Posted on 10/25/2001 10:18:45 AM PDT by traditionalist
ABU DHABI – For the first time, Saudi Arabia, under heavy criticism for its support of Osama bin Laden, has hinted that Iraq could be involved in the Islamic suicide attacks on New York and the Pentagon, according to the intelligence news service Geostrategy-Direct.com.
Saudi Arabia continues to be split over how to respond to heavy criticism for its support of Osama bin Laden. Now Saudi officials are privately suggesting that a Middle East power, probably Iraq, was behind the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. The officials have not named Iraq or its president, Saddam Hussein, publicly, according to the report.
Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz broke Riyad's silence on the identities of the attackers and their sponsors. Sultan is regarded as the most pro-American figure in the Saudi leadership.
"Therefore, the big question arises: Who stands behind this terrorism and who carried out this complicated and carefully planned terrorist operation?" Prince Sultan asked in an interview with the Kuwaiti-based A-Siyassi daily. "Osama bin Laden and those with him have said what indicates that they stand behind this carefully planned act. We, in turn, ask: Are bin Laden and his supporters the only ones behind what happened, or is there another power with advanced technical expertise that acted with them?"
Saudi allies in the Gulf region, particularly Kuwait and Oman, are also trying to divert attention toward Iraq. Officials in those countries are publicly calling on Iraq to allow United Nations teams to inspect the country for weapons of mass destruction.
Sultan is engaged in a struggle for succession as King Fahd's health continues to decline. The defense minister's rival for the throne is his half-brother, Crown Prince Abdullah. Abdullah's ally is said to be Interior Minister Prince Nayef, who rejected any Saudi link to bin Laden.
"Saudi Arabia has never helped any terrorist activity," Nayef said. "If anybody has evidence [to the contrary], let him produce it."
The statement by the defense minister came hours before the arrival of German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer to Riyadh. Fischer met Saudi leaders to discuss the war in Afghanistan as well as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Saudi authorities are said to have moved to stem anti-U.S. unrest in the kingdom, arresting suspected Islamic insurgents and issuing a warning to clerics to avoid statements that could exacerbate tensions linked to the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.
"Saudi internal security is in good shape," Prince Sultan said. "The kingdom enjoys a distinguished history of security and stability."
Saudi Arabia has pledged to support the U.S.-led war against terrorism. But Saudi leaders, particularly Abdullah, are said to have refused to share intelligence information on bin Laden or to freeze his assets.
It makes the fundamentalists happy, it keeps them in power, and that leaves us with minor bases in Bahrain and Kuwait.
Really, and upon what are you basing this "fact?"
It makes the fundamentalists happy, it keeps them in power, and that leaves us with minor bases in Bahrain and Kuwait.
So, no Iraq, and as you say we have no need to be there. So we take our toys and come home, or move them somewhere else they are needed. Operating in Southwest Asia, along with the Balkans, where we aren't really needed either, is eating up our operations and maintence budgets, leaving none for training to fight some real and more capable adversary, like China for example. But only for example, you never know what threats might arise.
He was looking for food and medicine for those 500,000 children who were dying back in Iraq.
Remember the valley of death? Where all the trucks and cars full of loot were trapped and destroyed?
Well, all those destroyed vehicles were full of Baby Milk, diapers, toddler food, baby aspirin...
Thursday, October 19, 2000
Turkish officials and a group of sponsors, made up mostly of representatives from a consortium developing three Caspian oilfields, signed the host government agreement, the key project agreement and treasury guarantee document.
Gokhan Yardim, head of Turkey's gas and oil pipeline concern Botas, said the accords were the legal framework for the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline, scheduled to be completed by 2004 and eventually carry one million barrels per day (bpd).
"Now that the legal background is ready, we can go ahead with the physical laying of the pipeline," he told Reuters before the deals were signed. the sponsor group, which signed similar accords with Azerbaijan and Georgia earlier this week, has formed the Main Export Pipeline Company (MEPCO), led by Azeri state oil company SOCAR with a 50 percent share. Other members are BP (BPA.L) with 25.41 percent stake, Unocal (UCL.N) 7.48 percent, Norway's Statoil (STAT.UL) 6.37 percent, Turkish Petroleum (TPAO) 5.02 percent, Japan's Itochu (8001.T) 2.92 percent, Britain's RamCo (ROS.L) 1.55 percent, Delta Hess (AHC.N) 1.25 percent.
The host government agreement allows the 1,730 km (1,074 miles) pipeline to pass through Turkey and offers tax breaks and other incentives to builders of the pipeline. The Turkish treasury, already under the burden of some $150 billion of domestic and foreign debt, pledges to guarantee $300 million in case the Turkish section exceeds the $1.3 billion price tag proposed in the feasibility project. John Wolf, U.S. President Bill Clinton's advisor on Caspian energy, said at the ceremony the Overseas Private
Investment Corp (OPIC), Ex-Im Bank and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency were ready to provide finances and U.S. goods and services for the pipeline. (Reuters)
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