Thomas Friedman: Bin Laden in Every Saudi Home
Repeated terrorist attacks by homegrown al-Qaida operatives on Saudi Arabian oil interests show that a civil war is raging inside the key strategic U.S. ally, the New York Times' Thomas Friedman argued on Sunday.
"You could do a revisionist history of 9/11 that basically describes this as a [Saudi] civil war," Friedman said on CBS's "Face the Nation." "There's a real problem inside Saudi Arabia."
Friedman said that after the 9/11 attacks, while Saudi leaders publicly expressed their regrets, Saudi citizens privately sympathized with Osama bin Laden.
"Right after 9/11, you know, I was in neighboring United Arab Emirates," he recalled. "An Emirates official said to me - he'd just come from a conference in Saudi Arabia - he said, 'Tom, let me tell you something. Bin Laden is in every home in Saudi Arabia.'"
The Times columnist argued that bin Laden struck the U.S. primarily as "a way of undercutting what he saw as the strongest prop of the Saudi ruling family."
He urged President Bush to use the Saudi turmoil to recruit European nations to join the U.S. in helping to stabilize Iraq - telling them:
"'Guys, we've now got a Saudi Arabia that's got a low-grade civil war going on. We have Saudi opposition groups, al-Qaida sympathizers, attacking fortified oil installations. We need to put Iraq - tilt that on the right direction. The last thing we need is two unstable countries there."
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/5/31/204652.shtml
I just have a few questions... Should we liberate the suffering Christians in Sudan from the radical terrorists who are slaughtering them, before we go into Iran?
How many billions would the liberation of Iran cost U.S. taxpayers.. or is money even any issue?
Will this be an actual declared war or will it be another war where pesky Congress is bypassed, or will a 'resolution' be adequate?
And finally, will the heroic UN be begged to 'come in and help set up' an interim world order...err.. i mean interim govt when the dust settles?
Where does the liberation of Cuba and Red China fit in? Do they make the 'liberation list' at all, or do we keep having BBQ's at the ranch with their leader.