I think we are potentially looking at Iran-Saudi war, if

[thereismore]

the situation in Iraq gets so bad for the Sunnis that Saudi Arabia enters Iraq with force. As a response to the Saudi land grab, Iran will annex Basra. Saudis will feel threatened at home, because their population in the East (South of Basra) is Shia. If the Saudi Shia people try "invite" Iran to liberate them from the Saudis, we have a Saudi-Iran war.

[applegrove]

1. Neocons must be laughing their asses off.

[Stinky The Clown]

2. The Saudis don't make war ......

.... they pay others to fight for them.

So who might be their surrogate?

[wordpix]

4. I don't see Saudis paying US to fight in Iraq or we wouldn't be $400 billion in debt from this war

and counting. :puke:

That's only a "small" portion of the $8.5 trillion in debt we owe to Saudis and Chinese.

[tkmorris]

6. Oh they wouldn't pay our government.

That's too out in the open first of all, plus it isn't necessary. All you need to do is funnel money towards those who control what our government does.

[Homer12]

3. Remeber the scene in Braveheart

When the Irish mMercenaries meet the Scottish rebels. The Irish switch sides at the last minute and fight the English with the Scotts.

Just think if Iran and Saudi Arabi did this to out armed forces, right in the middle of a hammer and anvil.

Although the Saudi's in the end would fight to try to keep their riches, it's just possible.

[enid602]

5. solution

Solution: give Sunni-controlled area to Saudi Arabia, give Shia-controlled areas to Iran and give the Kurdish area to Turkey.

[thereismore]

7. That's it! Except, the Saudis would get no oil that way. nt

[PerfectSage]

11. Give the Saudis Texas

;)

[Auntie Bush]

8. Wallah! No more Iraq...problem solved...we can come home!

We don't even have to say we lost the war with Iraq...face saved! You can't lose war with Iraq if there is no Iraq!

[abburdlen]

9. I imagine you're not serious

but in case anyone thinks it's that easy there are a few problems with that idea.

The Kurds in southern Turkey are already trying to secede. Adding more Kurds would likely cause Turkey to split into two.
The Saudi Royal family is less than loved by the masses throughout Arabia. Revolution in Saudi Arabia isn't out of the question even without adding a few million more Sunni.
An expanded Iran gives no one save Iran warm fuzzy feeling in the Middle East.

In short there is no good outcome for the complete F*ck-up Bush has made of Iraq.


*note: this in no way meant to imply Saddam was a good guy*

[enid602]

10. Midedle East

The Turkish Government's fear of the Kurds uniting is based more on the fact that Turkey's Kurdish area also contains the watershed for most of Turkey's fresh water supply; they really don't have any animosity toward the Kurds. If Turkey could offer the Kurds a certain amount of autonomy, Turkey would get the water and stability they desire.

Saudi Arabia taking over the Sunni areas of Iraq would mean they would no longer need to send in money and material to the area to offset the Iranians, who are doing the same thing.

Such a simple plan would never even be considered, for two reasons. First of all, it would be a complete and utter admission that the war in Iraq was a mistake, and that the war caused an autonomous and sovereign nation state to disappear. The American public will feel shortchanged, as well they should.

Second, American foreign policy of late has been shaped by ideology and religion, as opposed to the Kissinger-era when the balance of power and real politic were the major considerations. The beauty of this plan is that it is simple, it immediately diffuses tensions and allows established, relatively strong (although admittedly not very democratic) regimes to take over and bring stability to the areas involved.

Remember, bin Ladin's and al Qaeda's aim was never just to kill Americans and get them out of the ME; they also wanted to cause chaos so that the established, authoritarian and conservative regimes would fall by the wayside. Granted, I don't believe the US' long-term interest is to prop up these corrupt regimes, but in the near'term we'd better do something (and pronto) to diffuse tension.

[k_jerome]

12. i think that is a real possibility. nt.