Posted on 01/14/2002 4:21:08 AM PST by vrwc54
Edited on 04/13/2004 2:07:16 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
FOR THANKSGIVING in 1990, former President George H.W. Bush went to Saudi Arabia to visit the 400,000 American soldiers stationed there as part of Operation Desert Shield. The Saudis welcomed Bush, but made it clear that no Christian worship - including grace before the Thanksgiving meal - would be permitted on Saudi soil. It was a shocking insult, but the Americans didn't protest. Instead, the president and his party went aboard a US ship in the Persian Gulf and said their prayers there.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
In that case, the clerics and fundamentalists would be wiped out, probably with our help, and we could then return the fields to the Saudis.
The foreign criticism would be minimal, and the outcome quite positive.
It almost makes you hope for an attempted overthrow of the Saudi rulers, doesn't it?
I think it would be a hell of a lot easier than many suspect. Who do you think run the wells and extract the oil now? Imported contract workers--most of the roughnecks are Filipinos--supervised by American engineers employed by ARAMCO. The Saudis themselves only claim the land and count the money. Seizing the oilfields wouldn't be that difficult. The Filipino workers, by the way, would probably regard a US takeover as a positive thing, since the Saudis treat them like animals.
And if it wasn't?
I think the whole problem stems from the same acquiesence to the Saudi Royal family that has been notorious since the days of Kissinger's deal-making. If it is found to be clear that the family is being extorted into building [terrorist-training] madrasses worldwide by the likes of OBL and others, I think then they do not deserve the time of day.
The U.S. has meade enough concessions to those who openly spread terror. Guiliani was right to refuse them and the Saudi Royal family is wrong to try to spin Sep. 11th as at its roots caused by the U.S.
The inability to completely deal with the problem means that it will grow and matasticize later.
It does if you kill all the people who hate you.
L
Anyway, Jacoby's on the money with the Saudis. He understands...
And what do the Saudi princes do with their wealth, besides financing luxurious lifestyles for themselves? They spend it to keep themselves in power by buying off their country's Wahhabi religious establishment so that it will keep a lid on the discontent that seethes throughout the kingdom. And the more money they have poured into the Wahhabis' coffers, the more they have undermined world peace and menaced the United States.
Wahhabism - radical fundamentalist Islam - is the established creed of Saudi Arabia. It is intolerant and totalitarian, and its influence is felt across Saudi society. "Anti-Western and Extremist Views Pervade Saudi Schools," read the headline on a New York Times report last fall. And not only schools: Islamic supremacism and loathing of "infidels" permeates the mosques, many government ministries, and much of the media.
Wahhabism - radical fundamentalist Islam - is the established creed of Saudi Arabia. It is intolerant and totalitarian, and its influence is felt across Saudi society. "Anti-Western and Extremist Views Pervade Saudi Schools," read the headline on a New York Times report last fall. And not only schools: Islamic supremacism and loathing of "infidels" permeates the mosques, many government ministries, and much of the media.
Wahhabiism is not the established creed of SA as much as its the established creed of the House of Saud. This is what Jacoby appears to miss. The ruling house set itself up as the Home Team of Mecca and kept its internal critics and opposition at bay by fostering the most complete Theocracy though this muslim branch and now they have to Ride the Dragon for better or worse.
They aren't "buying off" the populace; they are its Theocratic Engine of Western Oil Dollar Exploitation.
Keep our distance and watch political Gravity work.
This is the technique used by the Muslim/Arabprop Tag Team and their useful idiots. Change the subject or pick at nits.
How about addressing the subject of the article?
Is our relationship wit the Saudis dysfunctional?
And if it is, what should the U.S. do about it?
OK Einstein.
How about those who kill Americans? What should be done about them?
I dont think they ever evolved beyond the stone age.
Something a fourth-grader could figure out given the facts:
Terrorists killed almost 3000 Americans.
Oil revenue has been used to fund that terrorism.
Saudi Arabia has been and is the biggest contributor to that terrorism funding.
If the Saudis did not fund terrorism, Americans would not care what they did with their revenue.
This is not about wanting to take over the oil fields.
("Nationalize" is the wrong word to use here, by the way)
It's not rocket science.
As John Adams said "Liberty can not be preserved without general knowledge among people." (August 1765)
Here stands its Government, aware of its might but obedient to its conscience. Here it will continue to stand, seeking peace and prosperity, solicitous for the welfare of the wage earner, promoting enterprise, developing waterways and natural resources, attentive to the intuitive counsel of womanhood, encouraging education, desiring the advancement of religion, supporting the cause of justice and honor among the nations. America seeks no earthly empire built on blood and force. No ambition, no temptation, lures her to thought of foreign dominions. ----Calvin Coolidge
How times have changed as the citizens of the new Rome stand in ignorance, thumbs pointed downward, shouting USA, USA. Rabid dogs barking for war.
I disagree. It seems there are many who demand war who have never served and would never serve. When they are willing to put there own lives or that of their own children on the line I will have some respect for them. "What's the use of this wonderful military if we can't use it?" said Hag Albright.
And yes, the relationship with the Saudis is dysfunctional. We should get our military (whom the Saudis regard as mercenaries, according to AF officers reported in Aviation Week) the hell out.
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