admin, they appease and hide the links.
We did it for the oil.
Thats why gasoline is over $2.00 a gallon and rising.
Oh, I get it now !
Our fiends the Saudis.. Kuss em*q to them!(@$%%%$#%*&*^%$#!!!)
Admit it dude, since we pulled out of SA you guys have had to deal with the terrs in an up close and personal way. And with the split in AQ and Zarqawi in Iraq that leaves UBL free to claim his crown in SA.
We'll gladly come back, all you have to do is ask and accept our terms.
With such a hissy-fit it does appear the nominally Wahhabist Queeny has not of late had his share of pre-pubescent teenies-boys (or mayhap he just fared poorly at the Craps in Monte Carlo).
Then why didn't we keep Kuwait and take-over Saudi Arabia while we were there the first time?
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