Iraqi Shias angry at Saudi remark on Sunnis

[sabra]

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/focusoniraq/2006/November/focusoniraq_November255.xml§ion=focusoniraq

Iraqi Shias angry at Saudi remark on Sunnis
(AFP)

BAGHDAD - Iraq’s Shiite leaders on Thursday said they were angered by a Saudi Arabian official saying that Riyadh would support the violence-wracked country’s Sunni Arabs in the event of a US pullout.

Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki said: “We will not countenance any language interfering in Iraq on the pretext of defending sects.”

Saudi security expert Nawaf Obaid wrote in Wednesday’s Washington Post that withdrawal of US forces could see Saudi Arabia giving Iraq’s Sunnis funds, arms and supplies to counter Teheran’s alleged support for Iraqi Shiite militias.

...

In the southern holy city of Najaf, Mohammed Al Juburi, secretary general of the Shiite Fadhila party, reacted angrily to the article, saying: “This is a sectarian and un-Islamic statement.”

[acmavm]

1. I bet Maliki is miffed. Especially since he was so busy kissing

Iranian butt yesterday (or whenever).

[alfredo]

2. I'm starting to believe that bush wants the Mideast to

explode into a regional war. Does he believe he is an instrument of God and that he is bringing on Armageddon so Christ will return?

[sam sarrha]

3. what a pot steaming shit * has stirred up.. but maybe that is the plan..

[TechBear_Seattle]

4. While Wahhabis consider both Shia and Sunni to be heretical...

The Saudis have a special hatred for Shi`ites (Wahhabism is the state religion of Saudi Arabia.) The Saudis did not grant the United States permission to build military bases in Saudi Arabia until after the revolution in Iran, and then only with the express requirement that the US help Saudi Arabia fight against the exporting of the revolution to Saudi Arabia's Shi`ite minority.

The comments from the Saudi government come as absolutely no surprise to anyone.

[The Magistrate]

5. People Had Better Get Used To This Sort Of Thing, Sir

The boundary between Iraq and Saudi Arabia is not a natural one, grown out of any geographic feature or ethnic or cultural features: it is simply about where English aeroplanes and armor cars halted ibn Saud's warriors in his last campaign against Feisal. Iraq has been converted into a vacuum, and any number of folks are going to want to be part of the implosion that fills it.

[denverbill]

6. This is going to end up in a war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Iraq can't control the sectarian violence, nor can we. The dominant political force in Iraq is Shiite. If the US pulls out and the Shiites remain in power, violence against the Sunnis is only going to increase. And if Saudi invades to protect the Sunnis, sure as shit Iran will invade to protect the Shiites from the Saudis. Turkey will probably then invade Kurdistan to prevent them from declaring independence. I'm sure Syria won't want to be left out either.

And here we are, the US, supplying arms to the predominantly Shiite Iraqi government, which is more closely allied to our foe, Iran, than our erstwhile friend, the Saudis.

I'm sure glad Bush isn't into 'nation-building' by the US military.