SAUDIS AGREE TO EXPAND U.S. DEFENSE TIES

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- Saudi Arabia is said to have agreed to expand defense and military cooperation with the United States in what could pave the way for major U.S. weapons sales to the Arabian kingdom.

U.S. officials said Saudi Arabia has agreed to the expanded cooperation after more than two years of deteriorating defense and military ties accelerated by the Sept. 11, 2001 Al Qaida attacks on New York and Washington. Fifteen of the 19 Al Qaida attackers were Saudi nationals.

The Saudi willingness to expand military relations was relayed to the Bush administration over the past few weeks. U.S. officials cited the toppling of the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and the withdrawal of virtually all U.S. soldiers from Saudi Arabia.

The first stage of the expanded cooperation will focus on U.S. training of Saudi forces. The United States has proposed training of Saudi junior land force officers in a program designed to deepen the relations between the U.S. Army and the Saudi Army.

This is the sort of merry-go-round that has been going on for years !

The Saudis sell us oil-at a slight discount; in return for which, we kiss the hems of their robes. The House of Saud gets a "commission" on every drop sold.

We then sell them weapons. This keeps all the defense workers happy, so they will vote for whichever party makes the deal. The fact that the Saudis spend 2-3 times as much of their GNP on arms is "immaterial", as is the fact the House of Saud rips off 10-20 % of every dollar as "commissions". This permits the princes to live like kings in non-Muslim lands, where they can fulfill every debauched fantasy.

Ah, but there's another "benefit" : The Saudis send lavish bribes to our politicians, give them make work jobs at high salaries when they leave office. They also send billions in "contributions" to the Muslim Brotherhood ( al-Qaeda,Abu Sayyef, Jemaah Islamiah,Ansar al Islam, etc., etc.)

In return, the Brotherhood attacks any location where non-Saudi oil is being produced, processed, or transported:thus making it difficult to attract non-Saudi investment capital.
This is what happened in Afghanistan,is happening now in Iraq,and has been happening for years in Chechnya.

On the day Saudi Arabia decides to stop giving us a discount,our economy will take a hit that will make 1929 look like "happy days".

Two solutions come to mind:

1. Forget the "no blood for oil" crap. We've shed the blood,and are still shedding it, so let's replace the Saudi oil with Iraqi oil.( What the hell: we're planning to shell out $87 billion to "rebuild" the place ! )

2. Ignore the Oil industry pressure, and spend whatever it takes to eliminate at least half of our need for Middle East oil: hydrogen, fuel cells, bio-diesel fuels, solar, wind, water; whatever.

I'm now a Certified Old Fogey, who probably won't be around much longer, but it would be good to know my great-grandson,who was baptized today,will someday live in a better world.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.