Kingdom Won’t Send Troops to Iraq: Khaled

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=32706&d=28&m=9&y=2003

JEDDAH, 28 September 2003 — Saudi Arabia reiterated yesterday that it would not send any peacekeeping forces to Iraq, and said such troop deployment would not serve the interests of either country.

“The presence of Saudi forces in Iraq would not be in the interests of either country and we are not thinking of it (deployment of troops),” Prince Khaled ibn Sultan, assistant minister of defense and aviation for military affairs, told Okaz daily.

Prince Khaled said the deployment of troops in Iraq by its neighbors would not serve anyone’s interest. “I am saying this based on my expertise as a (former) commander of joint forces.”

He said he was against Saudi Arabia sending troops to Iraq even if the UN Security Council passes a resolution to deploy a multinational force. “This is my personal opinion,” he told the Arabic newspaper.

AFP adds from Washington: US administrator of Iraq, Paul Bremer, said the war reparation payments Iraq owes to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia for losses inflicted in the 1991 Gulf War should be re-examined in the light of Iraq’s poverty and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

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[sspiderjohn]

1. Sounds like good news -- but admittedly I don't understand the Saudis.

nm

[KharmaTrain]

2. Some Friends, Eh?

If anyone who gains the most of filling the "Saddam" vacuum...it's the Saudis (looks like the Wahabi fundies already know that)...who should have been showering money (or at least backchanneling it) along with nudging their fellow Arabs to come up with some "Arab Solution" to Iraq (they seem to have solutions to everything else).

Instead, we beat a hasty retreat out of Saudi Arabia as soon as the Iraqi Oil fields were grabbed and our welcome in Kuwait is wearing real thin. And this is how grateful friend act?

The ability of this regime to look the opposite way or try to double-talk on their support for these autocratic regimes that persecute their people as much as Saddam did (women even worse)and have sanctioned the Anti-American and Anti-Jewish rhetoric that is interwoven into every fanatical Islamic group.

Saudi Arabia is starting to look more and more like 1978 Iran to me all the time. Remember, Jimmy Carter stood with the Shah on New Years despite the growing undercurrent of fundamentalist rebellion. These Saudi princes...especially the small bald-headed one that makes my skin scrawl...keep telling us how they're cooperating and ready to root out terror and please keep taking their money...yet where are they in helping manchild out of his growing mess?

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

3. They own Dubya anyway...

Or at least have a good down payment on what he claims is a soul. They seem to be flexing their muscles a bit.

[KharmaTrain]

4. Makes Ya Wonder

What could someone have on this family that would let them get away with all this crap...and then have the Bush family provide pronto jet service out of the country right after 9/11. There's gotta be some real good juice in this red meat.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

5. Wouldn't you like to be a fly on the wall....

You betcha.

[leesa]

6. I don't know...were they involved in the start of this mess?

I would like to know why there aren't any Israeli troops being offered. They were great cheerleaders for invading Iraq.

[scarletwoman]

7. Oh right -- the IDF in Iraq

That would go over REAL well! :eyes:

sw