Saudis Say They Might Back Sunnis if U.S.

[tecumseh]

Saudi Arabia has told the Bush administration that it might provide financial backing to Iraqi Sunnis in any war against Iraq’s Shiites if the United States pulls its troops out of Iraq, according to American and Arab diplomats.

...

The Saudi warning reflects fears among America’s Sunni Arab allies about Iran’s rising influence in Iraq, coupled with Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. King Abdullah II of Jordan has also expressed concern about rising Shiite influence, and about the prospect that the Shiite-dominated government would use Iraqi troops against the Sunni population.

...

Mr. Obaid also suggested that Saudi Arabia could cut world oil prices in half by raising its production, a move that he said “would be devastating to Iran, which is facing economic difficulties even with today’s high oil prices.” The Saudi government disavowed Mr. Obaid’s column, and Prince Turki canceled his contract.

...

Prince Turki said Saudi Arabia did not want Iraq to fracture along ethnic or religious lines. On Monday a group of prominent Saudi clerics called on Sunni Muslims around the world to mobilize against Shiites in Iraq. The statement called the “murder, torture and displacement of Sunnis” an “outrage.”

Link (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/world/middleeast/13saudi.html?hp&ex=1166072400&en=9b8923e7095544b1&ei=5094&partner=homepage)

I think that's the right thing to do incase civil war broke (like it hasn't already) The message shiites are sending on what kind of brutality they're gonna use against sunnis is clear from their latest killing sprees. Saudis are doing the right thing - for once!

[Phalanx]

Are you kidding? Both Shiite and Sunni militia groups continue the violence. Did you forget the 215 dead in Sadr City just a few weeks back? I don't think Shitte militamen would be firing mortars on their own neighborhood.

Of course, the oil tycoons in Houston and Washington are ultimately responsible for the war.

[Guerrilla22]

The House of al-Saud is worried that if the US leaves, then the shiites will gain control, and align with Iran, along with the Shiite dominated corner of Saudi Arabia, to create a powerful Shiite force in the region.

[Phalanx]

Exactly, Saudi Arabia isn't concerned about what's best for the people in Iraq, they're concerned about the growing strength of Iran and the threat to Saudi Arabia's power in the region.

[Severian]

Originally posted by [email protected] 13, 2006 05:04 pm
I think that's the right thing to do incase civil war broke (like it hasn't already) The message shiites are sending on what kind of brutality they're gonna use against sunnis is clear from their latest killing sprees. Saudis are doing the right thing - for once!
the fuck?

Why are you siding with one religious sect against another in the course of a mutual slaughter? That can only play into Washington's divide-and-conquer interests - it certainly doesn't benefit uniting working people across religious divisions (like racism, sexism, and all the divisions produced by the exploiters and their system.)

And plenty of individuals and groups in the Saudi elite are already financing the Sunni insurgency - including "Wahhabi" groups like al-Qaeda in Iraq. Wahhabism and al-Qaeda do originate in Saudi Arabia after all. Probably a certain number of the initial suicide bombing volunteers - who kicked off all this mutual sectarian murder - were Saudi.

May I remind you it was Sunni sectarians who deliberately set out to create this situation by bombing marketplaces and mosques in Shi'a areas. They wanted to push Shi'a sectarians to respond in kind and they succeeded.

And why is Saudi Arabia likely to do this? Because part of their incredibly oppressive setup is massive discrimination against the Shi'a minority in eastern Saudi Arabia.

This possibility is, incidentally, used as one of the arguments against a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. But their presence already isn't keeping forces in different countries from backing the contending sides in the Iraqi civil war.

[Cheung Mo]

Saddam was a lesser (but still great) evil. At least he didn't shoot feminists and homosexuals on the streets like these fucking Islamists do.

[( R )evolution]

Originally posted by Cheung [email protected] 15, 2006 11:41 pm
Saddam was a lesser (but still great) evil. At least he didn't shoot feminists and homosexuals on the streets like these fucking Islamists do.
No he just gassed thousands of people. Saddam was evil but I believe from personal experience (my family lives in Iraq and I have been there before and during the war) that the lives of normal Iraqi's were much better under Saddam. But so-called "honor killings" still occured under Saddam. And it is a "new" thing in that region. It has been known to happen for the past few centuries. And it is not only exculisve to the middle-east or dominatly muslim areas. Look at India. I think women are treated the same or even worse then in muslim areas. Also we must remeber that this is usually a seldom act and there isnt like honor killings every day. Most of the muslims I know (my family inculded) know that honor killings are idiotic. There are just some few crazy ass idotic muslims who do these honor killings.

[Severian]

Originally posted by Cheung [email protected] 15, 2006 05:41 pm
Saddam was a lesser (but still great) evil. At least he didn't shoot feminists and homosexuals on the streets like these fucking Islamists do.
What's the purpose of even arguing about this? It's neither possible nor desirable to rewind time and bring back the old regime.

And proposing some new bourgeois dictatorship is certainly not the way forward in Iraq.

[kingbee]

Why are you siding with one religious sect against another in the course of a mutual slaughter? That can only play into Washington's divide-and-conquer interests - it certainly doesn't benefit uniting working people across religious divisions (like racism, sexism, and all the divisions produced by the exploiters and their system.)

I do sometimes wonder if people are here due to political and social views (socialism/communism) or whether it's due to hatred (of America).

I don't believe that Saudi supporting the Sunnis is going to help the matter, and therefore I don't support it, but this is realpolitik. We should have seen it coming: all states will act in their own interests.

[Noah]

And proposing some new bourgeois dictatorship is certainly not the way forward in Iraq.

What is the way forward?

Iraq is fucked up, I don't see a solution.

[shadowed by the secret police]

If the Saudis financially back the Sunni insurgency they will go bankrupt and their kingdom will fall. To fund the Sunni is like pouring money into a black hole.

[kingbee]

If the Saudis financially back the Sunni insurgency they will go bankrupt and their kingdom will fall

Haven't they got shitloads of money though?

[( R )evolution]

Originally posted by shadowed by the secret [email protected] 17, 2006 06:17 pm
If the Saudis financially back the Sunni insurgency they will go bankrupt and their kingdom will fall. To fund the Sunni is like pouring money into a black hole.
Sorry mate but the Saudi royal family and ruling class has billions of dollars. They waste money left and right. They will probally never go bankrupt untill the oil runs out. Saudi Arabians are some rich mutha fuckers.

[Comrade_Scott]

the right thing to do was not to invade Iraq... anyway i dont back it because if the saudis do so and the sunnis win then hey we have annother saudi state/ american arm in the middle east and that means more shit for the world.... as much as it pains me to say it iraq is screwd and is on the verge of becoming the next afganistan (when the taliban was in power) a fucked up state run by people who deprive half the population of even the basic needs and keps barefoot and pregnant

[Severian]

Originally posted by Noah(pbuh)@December 17, 2006 11:34 am

And proposing some new bourgeois dictatorship is certainly not the way forward in Iraq.

What is the way forward?

Iraq is fucked up, I don't see a solution.
I hear ya, and I don't claim to have all the answers or anything. I mean, it's class unity across the sectarian divide, but I don't claim to know some magic solution that'll produce it.

I do think the actions by workers' organizations, like some of the unemployed demonstrations, point in the right direction. In some neighborhoods there have been armed self-defense efforts that involve both Sunnis and Shi'a.

[Vargha Poralli]

Saudi Arabians are some rich mutha fuckers.

That is seriously a stupid way of speaking man. Not every single person in Saudi Arabia is rich. You sound really like an Right wing idiot. If every body had been rich then the Whole 9/11 thing would have never happened.