[PhiKapMom]

I agree with you and Woosley 100% myself. People need to look beyond the rhetoric of the press to see exactly what the Saudi's do for us. Without them, the oil prices would have been through the roof for one thing! The words in the press by the Saudi Government officials is for consumption of their own people but it seems our press corps cannot get that through their peabrain heads! Not to mention some of the Senators who know better!

[silmaril]

People need to look beyond the rhetoric of the press to see exactly what the Saudi's do for us. Without them, the oil prices would have been through the roof for one thing!

Wrong. The Saudis, along with the rest of OPEC, have been desperately trying to get all oil producers to agree to production cuts to ratchet up prices. The reason oil is so cheap? Russia has ignored OPEC (and Saudi demands); they agreed to the cuts, and then failed to comply. Thank Russia -- Saudi Arabia could care less.

[hchutch]

The Saudis are in a tight spot. Since 1991, the average person in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and elsewhere among our Gulf allies know we're their friends. Yes, we back those Zionists over in "Palestine" to the hilt, but the Israelis have long been friendly to the United States, and it's not THEIR fault Arafat is a terrorist.

Furthermore, the United States did bail them out of a nasty situation, and they do feel at the very least, a strong debt to us. We've never wanted their territory, all our guys did was kick a creep who had attacked his brother Arabs back into his cage. We even showed restraint that may have contributed to 9/11 at the behest of the Saudis.

Woolsey is right, the Saudis are going to back us. It is out of a sense of obligation, due to the fact we came to their aid in 1990/1991 and possibly due to the fact that we held back from removing Saddam from power at their request. After this war, I have no idea how things will go, but they will back us 100%.

[wheezer]

I agree with you and Woosley 100% myself. People need to look beyond the rhetoric of the press to see exactly what the Saudi's do for us.

Bingo. Glad to see you're keeping focused on the big picture.

I'm all for drilling the hell outta' Alaska and off the Gulf Coast so we can evetually tell the middle-east nations to get lost....but `til that day, the Saudi's are our most reliable partner in that region, and they are also in a very difficult position.

[weikel]

The Saudis are opec members the oil prices are low now because Russia told the Saudis to go f*** themselves and are producing at capacity.