Thursday, May 17, 2007

Analysis: The Saudis, above all else, "crave stability", skepticism reigns as to the kingdom's willingness to help the US in Iraq

" ... Until recently, Saudi Arabia has also been seeking some sort of "retribution" for the assassination of Hariri, a trusted first tier Jack-of-all-trades envoy of the royal family. Now, US officials are looking in bewilderment at the Saudis as they "titillate" and dance on a tight rope. Although the Syrians have been deeply implicated by the first investigatory team of Detlev Mehlis and Gerhardt Lehmann, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was "warmly greeted" [noted one State Department official sourly] by King Abdullah at the recent Arab summit Riyadh. US analysts say that the Saudis, above all else, crave stability, and any drive to isolate and punish Syria could lead to chaos on a regional scale... US officials complain that they are not privy to the discussions Vice President Cheney had last week with Abdullah, and to the best of their abilities, they believe that if Lebanon came up, it was only fleetingly with Iraq being the "plat de resistance." But overall, a great degree of skepticism reigns as to the Kingdom's willingness to assist US efforts in Iraq. "None of the Sunnis are pleased to see the emergence of a Shia dominated Iraq," said one senior US official to my well informed source. "But Saudi opposition is more extreme than, say, the Egyptians or Jordanians and especially the Kuwaitis." Still, even this official cannot find much fault with the reluctance of many conservative Arabs to come to our aid in Iraq. "Time is running out," notes one top US official. "Moderate Republicans are getting ready to walk, while Pelosi as much as told the Arabs that the US "is on the way out..."

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