Posted on 11/05/2002 1:45:05 PM PST by pitinkie
Thank you for your e-mail Mel. We Saudi Arabians, as well as almost all countries of the world, do not feel this is an appropriate time to attack Iraq. There are several reasons we feel this way.
Saudi Arabia did participate in the Gulf War in 1991, along with the US and 31 other countries which made up the allied coalition, but the Iraq of today is not the same as the Iraq of 1991. Iraq today is not illegally occupying any other country's territory, as it did in 1991. Iraq today has not launched attacks on any other countries as it did in 1991. Iraq military today is not the same as it was in 1991 - and if we as Iraq's neighbors do not feel militarily threatened by Iraq, I don't know why people thousands of miles away would fee that threat.
Additionally, we know we live in a volatile part of the world. There already is a war going on in Afghanistan. There is a war going on between the Palestinians and the Israelis. The last thing we need is a third war in the region. If fighting starts in Iraq, who knows what countries could enter the fray? We could see Iraq's Shiite population try to break off into a separate country (Another Iran?). We could see Iraq's Kurds get into a full scale war with the Turks - they are already having skirmishes. We could find ourselves at the brink of World War Three.
We also have to feel for all the innocent Iraqi women and children would would be casualties in these attacks. It is easy to think of them as collateral damage', when you don't know them. There have already been over a million Iraqis killed through military attacks and starvation as the result of sanctions since 1991.
Finally, we have to ask ourselves why the US is considering an attack on Iraq. It is because Iraq is in violation of United Nations resolutions, and the US wants Iraq to comply with those resolutions or face serious consequences. That is very noble. But there are only two countries in violation of UN resolutions - Iraq, which is in violation of 16, and Israel, which is in violation of over 30. We have seen the US repeatedly bomb Iraq for being in violation of these UN resolutions, without even consulting the UN beforehand, yet not even admonish Israel for its transgressions with the UN. We cannot condone another attack on Iraq with a clear conscience while this double standard continues. Best regards.
Agreed. The key phrase is "Terms of a cease fire that brought a suspention of hostilities."
Yeah, right. The only things these ragheads feel for are their wallets.
This IS the same Iraq that decided to invade a sovereign country to it's east and kick off an 8 year long war that killed hundreds of thousands of people on both sides. (Iran/Iraq war 1980/1988) This is the same Iraq, that only after a year or 2 of peace decided to purge it's border to it's south in a agreegous attempt to rape and absorb a small defenseless country (and even occupied the Saudi city of Kafhji)[Persian Gulf war, 1990-1991].
This is the same Iraq who's people, military leaders, and war planners have not fully realized that they were laughingly defeated and have an obligation to live up to in disarming so as to keep the peace.
If you believe that History is often instructive, a defeated Germany after WW1 never came to grips with their loss fully and their people, war planners and leaders re-armed even while sanctions and war prohibitions were placed upon them. While this is a differant time and a different people, the parallels are are to many to go un-noted.
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Okay. So don't attack. (I mean it's not like you need our permission or anything.)
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