Leaked Cables: Saudi Arabia urges US attack on Iran to stop nuclear programme

[Turborama]

Source: The Guardian

• Embassy cables show Arab allies want strike against Tehran
• Israel prepared to attack alone to avoid its own 9/11
• Iranian bomb risks 'Middle East proliferation, war or both'

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has repeatedly urged the United States to attack Iran to destroy its nuclear programme, according to leaked US diplomatic cables that describe how other Arab allies have secretly agitated for military action against Tehran.

The revelations, in secret memos from US embassies across the Middle East, expose behind-the-scenes pressures in the scramble to contain the Islamic Republic, which the US, Arab states and Israel suspect is close to acquiring nuclear weapons. Bombing Iranian nuclear facilities has hitherto been viewed as a desperate last resort that could ignite a far wider war.

The Saudi king was recorded as having "frequently exhorted the US to attack Iran to put an end to its nuclear weapons programme", one cable stated. "He told you to cut off the head of the snake," the Saudi ambassador to Washington, Adel al-Jubeir said, according to a report on Abdullah's meeting with the US general David Petraeus in April 2008.

The cables also highlight Israel's anxiety to preserve its regional nuclear monopoly, its readiness to go it alone against Iran – and its unstinting attempts to influence American policy. The defence minister, Ehud Barak, estimated in June 2009 that there was a window of "between six and 18 months from now in which stopping Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons might still be viable". After that, Barak said, "any military solution would result in unacceptable collateral damage."

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/28/us-embassy-cables-saudis-iran

[Demeter]

1. "Let's You and Him Fight"

Why give the Saudis such excellent weapons if they won't fight their own battles? Because they have civil and religious war, perhaps?

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

2. Ah, yes. The guys who, unlike Iran, can perform all religious barbarity they like

because they're "America's buddies".

Fuck them

[kgnu_fan]

3. Gosh, US take order from this hidden master?????

[Autumn]

4. Better idea, how about fucking Saudi Arabia

attacks Iran to stop their nuclear program. We are not their trained monkeys. Fuck them.

[No Elephants]

19. We aren't? (Too bad Jimmy Carter was so maligned.)

[KansDem]

24. Really! I mean, why can't the Saudis do something like fly airliners into Iran's tallest buildings?

It's not like they haven't done it before...

[Umbral]

5. Israel and Saudi Arabia on the same page? Fuel up the jets, weigh anchor and off we go!

This is the United States - snapping to.

[xchrom]

6. Lol! Some how you just knew this was the case and

Voilà! There it is.

[jberryhill]

7. That's the thing...

There's going to be a certain amount of "no shit Sherlock" in this stuff.

[xchrom]

8. Indeed -- it still seems pretty Brass when you

See it taken out of the realm of a good guess
And right there in black and white.

[jberryhill]

12. As if nuclear proliferation were a good thing for anyone /nt

[Arrowhead2k1]

9. This one, I'm not at all surprised about. lol

Good to see it out in the open though.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

10. Don't we sell them and sometimes just give them tons of weaponry and shit. I say

let these overweight spoiled punk ass cowards fight their own fight. I swear, the Saudi government is like your drunk friend at the bar who likes to start shit and then he's nowhere to be seen once the fight starts.

[Imagevision]

11. Saudi Arabia,yes America attack Iran to stop nuclear programme and please be quick about it

you're not going to allow the fact that we knew ahead of time about 9-11 attacks are you?

[happyslug]

13. Makes sense, if any of those Persian Gulf countries held an election, Iran would win

Roughly 50-75% of the population of the Gulf are Shiite NOT Sunni Moslem. On the other hand the ruling class is 100% Sunni, all tied in with the House of Saud (Technically Saudi Arabia is on the Gulf and is officially more Sunni then Shiite, but the areas of Saudi Arabia on the Persian Gulf is solidly Shiite).

Iran is Shiite and the head of all things Shiites (With some extensions into Southern Iraq).

I bring this up for that seems to be the main reason for the cables, the Persian Gulf Countries fear their own populations. Iran is a "Good Example" to those people that they can OVERTHROW the tyrants ruling them. These countries have wanted the Islamic Republic of Iran overthrown every since the Islamic Republic replaced the Shah.

My point is every last one of those Persian Gulf Countries want the the Islamic Republic overthrown, Nuclear weapons is just the latest excuse for such an overthrow. These countries would demand an US invasion of Iran even if Iran was a secular Democracy. These cables is is more do to protect the ruling elite then any threat by Iran.

[Arctic Dave]

15. You got it.

[emsimon33]

14. Let Saudi Arabia attack if they are so afraid

Why should we spend our tax dollars and have our men and women killed to protect the very people responsible for 9/11?

[roamer65]

16. Good stuff.

Let the Saudis do it themselves.

[Turborama]

17. US embassy cables: The Saudi foreign ministry cautions against attacking Iran (in 2008)

Summary
A senior Saudi official takes a more cautious view on containing Iran, preferring jaw-jaw to war-war. Key passage highlighted in yellow
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/162960

[Turborama]

18. US embassy cables: Saudi official warns Gulf states may go nuclear

Summary
Countries in the region might develop or host nuclear weapons to deter the perceived threat from Iran, the US is told. Key passage highlighted in yellow.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/189229

[No Elephants]

20. What percent of its blood and treasure has Saudi Arabia spent on fighting its own

battles? No, I don't mean parades or acquiring weapons and planes. I mean actual fighting. How much?


Anyone? Anyone? Buehler? Anyone? Anyone?

[Turborama]

21. How would Ferris Buehler know anything about this?

:shrug:

[No Elephants]

22. And people say I'm too literal! (Of course, they're correct about me, but still....)

;-)


Matthew Broderick, Ben Stein, Jennifer Gray, and Alan Ruck and Charlie Sheen, both of whom ended up in Spin City. Guess the casting director was not too shabby.


Oh, and, in googling for Alan Ruck's name, I see I may have led you astray by my misspelling of Bueller. I apologize.

[Alamuti Lotus]

23. The only recent, actual battles I can think of..

are with the al-Hawthi rebels in northern Yemen, and that went horribly for them.. like the US, and usually FOR the US, they prefer to arm and finance other people to fight their wars.

[felix_numinous]

25. Rich Saudis are playing chess with our lives.

Screw them.