We're in Iraq because Saudi Arabia wants us there or else

[Gman]

Raw Story has this story up right now:

CNN: US alliance with brutal Sunni militias 'ugly but effective'

CNN on Thursday showed graphic footage of a pro-US Sunni militiaman beating and threatening to kill a suspected al-Qaeda member and of another al-Qaeda member being executed by a militia group.

"In Anbar Province," President Bush recently boasted, "Sunni tribes that were once fighting alongside al-Qaeda against our coalition are now fighting alongside our coalition against al-Qaeda. We're working to replicate the success in Anbar in other parts of the country."

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/CNN_Militias_brutal_violence_downside_to_0720.html

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Remember last Thanksgiving when Cheney got called to Saudi Arabia, a Sunni country, and got his own colonoscopy from the King? Here's CNN's coverage of the trip last November:

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has warned Vice President Dick Cheney that Saudi Arabia would back the Sunnis if the United States pulls out of Iraq, according to a senior American official.

The official said the king "read the riot act" to the vice president when the two met last month in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

The New York Times first reported the conversation Wednesday, saying Saudi support would include financial backing for minority Sunnis in the event of a civil war between them and Iraq's Shiite majority.

Asked about the meeting, a senior Saudi official -- who spoke on condition he not be named -- ruled out using terminology such as "warning" or "threatening." He said, "I believe the Saudi position was clear, that things might deteriorate or drift in Iraq, and then the kingdom will find itself forced to interfere."

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/12/13/saudi.sunnis/index.html

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So low and behold, look who we've got on our side: Saddam's old buddies, the Sunnis who are funded by Saudi Arabia to kill Shiites. And Bush and Cheney can't get out even if we want to because of threats from Saudi Arabia to whom they are beholden big time.

It's time for the Democrats to take control of the war in Iraq away from the country that financed 9/11, Saudi Arabia.

[KansDem]

1. Why we didn't go into Saudi Arabia after 9/11 is beyond me...

SA provided 75% of the attackers that day. And many of the "insurgents" in Iraq today have crossed over the border from SA.

There should have been a second noose on Saddam's gallows...

[TwilightGardener]

2. Disagree--

Saudi Arabia recently said we were illegal occupiers of Iraq. That doesn't sound like support for our staying, does it?

[Gman]

3. I hadn't heard that

but maybe that was for local consumption as SA is always on the edge of an Islamic revolution. But that doesn't square with the reaming (to use the meme for the day) Cheney got last Thanksgiving.

[TwilightGardener]

4. I didn't know it either, but apparently it's known internationally--

I just read it today in a UPI article about a speech my Senator (Hagel) made, where he mentions that. Unless he's wrong, but he is on the Foreign Relations Committee, so I doubt it. It's kind of big news, though, that they disagree with our Iraq occupation--makes you wonder why so many foreign fighters are coming in from Saudi--are they trying to hasten our leaving? Anyway, excerpt and link:

"But the core of the problem is that you can't help a country that simply doesn't believe in you. "The Iraqis don't trust us. Seventy percent of Iraqis see us as occupiers," Hagel said. "That means we've undermined our own ability to influence the outcome. The King of Saudi Arabia, who has been a strong ally, two months ago referred to our presence there as an illegitimate occupation."

http://www.upi.com/Security_Terrorism/Analysis/2007/07/20/analysis_hagel_wants_un_to_solve_iraq/5364/

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

5. They are the REAL enemy

This article only makes me more upset at how these fuckers laugh in our face, get away with the fact most of those involved with 9/11 were from their country and send us a bill in the form of high priced oil.

[Whoa_Nelly]

7. And the US sells arms to SA

These are just the figures through 1999. Am sure there is even more up-to-date info out there in cyberspace. It's all very dirty business.


http://www.fas.org/asmp/profiles/saudi_arabia.htm

<snip>
Saudi Arabia is America’s top customer. Since 1990, the U.S. government, through the Pentagon’s arms export program, has arranged for the delivery of more than $39.6 billion in foreign military sales to Saudi Arabia, and an additional $394 million worth of arms were delivered to the Saudi regime through the State Department’s direct commercial sales program during that same period. (Foreign Military and Construction Sales and Direct Commercial Sales are recorded and published by the Dept. of Defense in Foreign Military Sales, Foreign Military Construction Sales and Military Assistance Facts; the most current online edition includes information through FY 1999.)

Oil rich Saudi Arabia is a cash-paying customer. It receives no U.S. military assistance to finance these purchases, although it does demand that about 35 percent of all major contracts be "offset"-that is, economic benefits equaling 35 percent of the arms contract value must be steered back to the Saudi economy. (Check out the Offsets Monitoring Project for more information on this phenomenon.)

The United States has very close and long-running military ties to the Saudi regime dating back to 1945. Following the 1990-91 war against Iraq, more than 5,000 U.S. troops and thousands of U.S. military contractors have been continuously based in Saudi Arabia. However, several concerns have been raised about this close military cooperation and the related sales of sophisticated arms. These concerns are:

* sophisticated arms sales to Saudi Arabia spurring regional arms races
* high level military expenditures undermining stability
* opposition to American military presence on Saudi soil
* political repression and violations of human rights
* border disputes and regional tension
* concerns about proliferation of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles
* support for international terrorism

(The above asterisked subgroups are links at the page link)

...more re: SA and US at main page link

[shance]

6. It's time to stop blaming. To continue to scapegoat Saudia Arabia, for all their flaws, is absurd.

Americans need to look more honestly at who we fund the most money to - it's not Saudi Arabia.

It may be more convenient to continue and scapegoat those in Saudi Arabia, but that doesn't make it the truth, it will never make it the truth, and it doesnt help Americans at large to accept mistruths and blame those who are not the core offenders, which would happen to begin with those in our own White House and capital.