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| Axis of Evil |
| Saudi Arabia encouraging Iraqi generals to topple Saddam |
| 2003-01-17 |
| Arab leaders are planning a coup to oust Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein, reported Time magazine. Saudi Arabia is reported to be behind the plot which proposes encouraging Iraqi generals to topple Saddam and his inner circle. The aim is to avoid a United States-led war with Iraq which could spark other wars in the region. The aim is to prevent the U.S. from establishing a reasonably democratic non-Islamic Iraq next door. Might give the locals ideas that the same thing would work in Saudi itself. The Saudi idea requires a United Nations resolution declaring an amnesty for the Iraqi officials if they got rid of Saddam, Western and diplomatic sources were quoted as saying. Such an amnesty would extend to all but 100 or 120 of the most senior ruling Baath Party officials, including his sons, close relatives and others who have long formed part of the ruling circle. Who are the only people with the power to overthrow Saddam. Saudi Arabia is reported to be actively canvassing support for the initiative. Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak and the Turkish Prime Minister Abdullah Gul flew to Riyadh this week to discuss the plan with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, the magazine said. According to Time, concerns for the region's stability prompted the Saudi initiative. "Riyadh fears that war in Iraq could lead to chaos, civil war among ethnic factions and military incursions by neighbours like Turkey and Iran," said the magazine. Riyadh fears that they are next on Bush's short list. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #8 Yasser...ugh |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-01-17 20:45:22 |
| #7 Ugh...visual: - lounging softly in a feather boa, Depends® on under Victoria's Secret Lingerie™ (and of course, Baby Wipes® nearby ) wearing a freshly washed (yeah, right) khaffiyeh..trying to entice fresh EU tribute... ugh - gotta stop doing the Cuervo Tradicional shots on Fridays.... |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-01-17 20:44:09 |
| #6 Steve W: Re your thoughts on Iran... Didja see today's NY Times: "Political Fervor of Iranian Clerics Begins to Ebb". "...[T]wo decades later [after the 1979 revolution] many clerics here are openly questioning the wisdom [of the establshment of fundamentalist, religious rule]... The foray into politics, they say, has stained the image of the Shiite clergy... 'The political performance of clerics in the past two decades has caused a lot of problems for all clerics,' said Abolfazi Moussavian, 47, a midranking cleric who teaches at Mofid University in Qum. '...people have become skeptical toward clerics and blame them and religion for the current problems.'" This report could be part of an attempt to play good-mullah/bad-mullah for American consumption, in the interest of future survival. But my take is that some of the Iranian clerics are beginning to realize that the primary products of their 20+ years of rule are a screwed-up country full of pissed-off people. Looking for a way to get off the tiger, perhaps? |
| Posted by: Old Grouch 2003-01-17 20:33:06 |
| #5 So what's Yassir doing lately? He is not cheering for Sammy (TM) so he must still be in Ramallah eating take-out and staring bug-eyed at the debris on his bed left over from the last Israeli tank shelling. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-01-17 19:30:54 |
| #4 Fred, I don't think the Soddis are next, either, but they'll fall soon. Once we boot Saddam and have established control in Iraq, I expect Iran to boil over. I'd like to think that the students and decent folks there will prevail but that isn't certain. If it does come about, I expect the Gulf states to announce, quickly, just how much more democratic and liberal they're becoming. They'll follow the Qatari lead. And THAT will be what pushes the Shi'a minority in eastern Saudi-controlled Arabia over the edge to revolt. Well, that and some well-placed CIA operatives whispering in their ear about how much better they'd have it on their own :-) That will cause the House of Sodd to fall apart. I figure Syria will boil over at some point; that causes Hezbollah to launch an all-out attack in a "use it before you lose it" operation. They'll get stomped by the Israelis, and that will set the stage for Syria to wobble. The Paleos have no idea just how alone they're going to be. Well, enough wishful thinking -- back to work for me! |
| Posted by: Steve White 2003-01-17 17:51:51 |
| #3 The House of Saud has the collective moral restraint of an alleycat. Today's Le Monde - www.lemonde.fr - has two articles on a French initiative to revise the 1905 legislation, viz separation of church and state, in order to deal with massive Saudi financing of the extremist, Salafi mosques which are polluting France. The Saudi entity needs to be: gonzo, out-of-here, kaput. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-01-17 12:18:38 |
| #2 I don't think they're next. If Sammy leaves town in the dead of night tomorrow, the day after that Bush will notice that NKor really does present a horrible threat to civilization. Or maybe Iran does. I wonder if he'll shorten the Axis of Evil to only two members, or if he'll add someone - Syria? - to take Iraq's place? Regardless, I think Bush intends to weaken international Islamism before he takes on the Soddies. If he doesn't, we might end up facing a united Muslim world. That's not a military threat, except for the WMDs the Paks and Syrians, etc., would kick in, but it'll be a diplomatic nightmare. It'll be bad enough even when all the pieces are in place. |
| Posted by: Fred 2003-01-17 11:57:51 |
| #1 And their fears are justified. An amnesty resolution from the UN for war criminals, such a neat idea! Then the Saudis will have a shell for another one when it is their turn on the docket. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-01-17 10:40:52 |