Is The US Arming Saudi-Arabia For A Proxy War Against Iran?
NEWS JUNKIE POST
Sep 15, 2010 at 12:27 pm
On Monday, the Obama administration discretely announced a plan to sale $ 60 Billion worth of sophisticated weapon systems to the Kingdom of Saudi-Arabia. A deal of this scope would have being politically impossible just a few years ago both domestically and internationally. Domestically, the relationship between the US and the Saudis went into a cooling period, at least officially, once the American public found out that a majority of the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks were Saudis. Internationally, such a deal would have created a major diplomatic crisis with Israel.
Earlier this week, a senior defense official said that the Obama administration would formally notify Congress this week or next week, about the ground breaking deal which is the largest ever between the US and the Kingdom. The Obama administration will authorize Saudi-Arabia to buy 84 new F-15 fighter jets and upgrade 70 more. Also in the package are three types of helicopters: 70 Apaches, 72 Black Hawks and 36 Little Birds. The package will include HARM anti-radar missiles and other precision guided missiles as well.Furthermore, the Obama administration is planning to sell to Saudi-Arabia weapon systems and ships to upgrade the Kingdom’s naval forces.
A few year ago, the arms deal with the Saudis would have provoked an uproar in Israel. However, according to Doug Bloomfield, a former legislative director of AIPAC, “The Israeli government and AIPAC have already signed off on the deal”.
The industrial-military complex, with its big defense contractors and countless subcontractors has an unstoppable momentum. Because so many members of Congress are from states and districts where the deal could help create up to 75,000 jobs, it would be naive to expect even a minority of Congressmen to oppose the deal. So this is the economic aspect of the deal, but the geopolitical perspective is perhaps more critical.
The geopolitical calculation is based on the belief, shared in Washington and Jerusalem, that arming the Saudis to the teeth is the best way to counterbalance what is viewed as Iran’s ambitions in the region. And even so the package is not quite big enough to allow the Saudis to attack Iran, it would be an helpful asset to have in the region in the case of an Israeli attack (approved by Washington) on the Islamic Republic. But one can not help having a sense of Deja Vu between this move from the Obama administration ( making Saudi-Arabia its key military ally in the region) and the one made by the Reagan administration with picking Saddam Hussein as its “go to guy” against Iran in the region.
This week the industrial-military complex had even more reason to celebrate. The United States is the number one dealer of weapons around the world with more than 39 percent of the world’s market. Despite its closeness to every US administrations in the past 80 years- from FDR to Obama- the Kingdom of Saudi-Arabia is one of the most repressive and undemocratic dictatorships in the world.
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Uhhh. No. The US is arming KSA for kickbacks to Royal Saudi princes and work for arms manufacturers, and to ensure the continued recycling of petrodollars…as usual, as has been the case for the last 50 years.
I mentioned this point in my article, even so the angle of “recycling petrodollars” is a good take on it. However, do not dismiss the geopolitical aspect of a regional military build up against Iran. KSA would not want to buy that much weapons otherwise. The Saudis are positioning themselves as the strongest Sunni controlled country in the region.
Gilbert, Saudis have one of the most ineffective forces in the Muslims world. I have been to the Kingdom and they are seen as lazy whiners and not pro-active. Most Muslim countries look towards the Kingdom for financial aid and thats about it.
On the other hand, Iran is still respected, despite of its absurd attitude, due to the fact that they are building their own defences rather than buying it. And partly due to the fact that Iran repelled Iraq invasion back in the 80s by itself. Whereas the Saudis paid NATO armies to protect them during the 90s. The joke within the Kingdom is that Saudi men should be protected by western women at all time. This refers to the fact that NATO forces have women who protected the Kingdom back in 90s. So simply put, money cant buy you respect. It can buy you bigger guns though.
Well, then in a decade or max two wait for another Saddam to re-emerge. Saudi Arabia is a very unstable nation, with an 80+ year old king who might go down any moment. The population is wahabi which is the sect of all the terrorists around the world and the 911 hijackers as well as Taliban. Just imagine a couple of years from now after a political upheavel, a radical regime comes to control that nation. Surely they will not be able to invade Iran. As even saddam couldnt. Iran is bigger and more powerful than all the Arabs combined, besides having the bigger economy and population they have their home grown weapons industry and can at any moment if they choose to go nuclear and if this time a new Saddam emerges they will for sure go nuclear. So Saudi will never attack Iran, but they might attack Yemen, Qatar, Kuwait or even Iraq. Saddam was best of friends with Kuwait, but that did not stop him, so a wahabi regime will not be stopped by international law from attempting to take over all the oil fields and declare a Califate. Then US will have to go in and battle against all these sophisticated weapons. Not a very bright choice. These weapons are not going to scare Iran. These will push Iran to go nuclear.
You make some very good points here. As you mentioned the KSA is potentially very unstable, and eventually the repressive regime will be toppled. This is a VERY BIG mistake on the part of the Obama administration, and echoes the one made by the Reagan administration when they financed and armed what would become the Taliban in Afghanistan. The perceived enemy of your enemy is not always your friend…
it is not about obama or the rest of them puppets. The “VERY BIG mistake” is the empires. just like the british before them. The empire’s collapse is simply a matter of time and not a long one at that either.
