[bert]

While Israel might be the focus. The Gulf is the prize. Israel is a trifle compared to the wealth and resources of the GCC. Then there is Mecca and the Holy Shrines.

That is what is at stake.

[mkjessup]

While Israel might be the focus. The Gulf is the prize. Israel is a trifle compared to the wealth and resources of the GCC. Then there is Mecca and the Holy Shrines.
That is what is at stake.

What your astute observation tells me Bert, is that 0bama will be more than agreeable to throwing Israel under the bus for those very reasons.

Netanyahu and by extension, Israel cannot risk turning their back on 0bama for a nanosecond.

[cookcounty]

"While Israel might be the focus. The Gulf is the prize. Israel is a trifle compared to the wealth and resources of the GCC. Then there is Mecca and the Holy Shrines."

Thanks for broadening the issue...you are correct.

[lentulusgracchus]

While Israel might be the focus. The Gulf is the prize. Israel is a trifle compared to the wealth and resources of the GCC. Then there is Mecca and the Holy Shrines.

Bin Laden wanted to be the Protector of the Shrines and displace the Saudis. The U.S. and the Soviets were just chesspieces on his board, the object of which was Mecca.

Having defeated both the USSR and the US in combat in Afghanistan, he would then descend from the mountains (in theory) as the New Saladin, the champion of Islam, to take over the Arabian peninsula and reestablish the Rightly-Guided Caliphate with him as khalifa and founder of a new dynasty.

Then we found him and killed him.

The problem with his plan, or with any Pan-Arabist's plan to reestablish the Caliphate is that, even with all that oil and territory, it would still have an Achilles heel, a fatal weakness. It'd be full of Arabs.

[ROCKLOBSTER]

the Holy Shrines.

Sounds like a good application for "The Holy Hand Grenade".