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Arabia
Fractures in Saudi ruling family being felt in military
2004-04-08
From Geostrategy-Direct, subscription req’d....
The Saudi ruling family is desperately trying to keep the lid on tension within the armed forces. The tensions stem from internal struggles within the royal family. Various princes have control over different parts of the military and security forces and they have little reason for real cooperation.
Here’s some scenarios being discussed within the U.S. intelligence community:
· Saudi Interior Ministry forces accidentally kill a leading Saudi cleric aligned with Al Qaida. Saudi clerics riot and the religious police retaliate.
Killing clerics does get some people’s knickers in a knot, e.g., Yassin booming.

· Saudi religious police attack a liberal Saudi prince or his Arab expatriate employee. Crown Prince Abdullah is forced to order the National Guard to crack down on the police.

· A Shi’ite group, sponsored by Iran, attacks the Saudi oil fields in the Eastern Province.
Or maybe .com’s Army of Contractors pays a little visit, heh heh.
Saudi troops would crack down on the Shi’ite minority and a rebellion would begin.
Nobody knows for sure. But many in the intelligence community say the Saudi powder keg is ready and the only thing missing is some fool with a match.
And Allah knows that there are millions of fools runing hither and thither around the Middle East, and most of them carry matches or Bics.
Posted by:Alaska Paul

#6  That's not a family tree . . . it's a target list!
Posted by: Mike   2004-04-08 10:42:26 AM  

#5  Thanks for the link,.com. It's the best family tree info that I've read so far. Your comments about Hussa's sons running things are true. This powerful group is known as the Sudayri branch from their mother, Hussa bint Ahmad Sudayri. Here's what I can add about the other boyz.

Abd al-Rahman is Deputy Minister of Defense and Aviation. My guess is his main responsibilities are the Air Force (RSAF) and other aviation matters. Al-Rahman owned the Saudi Development Company when I met him.
Salman is the Governor of Riyahd which is also an influential position.
Ahmad is the smart one. He dropped out years ago and is living abroad.
Turki was the former Deputy Minister of Defense and head of the RSAF when I was there. I've lost track of him since he hasn't been in the news.
I learned from the link that they have three sisters not just the one I knew of. The boyz make sure the girls get a cut of the oil money as well.
Abdallah is a half brother; not one of Hussa's kids.
The thing about this culture is they keep recycling names and it is difficult to know who is who if the full name is not reported.
Posted by: GK   2004-04-08 10:32:47 AM  

#4  "The Mekkah Hillbillies!"
Posted by: Frank G   2004-04-08 9:46:24 AM  

#3  Once we retake our oil field it may be the SA Royal family could make a pretty good living as a reality TeeVee show.
Posted by: Shipman   2004-04-08 8:05:50 AM  

#2  This might be a good time to repost this link to Saudi info. You can see quite a bit of info for free. The subscription stuff is for our State Dept friends who're planning to sell their souls upon retirement...

For the Major Players, click on the Royal Family Tab at the top, then the Family Tree on the left.

You'll see:
Abd al-Aziz (Founded Modern Saudi Arabia)

Click to see the sons that are currently running things. They show 20 wives - I think there should be 26 - one wife for each of the other tribes he united. Check wife Hussa - her boyz are the 7 who are the Big Deal. They have all the key portfolios.

Click on History on the left, then click on Abd al-Aziz's picture. This shows who's running what.
Fahd, Abdallah, Nayif, and Sultan are the most powerful - with Fahd a drooling tottering wreck. Unfortunately they don't designate those who held a position, but no longer do (death, health, etc.), so you see some dupes on the positions. Hussa's boys are the keys.

Crown Prince Abdallah and Badr control National Guard (aka National Emergency Forces, I believe), Sultan runs Army / AF through Defense Ministry. and Nayif runs Religious Police / Educations System and a lot more through the Ministry of Interior.

Have fun!
Posted by: .com   2004-04-08 2:47:30 AM  

#1  Fuck@n nuts! It's as I thought. No real gov. Just turf and allah.

If you shut down their oil producing ability. Kidnapped their most lustful women. The four oh.
Posted by: Lucky   2004-04-08 1:45:31 AM  

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