Saudi fears Iraq chaos is strengthening Iran

[sabra]

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2007/January/middleeast_January283.xml§ion=middleeast&col=

Saudi fears Iraq chaos is strengthening Iran
(Reuters)

RIYADH - Saudi Arabia fears the Iraq conflict has sapped America’s ability to guarantee Gulf Arab security and breathed new life into the threat from Iran, according to analysts.

...

Saudi Arabia fears the violence spreading over its own borders. Its own Shia minority is concentrated in the oil-rich eastern region near Iran and Iraq.

Saudi policy wants to ensure that the US security umbrella in the region remains in place to protect the world’s biggest oil exporter from radical and envious neighbours, Western diplomats in Riyadh said.

“Even more so now because of Iraq -- there is increased Iranian influence in the region,” one said.

...

“The bottom line is that the Saudis are more loudly sending signals that they do not want the US to retreat in haste” from Iraq, said analyst Neil Partrick of the Economic Intelligence Unit.

[jody]

1. "sapped America’s ability to guarantee Gulf Arab security"! U.S. troops are not dying to guarantee

Gulf Arab security, they are dying to guarantee oil company profits. :grr:

Clinton campaigned on "It's The Economy Stupid".

Bush administers on "It's Oil Profits, Stupid".

[maddezmom]

2. Saudi king: Spreading Shiism won't work

KUWAIT CITY - Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah said in an interview published Saturday that attempts to convert Muslim Sunnis to the Shiite branch of Islam will not succeed, and that Sunnis would always make up the majority of the world Muslims.

Although Abdullah did not mention Iran by name, his comments — rare for the Sunni monarch — appeared aimed at easing Arab concerns over the Persian Shiite nation's growing influence in the Middle East.

Arab media have claimed that Iran seeks to spread Shiism among the region's predominantly Sunni Arab countries as a way of increasing Tehran's political power.

"We are following up on this matter and we are aware of the dimensions of spreading Shiism and where it has reached," Abdullah told the Kuwaiti Al-Siyassah daily.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070127/ap_on_re_mi_ea/saudi_king

[ohio2007]

4. In the Muslim world it is not permissible to 'convert' members of a rival sect.

So says the Egyptian (sunni) scholars

[ohio2007]

3. power vacuum in the bi polar world of OPEC that sounds like an excuse

for an arms race. House of Saud looks to Europe, while 'on a budget' Iran will be forced to look east and buy cheap knockoffs at the Sino-Russo Wal-Mart...

[Eugene]

5. Payvand Iran: Saudi king dismisses alliance against Tehran: report

Payvand's Iran News ...

1/27/07
Saudi king dismisses alliance against Tehran: report

TEHRAN, Jan. 27 (Mehr News Agency) – Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has dismissed
some reports in Iranian press media that Riyadh is trying to form a coalition
with other countries against Tehran, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported on Saturday.

In an interview with Al-Siyasa newspaper, King Abdullah said that he had told
Iran's Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani that Riyadh does
not interfere in the internal affairs of any country.

Larijani paid a visit to Saudi Arabia on January 14.

Saudi Arabia will not help any country against other countries, the newspaper
quoted the king as saying.

In return, Saudi Arabia does not want any country to oppose Saudi Arabia, Persian
Gulf Cooperation Council members, or any other Arab country that has security
agreements with Saudi Arabia, he stated.

http://www.payvand.com/news/07/jan/1319.html

[IndianaGreen]

6. Why should we care about the fate of one of America's Middel East lapdogs?

The Saudi royal family is not worth one drop of American blood! They are the financiers of the same ideology that says it is okay to execute gays, oppress women, bomb pizzarias in Tel Aviv, and crash passenger jets into high rise buildings.