03-24-2003, 07:41 AM
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#1 (permalink)
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Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: inside the Beltway, outside the loop
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A disturbing news article about Saudi Arabia...
...in today's New YorkTimes (FRYYY): Quote:
...Saudi Arabia's royal family, many of whose most powerful members were educated in the United States, is caught between its longstanding American allies and an increasingly anti-American population deeply opposed to the war. Those tensions have been heightened by the presence of thousands of American troops in the country, including the United States commander of the air war. Though the Saudi government officially denies it, the bombing campaign is being directed from this country — something that few Saudis realize.
"If people knew that, they'd be in the streets," said a senior Arab diplomat in the capital, calling Saudi Arabia a "volcano" that could blow at any time.
The country's leaders are clearly angry with Washington for risking the region's stability to prosecute what they call an illegitimate war. Saudi Arabia has long urged the United States to put its energy into solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict rather than inflaming passions with an attack on Iraq.
"We worked very hard to prevent it, and we've worked very hard toward having a soft landing after a mistake that is so threatening to the region," Prince Saud, the kingdom's Princeton-educated foreign minister, said in a briefing Saturday.
He said the public's anger was natural and added that if the war was not concluded quickly and its aftermath handled with care, "this anger will continue to mount and continue to expand."...
...The emotions extend into Saudi Arabia's elite society. Sitting in the hushed lobby of Riyadh's best hotel, a prominent Saudi intellectual received several messages and phone calls on his cellular phone late today from people expressing their support for the Iraqis.
"Pray seven times for victory against the Americans," read one message, which he said had come from a member of the royal family. ...
...There is no evidence that any organized network has yet coalesced from the widespread political dissent and anti-American sentiment, but Saudis say such an organization could appear quickly.
"The raw materials are available," Mr. Awajy said, adding that weapons were easily acquired across the Yemen border. "We have thousands of youths well trained in explosives in Afghanistan and Chechnya, and now they are here."
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