Reply #4: the problem is that it doesn't REALLY benefit the Bush administration.... [View All]

[mike_c]

I think you're right that it possibly benefits them POLITICALLY since it reinforces the political message they've been trumpeting all along: "the U.S. must stay in Iraq," now to prevent the Saudis from being drawn in. But I think you're also right that the Saudis are already in, and their influence is growing. The problem is that the U.S. is largely allied with the Shi'a, or at least with a Shi'ite dominated government-- notwithstanding the rift with Mugtada al-Sadr, which is a big stinkin' turd in the punchbowl.

I think in the short term the Saudis would very much like to see the U.S. send another few tens of thousands of troops to Baghdad to eliminate al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia. However, that still leaves the Sunnis largely shat upon in the new Iraq and the primary instrument of grief for the occupation and the al-Maliki government. U.S. and Saudi objectives are likely to NEVER coincide with respect to the Sunnis as long as the civil war continues. There really is no long term benefit to letting the Saudis dictate foreign policy to us-- it can only end badly, even for the Bush administration.