Saudi puts off U.S. military talks due to Mideast

MSNBC International ^ | Sept. 10, 2001 | Reuters

[rebdov]

Saudi puts off U.S. military talks due to Mideast

DUBAI, Sept. 10 — Growing frustration in Saudi Arabia with what many Arabs see as Washington's blind support for Israel has prompted the oil-rich kingdom to put off military talks with its key Western ally, the United States.
The Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat newspaper on Monday quoted Saudi sources as saying the kingdom has put off annual talks of the joint Saudi-U.S. military committee, which had been scheduled for Washington on August 29-30.        It said the Saudi Defence Ministry turned down a U.S. request to reschedule the meeting, saying that Chief of Staff General Saleh bin Ali al-Muhayya, who heads the Saudi side in the committee, ''had prior engagements preventing him from travelling to Washington at the present time.''        No officials from Saudi Arabia or the U.S. embassy in Riyadh were immediately available to comment on the report.        Asharq al-Awsat said that Muhayya was in Washington with his family on a private visit just 10 days before the talks were scheduled to take place.        The report came amid signs that Saudi Arabia, the world's largest exporter of oil and a key regional U.S. ally, has grown frustrated with the ongoing Israel-Palestinian bloodshed that has claimed the lives of more than 700 people from both sides.        It would be the second time this year that a senior Saudi official snubbed the United States over Washington's support for Israel in the nearly one-year-old Palestinian uprising to end over three decades of Israeli occupation.        Crown Prince Abdullah, who has been running the day-to-day affairs of the kingdom since his brother King Fahd suffered a stroke in 1995, in May turned down an invitation to visit the U.S. in protest at Washington's pro-Israel policies.        Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said during a whirlwind Arab tour last week that Arab patience with Israel was wearing thin and urged Washington to act to end the violence in the Palestinian territories.        ''It is time for the United States to assume its own responsibility and prevent Israeli aggression against the Arab world,'' Prince Saud said.
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[rebdov]

I think someone should remind the SAudi monarchy that we are their to PROTECT them. They are not doing US the favor, we are saving them from the jaws of Saddam and assorted Muslim lunatics who believe that the Saudis are insufficiently Muslim. We should remind them that we saved them in Desert Storm and our AWACS are still in the sky for them. They shaft us daily with oil prices and supplies and then they have the GALL to snub us? We should let them smell Saddam's breath once again.

[jonatron]

Let them eat sand!

[Magician]

We spend $50 billion per year defending the Saudis and Kuwaitis from Saddam the Magnificent. And they snub the U.S. - Saudi joint commission that coordinates their defense.

Maybe we should use the troops we have there to take over the oil fields. That might focus their sense of appreciation.

[mathurine]

We should just overrun these sand castle kingdoms and pump the oil til it is gone. They are no more worthy of consideration than any of our own citizens the government is willing to bulldoze, and screwing them might actually be of some economic advantage to the country in general whereas screwing our own citizens is a zero-sum game.

[Sabramerican]

If Canada attacks- we're screwed.

[Thinkin' Gal]

These books were written by Americans who lived and worked in Saudi arabia for 20-30 years.

What was their line of work... desalination?

[rebdov]

No, but now that you have mentioned them I will look for them in the library. Thanks.

[Thinkin' Gal]

Why? Maybe they were just passin through.

[Sabramerican]

So easy it's not even a challenge.

[Sabramerican]

I'm curious. Can one be a "mind your own business" sort of Samaritan?

[Thinkin' Gal]

John 4:7-9 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat) Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.

See... it's all about the water!

[Sabramerican]

Do you enjoy baiting people?

Some. Particularly, astonished, mind your own business Samaritans who ask Lematha?

[rebdov]

I just checked AMAZON.com. The book you recommended Encounters with Saudi Arabia is published by the Saudi Ministry of Information. Publisher: Ministry of of Information.

Now why in the world should I read anything from their propoganda ministry? Also any book recommended by the Washington Report means ARAB PROPOGANDA. It is funded in toto by Saudi.

[beowolf]

Perhaps, Samaritan is merely a passin' pilgrim that is astonished that kudzu keeps growing in LueAnn's backyard in Dixie.

I may have I missed a couple in there...

[rebdov]

Sorry, Saudi generosity is costing me too much at the pump. They are as generous as Ghengis Khan.