Sunday, November 26, 2006

Uhhhhh, Hang On A Minute Here...

In the analysis of Dick Cheney's short visit to Riyadh today, comes this administration-planted tidbit:
With Iraq on the brink of all-out civil war, the Bush administration has begun a new push to break the cycle of violence by enlisting the help of moderate Arab nations while also tackling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In what is shaping up to be a crisis summit, President George W. Bush will meet Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Jordan on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss the security situation in Iraq.

The United States wants Saudi Arabia to use its influence with Iraq's Sunni minority to help stabilize the country after more 200 people were killed in a Shi'ite stronghold near Baghdad on Thursday in the worst single attack since Saddam Hussein was overthrown in April 2003.
(emphases added)

One wonders how the Saudis were suddenly considered "moderate"...
The hijackers aboard American Airlines Flight 11 were reported to be:

Mohamed Atta (Egyptian)
Waleed al-Shehri (Saudi Arabian)
Wail al-Shehri (Saudi Arabian)
Abdulaziz al-Omari (Saudi Arabian)
Satam al-Suqami (Saudi Arabian)

Mohammed Atta is believed to have flown Flight 11 into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

Aboard United Airlines Flight 175 the hijackers were reported to be:

Marwan al-Shehhi (from the United Arab Emirates)
Fayez Banihammad (from the United Arab Emirates)
Mohand al-Shehri (Saudi Arabian)
Hamza al-Ghamdi (Saudi Arabian)
Ahmed al-Ghamdi (Saudi Arabian)

Marwan al-Shehhi is believed to have flown Flight 175 into the South Tower.

The hijackers aboard American Airlines Flight 77 were reported to be:

Hani Hanjour (Saudi Arabian)
Khalid al-Mihdhar (Saudi Arabian)
Majed Moqed (Saudi Arabian)
Nawaf al-Hazmi (Saudi Arabian)
Salem al-Hazmi (Saudi Arabian)

Hani Hanjour is believed to have flown Flight 77 into the Pentagon.

The hijackers aboard United Airlines Flight 93 were reported to be:

Ziad Jarrah (Lebanese)
Ahmed al-Haznawi (Saudi Arabian)
Ahmed al-Nami (Saudi Arabian)
Saeed al-Ghamdi (Saudi Arabian)

Ziad Jarrah is believed to have crashed Flight 93 into the Pennsylvania countryside to prevent or end an assault by the passengers.
It seems to me that an overwhelming number of the Muslim Arabs that hate the United States, hate the government for supporting the sheiks of the Saud family, are in fact Saudi Arabians.

And since there's a deft little sleight-of-hand game going on here...those sheiks, in order to keep peace internally, fund the various terror organizations and the "minor league" madrassahs within its borders. Meaning that Saudis are directly and indirectly responsible for funding the insurgency in Iraq which has blown up into full-scale civil war that has emboiled and is bankrupting the United States, nominally the Saudis strongest ally.

Time and time again, we've seen where "moderate" Saudi Arabia has played us like a bad violin for their own purposes, to the detriment of both US power and prestige worldwide.

I think it's time to change the fiddler.