Saudi King’s Biggest Frustration: Is It George Bush?
The indispensible website Watching America has this great translation from Portuguese from Brazil’s newspaper O Globo that gives some perspective on a new pocket of disenchantment: feelings in Saudi Arabia that President George W. Bush is interfering with their plans.
Here’s a small part of it:
Saudi Arabia is trying to bring Syria back to the negotiation table (along with Lebanon and Israel), and is seeking for some kind of understanding with Iran – a few days ago President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made an important visit to Riyadh. The Saudi influence even extends to Pakistan (old connections that have existed since the anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan), and it has a huge moderating influence on the decisions of OPEC.The biggest frustration of the Saudis, however, is named George W. Bush. Despite the old ties between the Bush family and the Saudis, King Abdullah feels that he has not been listened to on any of the vital questions of recent times – especially the invasion of Iraq. And worse: not even his warnings were taken into account. The King spoke freely and in full during a blunt speech full of acid criticism of the Americans – amongst them, that the occupation of Iraq is illegal.
This is a common refrain: there are quite a few bigwigs (in the U.S and elsewhere) who feel that George Bush marches to his own drummer and that their advice is either not taken or barely taken (James Baker: are your ears burning?). MORE:
Most curiously, in part the Israeli diplomats fully agree with the Saudis. “The Iranians should build a monument in honor of Bush, due to the gifts that Iran has received due to American policy in the Middle East,” said a senior Israeli diplomat that recently passed through São Paulo. But unlike the Saudis (who also have always seen Iran as one of the greatest threats), the Israelis see no possibility for negotiation with the Iranians. On the contrary, they speak with a certain naturalness about the moment an air campaign will be mounted to destroy Iran’s nuclear installations and defense systems (about three weeks of bombardment, according to the Israelis).
AND:
The diplomatic offensive of the Saudis has thrown the Israelis into a defensive position. The Saudis have revived a peace plan that includes participation of the European Union and Russia. But the E.U. and Russia have said that they would only participate with the Israelis in a major global peace conference on the Middle East if the Israelis first agree to serious talks with the Palestinian National Authority.For now, and even in the face of strong American pressure, the Israeli government considers the new Palestinian unity government a mere façade for Hamas (it’s important to remember that the unity government came after a meeting in Saudi Arabia between Hamas and Fatah). But in truth, this is merely an Israeli pretext not enter, since the government doesn’t seem to know what it wants.
Read it in its entirety.
7 Responses to “Saudi King’s Biggest Frustration: Is It George Bush?”
It is always interesting to hear the smugness of US allies in criticizing US policies. So Bush does not do what the Israelis and the Saudis want him to do?
For Israeli “wisdom” on the Middle East, there was this great howler in the article:
“they speak with a certain naturalness about the moment an air campaign will be mounted to destroy Iran’s nuclear installations and defense systems (about three weeks of bombardment, according to the Israelis).”
Does anyone recall the certainty of the Israeli air force last summer that it could bomb Hezbollah into submission?
If the Israelis could not take out a Lebanese militia (allied with Iran) in their underground bunker network in southern Lebanon…why should Bush listen to their “wisdom” on the bombing campaign necessary to take out the Iranian nuclear installations in their massive underground complexes.
Bush’s “stupidity” in this regard almost seems enlightened in comparison to the Israeli certainty about the time necessary to bomb Iran’s nuclear program.
“3 weeks”!!??…just the certainty of the tone is striking…like a diplomat trying to pick up a girl in a bar, and impressing her with his access and knowledge…all of which are utterly bogus.
Bush supported the Israeli campaign for weeks last year, at political cost, while the Israelis destroyed their own reputation for skillful warfighting in a span of . . . well, about 3 weeks. This is how the Israelis repay him.
And the Saudis: “The King spoke freely and in full during a blunt speech full of acid criticism of the Americans – amongst them, that the occupation of Iraq is illegal.”
If Bush caved to Democratic pressure, and said the troops would be out by July 07, the Saudis would be howling in protest.
These voices of wisdom are much like those of the Europeans, who love to criticize Guantanamo Bay, but have refused to accept their nationals back from there.
Ah, with friends like these . . . .
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Of course Bush a single man wrong virtually all of the time is right and EVERYONE else is wrong, try thinking some about that, then don’t answer unless you come to a different conclusion about Bush other than fawning over him.
It is always predictable to hear the smugness of US allies criticize the US — but expect it to be at the forefront of “doing something” about any and every of the world’s problems, then criticize it more if it failed to “do something.”
The Saudis have plenty of worse problems at home and in the Middle East than the West (of which Abdullah is not enamored), the evil USA, or the incredibly evil President Bush, no matter how much liberals may want to suspect Bush as being the worst.
And there I would have thought the biggest worry of the Saudi government would be their own home grown terrorists and what they might have planned for both Saudi Arabia and the rest of the world.
This wasn’t because of the lack of military ability, but rather the lack of political will from Israel’s political leadership, which was overly concerned about international opinion, which caused the Olmert government to refrain from a massive ground attack which was needed to destroy hezbollah. The Israelis are in a precarious position of being forced to face such vile enemies who hide amongst civilians, forcing Israel to either kill large numbers of civilians, or leave its own population vulnerable to attack. And on top of all that having to be put under a microscope by the international community and media which will jump at the first chance it gets to condemn Israel whenever a civilian is killed during a military campaign, yet refuses to condemn the terrorists who operate amongst civilian populations. This is not to excuse the Olmert governments poor performance and decision making during the hezbollah war, but just to give an idea of the situation Israel is in.
Half measures in war are never good, whether it be the U.S. in Iraq or Israel against hezbollah. I still say we need to take out Iran’s nuclear facilities, regardless of how difficult. The alternative of allowing Iran nuclear weapons is far worse in the long run than the short term consequences of an attack on Iran now.
As far as saudi arabia is concerned, screw them. I’m tired of hearing them complain about America’s foreign policy all the while they continue to bankroll these extremist wahhabi madrassas which incite to hatred and terrorism. It is us that should be frustrated and angered at the saudis.