Posted on 09/10/2001 6:17:58 PM PDT by witnesstothefall
RIYADH, Sept 10 (AFP) - Gulf heavyweight Saudi Arabia's exasperation with its close ally the United States over Israeli policy has erupted with a decision to cancel a trip to Washington by the army chief of staff.
King Fahd on Monday called on the international community, led by the United States, to play a role in ending Israel's violence against the Palestinians, which he said were "unprecedented in history."
"The international community must assume its responsibilities in putting an end to Israeli extremism," the Saudi monarch told his weekly cabinet meeting.
Saudi Arabia, Washington's major ally in the crucial Gulf region, has become increasingly critical of US policy in the Middle East.
Last week Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal called for the United States to shoulder its responsibilities to curb Israeli "aggression" against the Palestinians.
Then on Sunday a Western diplomat here said General Salah al-Muhaya had called off a planned visit to protest "US policy on the continuing Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people."
Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, had in May turned down an invitation to the White House, also in protest against Washington's "pro-Israel" policy.
The state-guided Saudi press Monday slammed the administration of President George W. Bush for failing to take action to stop Israeli attacks against the Palestinians.
"Washington does not appear to be sufficiently concerned by the deteriorating situation, which suggests that it is blessing Israel's increasingly aggressive behavior," Al-Jazeera said in an editorial.
The paper said Washington's silence was no longer acceptable, "unless (the approves of the collective killings of the Palestinians."
Al-Riyadh warned the United States and the West in general of the consequences of their support of the "Zionists."
"America and the West provide material, political and military support to the Zionists, because (they believe) there is no threat to their interests in the Arab world," it said in a front-page editorial.
Al-Riyadh, which like other Saudi papers reflects the official view, implicitly called on Arab countries to take retaliatory measures against the United States, which has huge interests in the region, especially in the Gulf states.
"Latent Arab forces that are observing the situation" might react in an unpredictable way if Arab inaction persists at the official level, the daily warned, alluding to Islamist groups.
Saudi officials said that chief-of-staff Muhaya had already boycotted a Saudi-US military cooperation commission meeting which had been due to convene in the US capital two weeks ago.
The Saudi-owned pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat Monday quoted officials saying Muhaya stayed away from the meeting even though he had been vacationing in Washington with his family a few days before it was due to be held.
Saudi officials cited Muhaya's busy schedule when the United States tried to set a new date for the meeting, saying his engagements prevented him from going to Washington, the London-based paper said.
Oh yes. Far worse than the 6 million who died in Germany. What drama queens, what anti-Semites they are. Big whiners.
2) The goat-humping camel jockeys will do NOTHING.
They are in debt up to their nads and own more stocks than all Freepers combined by at least 3 full orders of magnitude.
They are the last people in the world in whose interest it would be to trash the global economy by jacking oil prices.
They are posturing for their own domestic yahoos.
According to Michael O'Hanlon, a military analyst at the Brookings Institution, the total cost of maintaining the United States force in the gulf is at least $50 billion per year.
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Exactly. The House of Saud is not the keystone of stability often thought. Their own people are becoming increasingly radicalized politically and religiously. Many of the most deadly terrorist attacks on US personnel over the past few years have been by radical Saudis.
The sands are shifting all over the Middle East. The royal family has to walk an increasingly thin line and may be forced to 'punish' us further (OPEC has been jacking us for 2 or 3 years now, haven't you noticed).
Between a neoMarxist (to call a spade a spade) Venezuela and a Middle East sliding into war, our SUV's are going to get parked before too long.
Oh, and there's the outside chance a real war could break out, and then see if OPEC will do nothing.The Saudi's can bomb Baghdad to smithereens and more with their other numerous 'friends' of oil if push came to shove. And besides, the U.S. would never allow Saddam to march into the Peninsula, whether the Saudis were friends or not.
The Saudi newspaper editors either knew something or are slapping themselves on the back for their timely insights.
And, suddenly, the events on Tuesday made all of this posturing absolutely irrelevant.
And the Palestinian position has been made even worse. Yassir Arafat was one of the big losers on Tuesday...
and salaries to the sailors ( who get paid no matter where they are).
This isn't any additional expense and in fact they would be in the general region anyway, keeping the oil lanes open.
Perhaps after Afghanistan, Saudi would be a great place to park our troops and establish a democracy.
Perhaps they would be doing us a favor.
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