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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMcCain: “Thank God for the Saudis and Prince Bandar" who lavished funding to make ISIS "unstoppable"
Tell me again, why exactly does our US gov't still regard Saudi Arabia an "ally"?The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), now threatening Baghdad, was funded for years by wealthy donors in Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, three U.S. allies that have dual agendas in the war on terror.
The extremist group that is threatening the existence of the Iraqi state was built and grown for years with the help of elite donors from American supposed allies in the Persian Gulf region. There, the threat of Iran, Assad, and the Sunni-Shiite sectarian war trumps the U.S. goal of stability and moderation in the region.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/14/america-s-allies-are-funding-isis.html
Thank God for the Saudis and Prince Bandar, John McCain told CNNs Candy Crowley in January 2014. Thank God for the Saudis and Prince Bandar, and for our Qatari friends, the senator said once again a month later, at the Munich Security Conference.
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/06/isis-saudi-arabia-iraq-syria-bandar/373181/
Prince Bandar bin Sultan, once the powerful Saudi ambassador in Washington and head of Saudi intelligence until a few months ago, had a revealing and ominous conversation with the head of the British Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, Sir Richard Dearlove. Prince Bandar told him: "The time is not far off in the Middle East, Richard, when it will be literally 'God help the Shia'. More than a billion Sunnis have simply had enough of them."
The fatal moment predicted by Prince Bandar may now have come for many Shia, with Saudi Arabia playing an important role in bringing it about by supporting the anti-Shia jihad in Iraq and Syria.
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/iraq-crisis-how-saudi-arabia-helped-isis-take-over-the-north-of-the-country-9602312.html
The governments of Saudi Arabia and Qatar are very loudly blaming the sectarian and exclusionary policies of Nouri al-Maliki for the violence in Iraq. Theyre not wrong, but this also deflects from an issue theyd rather not discussthe role of wealthy funders in the Gulf in helping ISIS rise to prominence.
Qatar has officially stopped giving aid to more radical groups under U.S. pressure, and Saudi Arabia has also backed off its support of the rebels, a process the culminated in the removal of spy chief and Syria point man Prince Bandar bin Sultan earlier this year, but private donations from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf statesnotably Kuwaithave likely continued.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_world_/2014/06/16/the_saudis_helped_create_a_monster_they_can_t_control_in_iraq.html
underthematrix
(5,811 posts)domestic terrorist john mccain probably has business in the region
SummerSnow
(12,608 posts)Bandar is close to the Bushs' and the Cheneys'. So we know his thinking.
99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)to pump up the war machine again, and justify domestic abuse of citizens by stripping us of our constitutional rights, forever.
Rather like the US created AQ in the first place, since "the Communist Threat" had run its course.
SummerSnow
(12,608 posts)and get the oil.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)Cindy's beer-distributing empire probably doesn't sell a lot of Bud in Riyadh. They're more likely just paying Grampy directly.
What hi-fi ye got?
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)before unemployment and a rooming house intervened and things went into storage was
SOTA Cosmos III turntable
Graham 2.0 arm
Dynavector XV 1S phono cartridge
and the following on "extended loan" for review from manufacturers - I am an audio reviewer and this is the main perk - if you like it you can usually keep it until it's superseded even if it is insanely expensive.
Various CD players
VTL TP 6.5 Phono Stage
Aesthetix Calypso Signature line stage (mine)
VTL TL-7.5 Series III line stage
Lamm M1.2 Reference power amps (these are mine)
VTL MB-450 Signature monoblock power amplifiers
Wilson Audio Specialties SASHA W/P loudspeakers
All Nordost Odin cabling and AC cables
I've seen bigger and more expensive (in Dave Wilson's listening room and a couple of other places) but it gave deep and profound musical joy. Can't wait to get things back up and running.
Make7
(8,543 posts)Someone appears to not be paying attention.
99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)I must say.
I'm not quite sure what your post means, but I can assure you
that I've been paying attention ever since BushCo engineered
the illegal invasion and destabilization of Iraq.
What did I miss? Or were you directing that at me?
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)Again. And again, and again, and again. Always the fucking Saudis. That country is the anus mundi and its "royal" family the chief turds. Literally King Shits from Turd Hill.
PoutrageFatigue
(416 posts)99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)hifiguy
(33,688 posts)was "Oh, the Saudis' latest Army of Crazy." And I was right.
Were I a nihilist, I would drop a few neutron bombs on Saudi Arabia. It's a North Korea-class hellhole.
Duppers
(28,127 posts)Ikonoklast
(23,973 posts)and in doing so keep them busy killing in other countries and away from the House of Saud...their *real* enemy.
Of course, if caught doing the same thing in SA they get paid to do in other countries they get their heads cut off, quite promptly, no mercy from the Sauds.
Fuck the Saudi royal family, they are no friend of this nation.
Marrah_G
(28,581 posts)Every conflict does not have to have a side that we support. Often times both sides are assholes.
Tom Ripley
(4,945 posts)rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)They have oil and they own a big piece of us.
justiceischeap
(14,040 posts)For better or worse some of are ME allies are not our best friends. Sadly, foreign policy is often tempered with having to pinch ones nose.
Aerows
(39,961 posts)It seems to be the case here.
Aerows
(39,961 posts)But if he still has a brain left he would take it out and play with it.
jillan
(39,451 posts)along with the pic of him palling around with terrorists - to borrow a phrase from his vp pick.
Botany
(70,581 posts)KansDem
(28,498 posts)He's a maroon as well as the voters who vote for him.
Botany
(70,581 posts)Oh my f*****g God. And yet he still shows up to tell us how President
Obama doesn't know what he is doing.
lpbk2713
(42,766 posts)Any more discussion on McLame's opinions?
justiceischeap
(14,040 posts)they sooner, rather than later, turn into our enemy?