I was on my way to get a bite to eat today, and I heard a guy ask “How about Saudi? They’re not exactly champions of personal freedoms.”
I was hungry, so I didn’t linger. But he’s right. Dissent in that country is not warmly accepted by the ruling regime.
Operation Saudi Freedom has a nice ring to it. Right? After all, Syria’s going to back off just enough to avoid real hostilities, and Iran’s going to flop completely and become an ally. They’ll want what Iraq has. Gotta get rid of that Ayatollah, though.
Peace,
mangeorge
Let me repeat, we are not in the liberation business. Operation Iraqi Freedom is a PR name. The liberation of Iraq was a happy, secondary benefit of dealing w/ a regime that our adminisatration considered a direct threat to the security of the US. If S.A. fits that bill (and they might), then there’s something to talk about. Liberation, in and of itself, is not sufficient even for "war-monger Bush.
If you think that the calls of “War Against Islam” is loud due to the war in Iraq, How loud do you think it would be if the US invaded the land of the 2 Holy Mosques? That would set off the militants world wide.
I do see your point(s), John Mace, but I’m not fully convinced that the administration really did consider Saddam a direct threat to the security of the US. But maybe that’s a different question.
Maybe I should do a little more research before I compare Saudi and Iraq. Most of my information comes from biased sources.
George: What do you think Bush’s motive for war was? I’m not very keen on conspiracy theories, so if it’s “we want their oil”, then I’ll just say that we disagree and leave it at that. For me, I’m willing to take Bush at his word that he (along with Powell, others in the adminstration, and a good number of Democratics in Congress) had enough evidence to consider Iraq a threat to the US.
Maybe they do have the evidence. I’m still waiting. They went specifically after Saddam, who I never saw as much of a threat. Kuwait, though, sure felt threatened. Isn’t it possible that they “framed” Saddam? It wouldn’t have taken much. Those guys were pretty embarassed about our history with Iraq.
And there is that oil, back there with the “other good things”. But that probably is just spoils.
Funny you should mention Saudi Arabia.
Thanks, JonScribe, for getting this back on topic. Lissa’s link (over there) fit’s in here nicely. That’s the kind of info I’m used to about the relationship between the US and Saudi Arabia, and upon which I base my opinion.