Posted on 09/23/2005 4:57:06 PM PDT by Fzob
The Saudi government yesterday warned that Iraq is hurtling towards disintegration and that an election planned for December is unlikely to make any difference. The government said it was delivering this bleak assessment to both the US and British administrations as a matter of urgency. Saudi fears of a break-up were voiced by Prince Saud al-Faisal, the foreign minister, in an interview with Associated Press published yesterday, and at a meeting on Thursday night with the US media, including the New York Times and the Washington Post. He said: "The impression is gradually going toward disintegration. There seems to be no dynamic now that is pulling the country together. All the dynamics there are pushing the people away from each other."
His comments are the most pessimistic about Iraq to be made in public by a Middle East leader in recent months.
Prince Saud, who is meeting Bush administration officials in Washington, said his government warned the US before the war of the consequences of the invasion but was ignored. "It is frustrating to see something that is clearly going to happen, and you are not listened to by a friend, and soon harm comes out of it. It hurts."
Saudi Arabia sits on a council with other Iraqi neighbours - Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Syria and Turkey - and Prince Saud said the main worry is that the break-up of Iraq "will draw the countries of the region into conflict". Turkey is worried about an independent Kurdish state in the north of Iraq and Saudi Arabia, which is primarily made up of Sunni Muslims, is concerned about the growing influence of Iran in southern Iraq through its co-religionists, the Shias. The Saudi fear is not only that Iran would be greatly strengthened but that it would be tempted to extend its influence further by creating unrest among the small communities of Shia in the north of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states.
I wonder how much of his "concern" is related to freedom in Iraq creating conflict in Saudi?
Yep. The Saudi's are scared to death of a Democracy in Iraq.
They just can't stand the idea of a democracy right on their doorstep. Let alone one with a Shiite majority.
Iraqi republic = end of House of Saud
Must mean we are on the right track. If our Saudi "allies" are giving this advice.
I don't think it's an emotional response. I think they know if Iraq has social freedoms the people of Saudi will get the idea they can shrug off their oppressors
Islamic Republic of Iraq = just the beginning for Saudi Arabia and Iran...
Well, gee, if that turkey al-Turki wants to stop Iraq disintegrating, he could stop his various princelings from funding Zarkawi...
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
Afghanistan is officially an Islamic Republic and things seem to be going pretty well there -- wouldn't you say?
Of course Iraq will fall apart.
It was destined to fall apart.
Inimical religions and races living in an artificial nation created by a former external imperial power. It was created by force, and always held together by force.
The force was removed.
And now it must fall to pieces, or be welded back together by force.
There is a low grade civil war going on, which is only made low grade by the fact only one side is fighting it.
The only way to pacify the place is the way it always has been pacified, by the Turks, then by Saddam: civil war that thins out the males of the losing side enough that they cannot effectively continue the fight.
If course the US does not want to do this. So it's just a long, slow burn, waiting for the war to come.
Well, our Saudi "allies" are, unfortunately, very close to the Bush family. I hope that W or HW can untwine their personal closeness to them from what's in the best interest of the country and the world.
truely sucks when turkey would get the northern oil fields and Iran the southern oil fields and the Saudis would get Tikrit
Good points, but I have some optimism that things will not turn out that way.
Iraq is an artificial country put together from after WWI. There is no natural homogeneity throughout the country. There are only competing interests. There is also a civil war going on in addition to the insurgency.
My worst fear is the US leaving Iraq in a scene reminicent of helicopters lifting off from the US embassy in Saigon with people hanging off.
Don't tell me you're hoping Saudi Arabia falls apart, too? Whether you agree with the royal family or not, wouldn't you agree they've kept their country reasonably stable all of these years? Although I find their culture distasteful, I think they've been reasonably good allies for several decades.
Do you really think this country's interests would be better served by a radical Islamist Saudi Arabia????
taxed2death wrote: "You're kidding, right?"
As I understand it, a large portion of the funds for madresses comes from Saudi citizens. Supposedly they have something similar to a tithe. If the royal family falls, the country will become openly hostile to the US, like Iran.
I'm not sure why the royal family allows the Islamists to survive, but I suspect it has something to do with staying in power.
In large part, thanks to the Saudi oil ticks themselves.
There is no more vile nation in the whole world. They are the worst of the worst. In my darker moments I wish for Biblical destruction upon the whole place.
-ccm
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