Washington Will Prop Up The House Of Saud - For Now

The Guardian (UK) ^ | 6-5-2004 | Mai Yamani

[blam]

I will be re-filling my gasoline storage tanks (110 gallons) next week.

[oceanview]

if the place erupts - US forces will seize the oil fields. Because if we don't - we will have a worldwide economic depression.

[AdamSelene235]

Gee, lets see.

Our friends, the Saudi's:

Funded 911.

Purchased nuclear weapons for unstable Islamic Pakistan.

Routinely kidnap and rape American citizens.

I WANNA SEE EM BURN

[blam]

"if the place erupts - US forces will seize the oil fields. Because if we don't - we will have a worldwide economic depression.

My fear.

[Gargantua]

I wanna see some barrels of light-sweet crude for $18 a pop. In return for "propping up" the towel heads.

;-/

[Joe Hadenuf]

if the place erupts - US forces will seize the oil fields. Because if we don't - we will have a worldwide economic depression

Why wait? If it's stability we want in the region, instead of dealing with two headed snakes that wear bathrobes, lets seize them now. We'll be nice, an give them a little fuel now and then so they can still go to camel races in their rolls royces.

[AdamSelene235]

I wanna see some barrels of light-sweet crude for $18 a pop. In return for "propping up" the towel heads.

Not bloody likely. Greenspan will print money until he runs out of trees.

You may see $120 if the HOS falls.

It will be worth it.

[FreeReign]

Predictably, the kingdom is determined to remind the Bush administration of its central role in the world economy and politics, aware that if peace breaks out in neighbouring Iraq, it will lose some important leverage.

B.S.

The ruling royals wanted Saddam removed. They helped us do it.

[blam]

"The ruling royals wanted Saddam removed. They helped us do it."

Yup. I read that they contributed $10 billion to Gulf War-2.

[Jorge]

if the place erupts - US forces will seize the oil fields. Because if we don't - we will have a worldwide economic depression.

Actually the stakes are so high for the entire industrialized world that a very large coalition of nations would agree on seizing the Saudi oil fields if necessary.

[Starve The Beast]

You want the bad news? Look at the rabble waiting in the wings. The Saudis are bloody awful, but anyone likely to replace them will be worse. And the US is so overextended that I fear we won't be able to step in and be the benevolent grownup this time.

I know! The United Nations can handle it! Yeah...

[FreeReign]

It is now known that a number of those Gulf rulers have been lining up to tell the Saudis that reform is their only chance of survival, and that it may already be too late. But even those princes who accept that notion - such as Crown Prince Abdullah - no longer appear to hold sway in the cabinet.

Abdallah is still the head of state, in Fahd's absence. There is no "cabinet" in the S.A. government. There is a Council of Ministers appointed by the head of state.

It is true that Abdallah is a reformer and I believe he still holds "sway" even there a level of nonsupport and violence as has been seen over the last year or so.

Hopefully the good guys there are still in control. Else, it will get much worse.

[Starve The Beast]

Actually the stakes are so high for the entire industrialized world that a very large coalition of nations would agree on seizing the Saudi oil fields if necessary.

Not if they think we'll do it by ourselves. Europe will certainly engage us in a game of chicken: "We aren't going into Saudi Arabia... are you?" If we blink first, they'll sit back and complain to high Heaven that the Neocon Unilateralist Satanic Americans are at it again, building their evil empire, while they sit back and enjoy the stability that we provide.

In other words, they'll do exactly what they're doing in the War on Terror.

[jolie560]

The House of Saud is beginning to crumble. The Arab world is on the verge of massive changes and this House of Saud crumbling will speed up the changes, for better or for worse.

[FreeReign]

Correction:

It is true that Abdallah is a reformer and I believe that he still holds "sway" even though we've seen a level of nonsupport and violence over the last year or so.

[pepsionice]

Let's face it...oil will be $50 a barrel by September. We need to prepare by the end of this year for gas prices to hit $3 a gallon. Its simple and pure math. Ossama and his boys have finally figured this whole scheme out. If you take out the production sites in Saudi Arabia and hinder two or three other sites...you halt 50 percent of the oil movement. Trickle-down, goes into turbo...we see a national shortage within 3 weeks. This leads to airline flight cancelations and massive increase on food costs by the truckers moving food around the US. The entire economy in the US can be wrecked inside of one year if the house of Saud falls and oil problems occur. We should have realized this situation 10 years ago and lined up Sibera then. Russia is capable of taking over all of the Saudi business...and we don't have to worry about Muslims. GW needs to get smart on this issue.

[McGavin999]

I have such a hard time figuring out who the good guys are and who the bad guys are over there. There's about a dozen vipers in that nest and the Saudis better have them irradicated pretty soon or there won't be a House of Saud.

Persoanally, I think the great majority of the problems over there are within the family itself.

[irv]

Actually the stakes are so high for the entire industrialized world that a very large coalition of nations would agree on seizing the Saudi oil fields if necessary.

Or, more likely, go to war with each other over them. The French will move first to grab a part of the fields. Before they can take them all, the Russians will muscle in to another area. This will alarm the Brits (and us) greatly.

WW III anyone?

[FreeReign]

I have such a hard time figuring out who the good guys are and who the bad guys are over there. There's about a dozen vipers in that nest and the Saudis better have them irradicated pretty soon or there won't be a House of Saud. Persoanally, I think the great majority of the problems over there are within the family itself.

Even though I refer to Abdallah as a good guy, I only mean he is relative others in S.A..

What's bad about Abdallah is that he scapegoats Isreal every chance that he gets. Also, he's a dictator of sorts.

That said, he helped us immensely with Iraq and I believe that he is fighting Al Qaeda as best that he can.

I believe that once al Qaeda is removed from S.A. then the incentive for any of the royals to fund the madrassas will have been removed and the S.A. royals can go back to being a more stable ally, as they were pre al Qaeda -- circa 1980 and before.

JMO.

[I_dmc]

I wonder how many folks who opine on Saudi Arabia have read its history, such as David Holden and Richard Johns's book, "The House of Saud"? Its pretty clear the devil's bargain that Ibn Saud made to create Saudi Arabia is the source of our present day troubles.