[Austin-ghetto-list] Time to bomb the Saudis?

[Jon Ford]

Right you are Roger, and my bet is that no other country in the Middle East 
will welcome us, either--even Pakistan, which seemed hospitable at first, 
now risks having their government through incessant street protests.
Jon



>From: Roger Baker <rcbaker@infohiwy.net>
>Reply-To: rcbaker@eden.infohwy.com
>To: austin-ghetto-list@pairlist.net
>Subject: [Austin-ghetto-list] Time to bomb the Saudis?
>Date: Sat, 22 Sep 2001 01:06:29 -0500
>
>Talk about ingratitude! Here we keep buying all that oil from the Saudis
>and now they don't even want us to use their airbases to launch bombing
>raids against the Taliban so we can teach the guys who did it that it
>doesn't pay to mess around with a superpower.
>
>And like GWBush says, we have to look at the world in terms of whether
>they're on our side or not and it looks like the Saudis are lining up on
>the wrong side and holding up our war against terrorism just because the
>Saudi kings and princes have started listening to a few terribly
>misinformed Saudi Islamic fundamentalists preaching religious stuff that
>is obviously way out of date in the modern world because -- DUH! -- they
>didn't even have any air bases when they wrote the Koran!!!
>
>And like Bush says, this is a crusade, and we know who did it and its
>time to bomb the Afghani terrorists even further back into the stone age
>than the Soviets did, and just like they did to us first. And anyway, a
>few demonstation strikes on somewhere that gets their attention real
>good like on Mecca, and just like that Saudi devil Osama
>bin-whats-his-name did to us, might convince all those Arabs and the
>Islamic fellow travellers to sell us oil even cheaper than now. You
>gotta break a few eggs to make a mayonnaise, right? No bombs, no respect.
>
>               *****************************************
>
>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6731-2001Sep21.html
>
>
>
>"Saudis Balk At Use of Key Facility
>
>By Vernon Loeb and Dana Priest
>
>Washington Post Staff Writers
>
>Saturday, September 22, 2001; Page A01
>
>Saudi Arabia is resisting the United States' request to use a new
>command center on a Saudi military base in any air war against
>terrorists, forcing Pentagon planners to consider alternatives that
>could delay a campaign for weeks, defense officials said yesterday.
>
>Secretary of State Colin L. Powell is trying to persuade the Saudi
>government to reverse a decade-old policy in which it has refused to
>allow the United States to stage or command offensive air operations
>from Saudi air bases, officials said.
>While high-level talks aimed at resolving the matter are underway, the
>Pentagon is already considering moving the operations center to another
>country, the officials added. They did not specify where.
>
>A refusal by the Saudis would deal a significant blow to the Bush
>administration's efforts to build a broad international coalition in its
>effort to destroy the terrorist network of Saudi extremist Osama bin
>Laden and Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia, which has harbored bin
>Laden and many of his top lieutenants.
>
>The Pentagon had been counting on using the command center at Prince
>Sultan Air Base in the coming air war. Besides delaying any operation,
>Saudi unwillingness to allow the United Sates to use Saudi bases for
>offensive operations could send a strong signal to the Arab world that
>accepting Washington's demands is not a prerequisite for ongoing
>relations with Washington..."
>


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