Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bill who wrote (1599)	7/13/2005 2:36:30 PM
From: TigerPaw	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 541992

The US was an invited guest of Saudi Arabia, in stark contrast to Osama Bin Laden, who had been exiled. Pretty hard to make a claim that we were occupying his land when it's not even his. It's not too hard to make the claim that the first Bush war was primarily intended to get U.S. bases into the middle east. I'm not saying that Bush Sr. convinced Saddam to invade Kuwait, but he didn't discourage it and then used dubious intelligence to convince the Saudis to let him in. Lets just say the neocons were opportunistic, but they didn't know what to do with their opportunity and it devolved into the sanctions starvation of Iraq and 9/11. TP

To: Bill who wrote (1599)	7/13/2005 3:09:39 PM
From: Dale Baker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 541992

It doesn't matter how we in the West judge the relative merits of these claims. We don't have an ultimate authority that can command what the Muslim masses think. If enough people think the US presence in Saudi Arabia was a gross provocation - and clearly some do - then it becomes a relevant factor in defusing that animosity somehow. What we think is right or wrong is fine for us. But the circle of opinion that matters goes much further than our explanations and justifications. Too many people in many countries just can't make that leap when they try to figure out international relations and public opinion.