Okay, we now know the Saudis want us to attack Iran...

[KansDem]

Anybody think it coincidental that Republicans want to attack Iran too? I mean, who is the Republican Party representing? Americans or the Saudis?

[peace13]

1. Who was * making out with for eight years?

This is not a mystery that our government works for the Saudis benefit.

[KansDem]

2. And that brings up the question, "Did the Saudis want us to attack Iraq?"

Did Bush get the Saudi memo for a US invasion of Iraq? A memo from his family friends and business partners?

Did a conversation take place?

Bush: "Howdy, Abdullah! What can I do for you?"
Abdullah: "We want you to attack Iraq."
Bush: "Yeah? I don't think the American people would go for that."
Abdullah: "What if you are attacked? You can blame it on Saddam."
Bush: "But why would Saddam want to attack us?"
Abdullah: "No, no, no, you idiot! You will be attacked but blame it on Saddam. Then you can attack Iraq."
Bush: "Oh, I getcha! Yeah! We are attacked and we blame it on Iraq."
Abdullah: "Just sit and do nothing. We will do the rest."
Bush: "Sit and do nothing? I can handle that!"

I wonder if there's a WikiLeak somewhere...

[peace13]

6. Then they held hands..jumped in the pool and kissed under water!

There is no question.

[Recursion]

11. No; they kicked us out when we did

The Sauds, at least, could look at Iraq's census and see that overthrowing Saddam would make Iran much more powerful in the region. (Oddly enough, bin Ladin apparently couldn't, since he wanted Saddam overthrown possibly more than W did.)

[BeFree]

3. They wanted us to attack Iraq

Iraq was going to make problems for their KINGDOM. Cause the ROYALS problems.

Not so much anymore, eh?

[sinkingfeeling]

4. We will. The Saudis basically control the USA through OPEC.

[Toucano]

5. Good question. Another good question: Why don't they do it themselves?

They have the military capacity. Why put the onerous on the United States?

[Chulanowa]

8. "They have the military capacity" - Tee hee

No. No, they certainly do not have the military capacity.

They have lots a and lots of gorgeous, top-line American hardware, sure. They have our second-rate fighters, helicopters, bombs, guns, even tanks and the ever-popular "crowd suppression" technology.

They don't have anyone who can USE the stuff, though. The al-Sauds are terrified of the prospect of a military coup. It's a popular pastime in Arab nations, after all. So what they've done, they've made sure every air force pilot, every commander, and everyone with any technical expertise on the American hardware is either a member of the royal family, or a very close (And well-paid and happy) ally of the clan.

Each and every one of them are vetted purely on loyalty and NOT on ability. The Saudi Arabian military is a stunning example of nepotism, and top-down engineering. Add to that the problem that Saudi Arabia is a TINY country, in terms of population. Saudi Arabia has a lot of land area, but has roughly the population of Texas - And half of those people "don't count" according to Saudi law.

We rushed to Saudi Arabia's defense in 1991 for the plain and simple fact that Saddam Hussein could have rolled that entire country over in a week, if he'd have so chosen. And most of that week would simply be making the Sauds sign the deeds.

Plus... Well, during that same war, the Saudi air force had a STAGGERING number of "misfires" - their missles never launched. Ever. The generals claimed technical problems, but the simple fact was, the people in the planes wouldn't fight. The Saudi military on the border with Iraq all went home.

The Saudis have the technology. They lack the manpower and have none of the morale needed. Iran would roflstomp them in a few days if the Saudis tried anything.

[Hugabear]

9. Two words - plausible deniability

We attack Iran, then Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Arab nations can publicly condemn the actions, then work together to form some sort of peace deal - one, which I'm sure, would heavily favor their interests.

Besides, why get your own hands dirty when you can get the biggest bullies in the world to do your bidding?

[Recursion]

7. We "now" know that?

Like most of the leaked documents I've read about, I didn't realize that was in question.

[EFerrari]

10. Noam Chomsky pointed out today that the people of the MIddle East

think Israel and the US are the biggest threats by 75-80%, not Iran. We know know that a few rich and powerful politicians think it could be profitable to attack Iran.