Posted on 12/13/2003 7:47:55 AM PST by areafiftyone
(No offense to the Democratic Party intended)
That should end up on quote of the day...
Since 1994 or earlier, the National Security Agency has been collecting electronic intercepts of conversations between members of the Saudi Arabian royal family, which is headed by King Fahd. The intercepts depict a regime increasingly corrupt, alienated from the country's religious rank and file, and so weakened and frightened that it has brokered its future by channelling hundreds of millions of dollars in what amounts to protection money to fundamentalist groups that wish to overthrow it.
The intercepts have demonstrated to analysts that by 1996 Saudi money was supporting Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda and other extremist groups in Afghanistan, Lebanon, Yemen, and Central Asia, and throughout the Persian Gulf region. "Ninety-six is the key year," one American intelligence official told me. "Bin Laden hooked up to all the bad guys—it's like the Grand Alliance— and had a capability for conducting large-scale operations." The Saudi regime, he said, had "gone to the dark side."
[KING'S RANSOM, by SEYMOUR M. HERSH, New Yorker, Issue of 2001-10-22, Posted 2001-10-16]
Well, I'll say I'm pleasantly surprised.
It shows that changes can be made...incrementally. S-Arabia still needs to be looked at with a jaundiced eye, especially this sneaky little $h*t.
So true, and a typical trademark of most, if not all, arab states.
And becoming a
trademark of "democracies"
in the Western world...
One reason people misunderstand the US-Saudi relationship is that we do not share a common cultural heritage with the Saudis. Saudi-American cooperation has always been about working together in areas where there is mutual interest. This was true in the war with the Soviets. And it is true in the war with the jihadis. People don't get this because many of the kook jihadis come from Saudi Arabia.
For my money, this kind of relationship is what alliances are all about. We work together where we agree and we agree to disagree where we don't. The best example of "disagree" is the war between the Israelis and the Palestinian Arabs. The Saudis are big time supporters of the Palestinians. DUH! But even here it is unfair to tag all Saudis as advocates of suicide bombings of buses full of civilians. The Saudi proposal for an end to the conflict is not that far from Bush's roadmap. If you look at the Saudi position on Israel it is much more reasonable than say Syria's.
Again, the key to understanding my position is to realize that the Saudis are more complex than the current media portrayal. There are very dangerous elements in the country. There are also very useful allies. To trash the guys who are our allies in the war on terror is foolishness of the worst sort.
The condemnation of the guys running Saudi Arabia today reminds me of the attacks the left made on the South Vietnamese before the defeat of the ARVN. They were hopelessly corrupt, unpopular, undemocratic, blah, blah, blah. Well we undercut them and the Communists took over. Wow that was real smart!
If we don't develop some nuance towards our friends in the Kingdom we will reap a disaster of major proportions. A Saudi Arabia run by jihadist kooks will become a self-fullfilling prophesy. A Shah of Iran redux. Vietnam 1975. Brilliant, just what we need in the war on terror.
Please do me one favor. After you flame the hell out of me, go do your own investigation of the Saudi-US relationship. Don't just rely on the NY Times or the TV networks. It is not an accident that Bush is not attacking the Saudis en masse. He is condemning the factions who are against us in the war on terror and supporting the factions who are with us. The Saudis are taking casualties themselves. They deserve some credit for this. They aren't stupid. They know the jihadis are out to kill them too.
The hardest part of this to understand is that we are not going to see eye-to-eye with the Saudis on the war between the Israelis and the Palestinians. The Saudis are aligned as solidly behind the Palestinian Arabs as we are behind the Israelis. This is not new. It goes all the way back to 1948. Despite the disagreement over Israel we have worked successfully with the Saudis in many really tough situations. The war with the kook jihadis is probably the best example in history of such a situation.
Ok. In the words of Uncle Jed. "Commence to flamin."
Reluctantly, I must agree ;-(
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.