Keith, I agree that there is a struggle going on in the Bush administration. Even though 'W' is not a match for the brain power surrounding him, you have to remember that his background and wealth is in and from oil and he probably has a much warmer feeling for Saudi money than anyone else there.
Bill On Mon, 12 Aug 2002 16:04:12 +0100 Keith Hudson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Bill, > > At 09:08 12/08/02 -0400, you wrote: > >Keith, > > > >While the scenarios you mention may all occur, I feel that you are > >imputing too much logic to the Bush contingent. My guess is that > they are > >simply trying to put the squeeze on Sa'ud and trying to help out a > few > >Congress people for the November elections. I bet you will see a > change > >in the polemics once the elections are over. > > I hardly think so. The Saudis have been a thorn in the flesh of the > Americans for too many years. For example, as swing producer in > OPEC, SA > has been able to manipulate oil prices for the last 20 years. Also, > what > about the many American deaths in recent years organised by > terrorists paid > for and organised out of SA? The authorities made no attempt to > arrest the > network even though they must know exactly who they are. (In the > case of > the most recent bombing, the Saudis have arrested a few Englishmen > as > terrorists even though all that they appear to have done is to > organise a > little whiskey smuggling!) The most the Saudis have done was to > banish > Osama bin Laden, but they didn't stop huge quantities of funds > being > funnelled to him from SA. > > In diplomatic terms, America has been treated with something akin to > open > contempt by the Saudis in the last 20 years but haven't responded in > a > heavy-handed way because of the importance of oil supplies to the US > and > Europe. But 11 September finally pushed America too far. (The ploy > of > somehow making Saddam Hussein the scapegoat must have been the > personal > contribution of Bush senior!) > > As for the logic of the Bush contingent I'll grant you that the > President > himself is not over-endowed in the greymatter department, but the > people > behind him (such as Wolfowitz) are certainly very bright kiddies > indeed. > I'm not normally a conspiracy-theory supporter but my guess is that > the > Carlyle group, Bush senior, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Perle and specialist > advisors > in the State department (and a few progressive Saudi Arabians) have > been > thinking about the Islamic fundamentalist problem intensely for two > or > three years now given the state of King Fahd's health. 11 September > catalysed their ideas. > > You may be right but I'd lay odds of 10:1 on that my scenario is > going to > be nearer the mark. The polemics can't simply change on Bush's > say-so > because the underlying problems will still be there. By the time > the > November elections come along, I think Gulf War II will have > already > started and getting into its stride. (And by this I mean a much > wider > affair than merely anti-Iraq. ) . > > Keith > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- > -------------- > > Keith Hudson,6 Upper Camden Place, Bath BA1 5HX, England > Tel:01225 312622/444881; Fax:01225 447727; E-mail: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > ________________________________________________________________________ > ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/.
