Denying Reality
Dr Cole looks at foreign fighters in Iraq:
A treasure trove of guerrilla documents, according to the NYT, shows that 41% of the foreign jihadis in Iraq come from Saudi Arabia, which is also a major source of funding for them. Another big group comes from Libya, with Yemenis the third largest cohort. There were none from Lebanon, despite constant US accusations of Hizbullah involvement. Of the some 25,000 alleged insurgents in US custody in Iraq, only 390 are foreigners. 4/5s of the Iraqis and nearly all the foreigners are Sunni Arabs. (The US appears to have never captured a Shiite Iranian fighter in Iraq.) The statistics raise the question of why US military officials are always focusing on Iran and Hizbullah so much, when they clearly are not very much of the problem, while never, ever, mentioning the Saudi issue. The Guardian has more.
All of the hard evidence says Saudi Arabia is the problem, but nothing is done about it. The Saudis finance every Sunni whacko in the world, but Saudis are exempt from scrutiny. Saudi Arabia is a theocratic kingdom with an abysmal human rights record that flogs and imprisons victim of rape, but not a peep from the State Department. Is it any wonder that Islamic moderates don’t want to engage with the US?
4 comments
Very true. Saudi should be the pariah state of teh Middle East, not that Saddam and the Iranian Mullahs weren’t or aren’t bastards. Can’t see it happening though.
On a totally different subject I never realised that the WWI victory medal your grandfather got was al;most identical to the one my grandfather would have been awarded. . I’d love to find out if one of my relatives still has his Mons Star.
Saddam, at least, didn’t pretend he was doing it for G-d and try to justify his actions a being pious.
It is quite possible the American version was based on the UK medal. My Dad’s Victory Medal from WWII features a similar “rainbow” in the ribbon. We went to area campaign medals with small stars attached to the ribbon for noted battles in area.
George Bush holds hands with Saudis.
He treats with the enemy. Is this a high crime, or a misdemeanor?
Considering what the Saudis have done to the US, dealing with them at all should be a high crime. If certain groups hadn’t been cutting backroom deals with the Saudis, we might be out of the Middle East getting necessary oil from Africa instead, and on the path to energy independence.