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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rollcast... who wrote (69591)	1/28/2003 5:54:25 PM
From: paul_philp	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

RC, I think the analysis of Saudi Arabia is a bit simplistic. The only thing worse than the House of Saud is all the alternatives. Unless there is a "Saudi government knew about 9-11 in advance" type smoking gun, the US will use the occupation/friendly government in Iraq to leverage a closer relationship with Saudi Arabia. Keep you friends close and your enemies closer. Saudi Arabia is Wahabist fundamentally and foundationally. Expecting Saudi Arabia to reform away from it's Wahabi roots is like expecting America to reform away from it's protestant roots. Reform is Saudi Arabia will be very slow and very deliberate. The first step might be asking the Saudi's to stop tolerating the very worst of the Wahabi extremists and encouraging some new economic infrastructure. The time when the Saudi people might cast an admiring eye to the thriving democratic middle-class next door in Iraq is not close. First, baby steps. The worst case scenario would be an Iranian-style fundamtelist revolution. That would light a fire we don't want lit. Paul