Posted on 06/03/2004 6:02:21 AM PDT by Pokey78
I think that could be a bigger problem then you allow. It would disrupt the world oil market, and that has real consequences. But with control of the KSA comes a military. Not competent by western standards, but if Jihadis control the SA military you can bet that the UAE etc will fall militarily immediately. Kuwait could be protected, but the rest of the sheikhdoms will be invaded.
At least until November 15th, 2004. Then we pick up the next thread and Yank it.
Steyn bump
Thank you for adding me to your list yesterday.
I nominate this as the idea of the week.
If we cut off the source of funds-western money buying Saudi oil-the jihadniks will not be able to export terrorism as easily. Besides, the unstated point of my post is that if the fundamentalists were in charge, they would run the KSA into the ground pretty quickly and get themselves ousted in pretty short order (probably replaced by a more pro-western government).
I'm pretty sure that we could defend the UAE and Qatar with few problems. I have few fears of the Saudi army and a disasterous fight against us and the gulf emirates would only serve to destabilize the jihadis. Right now they are hiding behind the royal families robes, let's draw them out into the open where they can be destroyed.
And the answer to that question is "no". We don't have the willingness nor the resolve to do what must be done.
Our country is absolutely frozen with fear and at the complete mercy of Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia has one small thing that strikes absolute terror in the heart of anyone contemplating any kind of action against the country. That one small thing is the 'Kaaba' - "The House of Allah" - The spiritual shrine of all of Islam worldwide.
We are not at war with terrorism. That is like saying we are at war with 'bad people who do bad things'. We need to face the facts. We are at war with Islam ~ Militant Islam to be exact, and Saudi Arabia is where this violent brand of Islam originates from and where it is being spread from, even today as we speak.
Saudi Arabia the homeland of Osama bin Laden and the the hijackers of 9/11 ~ and so we beat up on Afghanistan and Iraq... HELLO MCFLY!! WAKE UP!
Do we plan on killing miliant muslims for the next 20 years while Saudi Arabia's madrasahs continue to churn out more foot soldiers worldwide?
We didn't defeat Nazism by beating up on pissant countries in North Africa ~ We knew that to defeat Nazism we had to go to the source, we had to go to Germany. You want to kill a snake - you cut off the head.
And so... The big question is "Why are we unable to resolve this problem once and for all?" ~ The reason why is because we know and so does everyone else that it will become World War 3 and it will become nuclear. To make matters worse (if it possibly could get worse) is that years of open borders, diversity and multiculturism crapola has left us with 'nips in the wire'.
And so until we have the resolve to win and the will to ensure our own survival we will die the death of a thousand cuts. We lose.
The only thing the West is starting to have in common with Islam is their mutual hatred for Christianity.
You're right that we could beat them, but I'm not sure we'd get the chance. I think they'd fall before we could even get help there. We'd have to get troops on the ground BEFORE they attacked. If they were 'conquered' I don't think we'd have the political will to invade. It would have to be either amphibious or invade KSA itself. I'm not sure we'd do either.
What exactly is ‘realist’ about continuing to back the Frankensaud monster? The present policy is all but certain to wind up delivering the peninsula and its oil into the hands of Osama’s buddies.
Is there any way we can get Steyn to be Secretary of State? Any way?
Interesting.
Finally, Henry Kissinger, the "man without a patriotism," is getting his due. Recall that it was K who inspired the "opening" to Red China, and strenuously advocates ignoring the mass murders of the regnant PRC slime...
Dustbin next, please???
Ping. Steyn has something here which is also interesting for the PRC thing...
From this link "The US constructed its largest pre-positioning base outside the US in Qatar. Facilities were constructed in Qatar to support CENTCOM's prepositioning of military assets in the Central Region, in accordance with government-to-government agreements. The work is for both the Army and Air Force...< snip>The Army's newest and largest pre-positioned stock (prepo) facility opened in Qatar in August 2000."
In addition there are fully functioning Air Force bases in both Qatar and the UAE. Don't think that Pentagon planners haven't seen the possible eventuality of a Saudi uprising and taken steps to prepare.
Right now the terrorists are hiding behind the robes of the royal family. If it costs us temporary access to Saudi oil to get rid of them (both the corrupt royals and the Islamikazi terrorists) I'm sure we'll recover within a few years. If they continue with the present arrangement they will be able to use oil revenues to export Wahibism and then we will have a much bigger problem on our hands.
I'd be much happier if there was an armor and a mech battalion with all that equipment. An air force base can't fight off a coordinated combined arms attack. All that equipment may even make it a more appealing target...they'd have to hit it quick.
I'd lay you 100-1 odds that after an air attack from Al Udeid air base what remained of the new saudi force would never get within 50 miles of Doha (same with the UAE).
I don't doubt we would dominate the air...I wonder whether we could hold ground. All the air dominance in the world is worthless if there is a hostile tank on your runway and a squad in the control tower.
In order to take ground you have to be able to maneuver, if someone else dominates the air you can't maneuver. Holding ground you already own is a different matter (that's why air power is no substitute for invasion in offensive operations). Whatever force the new saudi regime would put against us would not be able to move and its' supply lines would be completely destroyed. No way would any saudi soldiers get anywhere close to our bases (or those of our allies).
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