Do you think the United States needs to take a more aggressive approach towards Saudi Arabia?
Kayyem: I think it does. If you look at the websites and at least some tracking that Western journalists have done, anywhere from 40% to 60% of the suicide bombers, that is important, the suicide bombers, are Saudi nationals. What that means, is likely what is happening in Iraq is that the insurgency is split. You have some people who are Iraqis and willing to bomb things but not to commit suicide on themselves. But then you have the foreign nationals willing to come in, probably followers of Zarqawi, and kill themselves in pursuit of getting America out of Iraq and undermining Iraq's process.
The fact the numbers are so high for this one country, Saudi Arabia, means that either Saudi Arabia has no control over its borders, or has no idea what is going on in its own borders, or more likely simply just doesn't know what to do with it. As we know, unlike Pakistan, as we know Saudi Arabia has been the focus of its own terrorist threats since they focused on Saudi nationals and killing Saudi nationals in the last 3½ years. They have cracked down significantly. Certainly looking at the numbers in Iraq it looks like not enough. And here is the irony of the discussion previously, the more we demand of the countries to crack down on the internal terrorist threats, the less likely it is that they are going to be able to reform towards the democracy that the Bush Administration talks about. Because what we are talking about in Pakistan, the rounding up or Saudi Arabia, certainly the beheadings moments after a terrorist attack, is not the democratic process that you and I envision when we think about can democracy in the Arab world. So there is a tension between being tough on the countries and saying the long term goal is democracy.
What would happen if we dramatically and decisively removed any need for foreign oil over the next five years, starting with decreasing auto fuel usage by, let us say, 35% across the board while reducing the wealth transfer from oil into the hands of Saudi Princes by a good 10% for starters? Wouldn't that be better than using the threat of military force?
Thanks for spoon-feeding us the part you think is important. What next? Breathing lessons ala AlQueda?
Almost forgot. They officially don't exist anymore, Right?
Read this interview for the content that lays between the lines. Pipes is dead-on as usual. Crowley(NBC) is airhead news doll, the others are slimey Enemy Agents lying right in our faces.
When you get weary of reading your own little "instructions" to Bush,Rummy et al on how to run things, Pipes might be a place to bookmark and refer to.