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Politics : Welcome to Slider's Dugout -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RonMerks who wrote (9604)	5/14/2008 5:46:36 PM
From: Webster Groves	Respond to of 50280

You seem to know a lot about Saudi Arabia, at least I get that impression from your comments. But it's hot air. Israel and Egypt and Columbia and Poland and a bunch of other countries get military aid from the US. Saudi Arabia does not. It buys its weapons with dollars. If the US doesn't want to sell, the Saudis can buy an inferior product elsewhere. I don't disagree with your assessment of the Royals in SA, but you really don't know any Saudis, do you ? I met a few when I daily ventured out of the Bechtel compound years ago. Saudis in general don't work, but somehow they get by. Perhaps that's because they hire the best expats available. The engineers I met were Brits and low profile Palestinians. The Saudi royals "supported" the first Gulf war but not enough to send in any troops. They do not support the second, because they view it as a bone thrown to Israel. Saddam doesn't figure in at all. The Saudi royals fear internal strife, not external attack. They booted the US out of SA in 2003 just as the 2nd war was starting. This was done to cool the hotheads at home. SA is not a dictatorship. It is a monarchy, sort of like England before the Magna Carta. The US wasted billions for bases in SA to support its own interests, not to help protect the Saudis. Look at Israel, a country that perhaps needs protection. How many US bases are in Israel ? That's right, none. That's partly because the Israelis are really Europeans with a western work ethic, but more importantly because Israel has no oil (to protect). How sad. wg PS - Saudis don't spit but their camels do.