SAUDI ARABIA HAS NEVER BEEN OUR FRIEND

Everyone is flabbergasted because the Saudis just murdered an American citizen.   How many times do you have to take a blow to the head before you realize that the person hitting you is not your friend?

Saudi business men financially supported Osama bin Laden – himself a Saudi.   Fifteen of the nineteen hijackers that attacked us on 9-11 were Saudis.    Saudi Arabia is a fundamentalist religious nation that allows public beheadings and stoning of unfaithful wives. 

The idea that Saudis uphold our ideals in the Middle East and therefore are our allies is a Faustian bargain.    

I know the Bushes love them because of the oil connection; but it makes you wonder what other influences they have cultivated that have allowed the U.S. to look the other way?

the Ol’Buzzard

AND THEN ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE

Richard Engle, NBC’s Chief Foreign Correspondent who has covered the Middle East for the past twenty years, has just put out a book titled:

AND THEN ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE,

This is a must read book for anyone wishing to understand the complex issues of the Muslim world that seriously affect the rest of the global community. 

Engle begins with a history of the Middle East and the factors that have led to the religious fanaticism that has co-opted the Muslim faith.  

He accounts a fascinating story of his own immersion into the Arab culture; and reveals his understanding of the political, social and religious beliefs driving the violence of today’s complex and diverse Middle Eastern Muslim societies.

Usually when I am reading at night my mind will start to blank out and I know it is bed time.  I started Engle’s book and had to force myself to lay it down and go to bed at midnight.  

Again; a must read to be intelligently informed on a part of the world that is holding hostage, with a threat of violence, all free thinking people. 

the Ol’Buzzard 

SUNNI vs SHIITES

Shiites and Sunni have been at war for the past fourteen hundred years, but for the last fifteen years the United States (motivated by oil interest) has inserted itself into the fray; and in the process destabilized the entire Middle East. 

CBS Sunday Morning gave a quick overview of the religious/ geopolitical factions involved and the crazy alliances the US has committed itself. 

  

This is a Religious Civil War that needs to happen; but we cannot extract ourselves, because our commitment is not to one side or the other - but to oil.

It doesn't have to make sense: it is Religion. '
the Ol'Buzzard

DAMNED IF YOU DO AND DAMNED IF YOU DON’T

The President spoke about the United States’ obligation to respond to the threat posed by ISIL.   The fact is – there is no good option.   The Middle East is a quagmire of religious strife.   Regardless of what the US does; how many military die; how much it cost; there is no good, lasting solution.  The Sunni and Shia Muslims have been at blood war for over a thousand years, and nothing the US can do will change that.

Colon Powell told the Bush administration that ‘if we break it we will own it.’   And, we broke it.

Saddam Hussein maintained a balance of power throughout the Middle East and when the US invaded Iraq and removed Saddam it unleashed the sand storm of ethnic violence.

  

Even though we were the initial cause of the problem with our Nation Building, defeating ISIL should not be our responsibility.   The neighboring Shiite countries endangered by ISIL have the primary responsibility to band together and confront their mutual enemy.  But it is not likely they will act when they can wait on the United States to step in and expend its wealth and manpower to confront their enemy? 

The US has no loyal allies in the Middle East.   No Muslim country will align itself with what, in the Middle East, is viewed as a Christian nation and the Great Satan.  They will gladly accept foreign aid and military aid, but they can never be counted on as a staunch ally.

Saudi Arabia is a perfect example.    They overtly align themselves with the US.   Saudis work with the US to stabilize oil prices; they depend on the US to protect oil shipments in the Persian Gulf; they hold major investments in US companies; they have the fourth largest group of international students studying in the United States; many of their military officers are trained in the United States; and they have made huge purchase of high tech US military equipment.

 

 In return Saudi Arabia has opposed the State of Israel; they have joined in oil embargoes against the US; they opposed the invasion of Iraq; 15 of the 19 hijackers that attacked the Twin Towers were Saudis; and, according to the US State Department wealthy Saudi donors constitute the most significant source of funding for Sunni terrorist groups – including ISIL.

 

We must ask ourselves: Does ISIL pose a threat to the United States?  And the answer, of course, is ambiguous: ISLIL does not pose an immediate threat to the United States, but may in the future; however, it poses a present and immediate threat to the surrounding Shia nations in the Middle East – yet they choose not to act militarily.

So what do we do?   We are damned if we do and damned if we don’t.

the Ol’Buzzard