SAUDI Arabia SAID TO SEEK WMD

MENewsline ^ | 6.29.02

[swarthyguy]

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- Saudi Arabia is said to be seeking weapons of mass destruction.

U.S. officials said Riyad has been seeking intermediate-range missiles as well as biological, chemical and nuclear weapons from Islamic allies. They said China and Pakistan have been the most prominent suppliers in the Saudi effort.

The Saudi effort was reported in a recent hearing by a House subcommittee. Rep. Benjamin Gilman, chairman of the House Middle East and South Asia subcommittee said Riyad has attempted to obtain WMD from China. Gilman suggested that the effort is continuing.

"In the past, it has attempted to procure weapons of mass destruction in the form of Chinese missiles," Gilman told the panel on May 22. "There are press reports of continuing concern about its capabilities and its intentions in that regard."

[swarthyguy]

Winds of War Ping.

[StockAyatollah]

The Saudis must be gearing up for 2005 or 2009 when they might not have their buddy in the White House.

[tomahawk]

Saudi Arabia is a terrorist state.

[swarthyguy]

I'm not that convinced that Dubya isn't fully aware of the threat of SaudiArabia. Through the extensive dealings his father has had with Saudis, i believe they are under no illusions about the duplicitous Saudis and the proxy war the Saudis have conducted against the US through their cutouts such as alqaeda all through the 90's.

Frankly, the thought of a Democratic President fills me with dread. I suppose a Lieberman might take a tougher stand against the Arab threat but then again, maybe not.

The sheer amount of money between the Saudis and America is certainly a discouraging factor but things are moving and this fall's cooler weather should make things rather interesting. Going against Iraq is taking on Riyadh as well, especially after the loveydovey stuff in Beirut last spring between Prince Abdullah and Iraq's foreign minister.

The radical islamic countries like Saudi and Pakistan are being pushed into a corner. Not quick enough for me but these things take time. The Palestinian issue has been negated by Bush's speech. The table is being cleared; Indo-Pak tensions are down and what i believe was the Saudi strategy to keep flashpoints sparking up in Kashmir and Palestine and keep distracting has been thwarted.

[Joe Boucher]

Perfect, just what we need, shakey govts. with WMDs. I wouldn't trust Pakistan or India, Saudi Arabia or Iraq, Iran or Cuba with these type weapons. I would be afraid they'd actually blow themselves up not to mention parts of the real world.

[Aaron_A]

Their Chinese IRBMs have very poor accuracy making them only useful for WMDs. Surely they can get some Islamic bombs....

[Guillermo]

In all fairness, which US President hasn't been their "buddy"?

Will Hillary "crack down" on them, like her husband did?

[Stavka2]

So is it time to make Mecca and Medina glow yet? Russia was pushing for the bombing of Saudi Arabia...guess the Axis just got larger.

[walden]

I believe Bush's alliance with Putin is designed, at least in part, to ensure enough Russian oil supply to the US to obviate our need for Saudi oil. But, we'll see.

[tsomer]

"is it time to make Mecca and Medina glow yet? Russia was pushing for the bombing of Saudi Arabia..."

In the event of pre-emptive strike, how vulnerable are the saudis? I'm recalling Iraq, and how the the bunkers buried beneath all that sand absorbed and muffled the bombs we rained on them so that we accomplished little aside from superficial and psychological damage. Daisy cutters are fairly recent, and surely smart bomb technology has improved since then and this will make a difference. How significant a difference? If we are to use nukes, I'm sure it'll be the tactical sort, and sand works against this to,sand and light population density.

Sorry if this sounds like an idiot's question; this is not an area I'm very familiar with, but I am curious to know what you think.

[RaceBannon]

Lieberman is wayyy too much of a politician to have the guts to be a leader, he is just a politician. I fear any Dem in powewr now ever coming to the office of President.

[swarthyguy]

Russia just announced backing out of the Iranian nuke reactor project. There's a post here. Search on iranian.

[Shermy]

There was an article a while back, I believe in the New Yorker, that Saudi partially funded Sodamned's Iraqi nuclear project, pre-1990, in return for bombs - and the State Dept. knew it.

[BJClinton]

We have deep penetration nukes originally intended to be used on super-hardened Soviet strategic targets. I'm sure one Peacekeeper loaded with a few of those could reduce the Hadjez to a glass crater.

[GOP_1900AD]

Just make sure to keep the pressure on Putin to get him to completely disown the Axis. Tearing up the 7/16/2001 treaty with the ChiCOMs would be a good start! Something about history.... the wavering of Moscow vis a vis whether to be in the Axis of the day, or with the Allies?... I wonder what Stalin would have done if Hitler did not attack Russian soil? Would he have still joined the allies? ;)

[denydenydeny]

The Saudis must be gearing up for 2005 or 2009 when they might not have their buddy in the White House.

I really, really hate it when people parrot idiotic Commie propaganda here.

Where on earth do you get this from?

Other than The Nation and democraticunderground.com, I mean.

In the last year we have seen:

1) A strong (unsuccessful) effort to obtain oil from ANWR, an effort that everyone knows will be revisited next year if the Republicans take the Senate
2) GWB's rapprochement with Russia and the multiple energy agreements that have come out of it, all of them aimed directly at OPEC.
3) The quiet ongoing removal of all American troops from Saudi.
4) The not-very-subtle warnings against "non-democratic" governments in the Middle East in several speeches, most recently and strongly in the one this past week.

Did I mention that I really, really hate it when people parrot idiotic Commie propaganda here?

[Minutemen]

Oh, Saudi arabia is looking for some nukes? How do they want them delivered, B-52's or ICBM's??

[Squantos]

SCUD's Isle #4 ..........BTTT !

Stay Safe !

[swarthyguy]

Careful what you ask for, House of Saud.