Posted on 09/03/2021 11:47:44 AM PDT by yoe
The Saudis are supporting efforts to evacuate Afghanistan.
Something tells me he is retaliating. That said, I’m sure SA had something very big to do with the attacks on September 11th, 2001.
In two cities where thousands died, I witnessed the long-standing aftermath showing signs of more than “A passenger aircraft being hijacked to slam into buildings”. Something far more sinister afoot.
“Joe Biden is a good man.” - GWB. Wonder if GWB feels the same way now ?
It’s bait and switch. The truly important information is redacted and classified seemingly forever. Bidet is giving crumbs to cover his disaster which is also classified forever.
Yeah, OK.
Even if true the FBI has had no problem ignoring orders from presidents in the past.
One thing we can be sure of, if Biden can screw this up,he will. If it screws the US, he will.
If this messes up our relationship with OPEC he will.
The United States of America isn’t even our friend anymore.
He’s hoping this will quell some of those boos.
Instead of booing, we should all stand up, and look--very dramatically--at our wristwatches. Should be our new "optic."
Totally agree with that.
It is not a great analysis.
There is money sent from the US to terrorist groups. That does not mean the US supports Al Qaeda et al.
Dissident Saudis definitely send a lot of terrorism money and the US made deals to try to squelch those processes.
I think the best idea is to whither Saudi Arabia financially by displacing their oil with our oil.
The deeper darker theories that Bush liked Saudi sponsored terrorism is not accurate or helpful. There are a range of unhelpful Islamic states from Pakistan to Saudi Arabia but the US should have made some deals to modify and even annihilate as many of the radical supremacists as possible. That was being done under Bush and Trump. Obama and Biden definitely seek to arm the Islamic radicals against the US.
Pretty soon gas is going to be so valuable that people will have some in their 401K.
How ironic since the Saudi’s just signed on with Russia to supply them with military hardware. Likely plays into Jobama doing his part to kill the US petro dollar in the interest of China.
The collapse of the petro-dollar will not just bring down the dollar.
It will crash the world economy—everything is interdependent these days.
There will be no smooth transition to a Yuan based world economy.
The “big boys” know this, and have planned accordingly.
If Biden’s recent decision-making capabilities are any indication, there might be info in there that might hurt the deep state. BUT, it probably is an attempt to change direction. Someone earlier used the phrase “step on a rake” ( I love it) on another thread. Wishful thinking on my part, I guess.
Wag the dog! and from the FRchives:
The issue isn't who created them, the issue is who funded them. From the same document you cite:
The Role of Saudi ArabiaAfter the withdrawal of Soviet forces in 1989 and the overthrow of the Najibullah government in 1992 Saudi aid to Afghan factions was driven primarily by a desire to counter Iranian influence in Afghanistan by opposing the growth in power of Iranian clients such as ISA leaders Rabbani and Massoud.136 Once Pakistan threw its support behind the emerging Taliban movement in late 1994, Saudi aid increasingly followed suit. Saudi Arabia was a major financial supporter of the Taliban between the defeat of Hizb-i Wahdat and Hizb-i Islami forces by the Taliban in Kabul in 1996 and the August 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya by a group of persons who were suspected of being followers of the Saudi expatriate Osama bin Laden. The Taliban's decision to shelter Bin Laden led to U.S. pressure on Saudi Arabia to terminate its support of the Taliban. Official Saudi aid reportedly stopped, but Saudi money and support has continued to find its way to the Taliban in the form of private contributions.
Official Assistance
There is substantial uncertainty about the extent and nature of Saudi assistance to Afghan factions, including the Taliban, although the consensus appears to be that the greatest Saudi impact has been in the area of financial aid. Press accounts described Saudi aid to Afghan factions as reaching U.S.$2 billion during the period 1991-93, with Gulbuddin Hikmatyar's Hizb-i Islami as the primary recipient. During the 1993-94 period, Saudi aid amounting to U.S.$150 million was also given to the Massoud-Rabbani government following criticism by Massoud of Iranian involvement in Afghanistan's internal affairs.137Although the Taliban became active in late 1994, it did not immediately attract Saudi assistance; the Saudi-Taliban relationship began only after Pakistan adopted the Taliban as proxies. Prince Turki al-Faisal Saud, head of the Saudi General Intelligence Agency, traveled to Pakistan in July 1996; shortly thereafter Saudi Arabia became the Taliban's main financial supporter.138
Saudi assistance to the Taliban has at times extended beyond the strictly financial to encompass military and organizational assistance. Western journalists saw white-painted C-130 Hercules transport aircraft which they identified as Saudi Arabian at Qandahar airport in 1996 delivering artillery and small-arms ammunition to Taliban soldiers.139 The Taliban security service, the Ministry of Enforcement of Virtue and Suppression of Vice, bears the same name as its sister service in Saudi Arabia and has been funded directly by Saudi Arabia; this relatively generous funding-as compared to the general poverty of other government organs in the Taliban administration-enabled it to become the most powerful agency within the Islamic Emirate.140
Prince Turki reportedly met Taliban leader Mullah Omar in Qandahar on June 15, 1998 to discuss in detail the planning of the summer offensive that year, which was aimed principally at securing the surrender of Mazar-i Sharif. Turki allegedly pledged the funds necessary to buy off individual United Front commanders during the upcoming fighting.141
Private Contributions
Following the reported cut-off of official Saudi assistance in 1998, significant funds continued to flow to the Taliban from private Saudi sources. Some of this money has been raised by Saudi individuals dedicated to the Taliban cause; much of the rest comes in the form of charitable activity, some of which may be allocated to military purposes.142
First you have to solve the problem of our oil being more expensive to produce and hence only profitable to pump when the price is high.
I didn't say that the transactional arrangement didn't go both ways. Henry Kissinger's line about the US having no permanent friends or enemies, only interests is cynical but there's a lot of truth to it.
But seriously, how do the Saudis serve as a counterweight? Troops? Their army is useless as Yemen showed. It's riven with absenteeism, cronyism, tribalism, and a lack of training. I read some military guy saying that they have to come back every year to show them how to use the artillery they bought because they don't practice after the training, they just go home until the trainers come back next year. Money? To who? It used to be the that the actual counterweight to Iran was Iraq, but that's gone now and Iran now essentially controls Iraq, counterweight and all. No, we're the counterweight, and we thank the Saudis for allowing us to stage troops on their territory to fight their wars, and oh, please, don't raise oil prices too much (even though higher prices help US producers).
But I know, never bother a rabid neo isolationist with the panful truth on how the world actually works
I am a long way from a rabid neo isolationist, but I can see the big picture and I don't think the Saudis give a crap about us except as far as we serve their interests.
How about releasing the full, non-redacted Warren Commission report?
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