Agreed. So was the French empire collapse. I wrote an article on this site concerning this a few days ago. It is untitled: “Did 9/11/2001 Mark the Beginning of the End Of the Empire?”. A bit of a rhetorical question obviously…
I beg to differ here and I speak from my personal experience and the time I spent in the Kingdom. Saudi Arabia is *the most* stable Muslim country I have visited and I have visited a great many.
Due to the lack of choice, there is a lot of animosity and friction behind closed doors and that leads to aggression among young people. They simply don’t have a way to express themselves. The Saudi solution is to leave the Kingdom and get involved with Palestine or whatever rings a cord with you. Bin Laden is a good example of these young Saudis. And, 9/11 is another poster child for these Saudis.
The King is someone with very little actual powers on the Kingdom. Why? The country is controlled by the religious group known as Mutawas or Mutaween. These folks rule with an iron fist and they have unlimited powers. So much so, that even the King has to look for their approval in order to get things done. One of the Kings wives is always from this clan. It’s quite shocking as to how powerful and unchallenged these people really are.
Also, Saudi Army itself has never been involved in a conflict. Even during the Gulf War, NATO did all the actual fighting. You can look it up but you will only find that Saudi Arabia has a civil war which united the country and that’s about it. Other than minor rifts with Yemen, there is nothing. Saudis have always been the financiers. And from a military stand point of view, Saudi Arabia is ineffective.
As for Iraq-Kuwait conflict, Yes Iraq-Kuwait was friends. As a matter of fact Kuwait was helping Iraq drill for oil at the first. All the while Kuwait was using slant drilling to suck oil out of Iraq, essentially getting rich on Iraqi oil fields. Saddam was broke after war with Iran for which he was encouraged by Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Both refused to help him after the war when Iraq was under heavy UN sanctions. After Jordanian intervention, they agreed to pay Saddam 10-15blv each which calmed him down. However, Kuwaiti Emir famously taunted Saddam and his military on TV and newspapers for being incapable. Also they offended him by offering $500,000 instead of $10-15bln that was agreed upon. What happened next is in history books. I firmly blame the Kuwaiti attitude for their invasion. And the attitude Saudis and Kuwaitis had towards Iran was ridiculous. Iran has never harmed Saudi Arabia or Kuwait. So, this all seems even more absurd. To me, this is an example of how stupid people make war when they have too much money.
One thing more, I would suggest the readers to go and read Bob Baer’s book, the devil we know. Iran is not the enemy. They are much more advanced and cultured than the media gives them credit for. They have been under onslaught of American policies since op Ajax right down to now. One example is IranAir Fl655 and US support for Saddam against Iran. Despite all this you will not find a single Iranian terrorist bordering on lunacy. They are a calculating people. Iran should be made into an ally as they are shias whom are considered by Wahabis as worst enemy. Rather than making Saudi a cop state, this role should be relegated to Iran to keep order in that region.
not as long as Jewnited States is the “superpower”.
In the end capitalism like this is beneficial to the world economy
http://ithp.org/Going%20Postal/capitalism.html
argee %100.
U.S. is actually re-aiding Al Ghaedeh and Vahabis to prepare ground for US to attack another country in Middle East. All 60b will eventually work hard against us.
Oh god.
I pretty much like it to see all those 60b+, work against the US soon.
Maybe, just maybe US politician learn their lesson this time.
US politician? how about the arrogant Jewnited States empire.
The king is unaware that the aircraft being sold to his country is equipped with kill-safe measures which the Israelis and the U.S. can use at any time to bring down the aircraft. If Saudi Arabia uses any of the aircraft against Israel or the U.S., their demise is only a button push away. By the way, it’s a big secret so don’t tell anyone. Ok?
i think the self kill safe feature is already triggered of the us/zionist empire.
Good points made by everyone,not a good idea to sell arms,and the Kingdom is stupid to spend so much money.Saudi Arabia will never attack Iran,they won’t gain ANYTHING out of it.
this article is based upon false information.first of all big and sophisticated weapons like this arent needed for a proxy war look at hezbollah does it have attack chopper or naval force.second saudi government is much more fragile domestically if saudis go to a proxy war iran will collapse the rulling sheiks and if you read robert baer books you understand iranians are master of proxy war.
this is all another case of empire gone mad than anything remotely moral or rational.
i wouldn’t put anything past this collapsing empire. absolutely nothing!
this is what happens to final stages of their collapse.
the real purpose of us/zionist empire to keep the stirring the pot and muddy the waters to control the region and use these barbarian puppets to destabilize or attack independent countries. This has always been the real reason for their actions for at least the last four decades. the examples are to real and numerous to dismiss.
We sell downgraded war stocks to our allies at times. This here is the same but its not the arming of KSA for a proxy war. On the surface, yes it looks like what the USA and Soviet Union did during the Cold War: arm your friends so they can duke it out. Yet, the Saudis, unlike some of their Arab neighbors/brothers, don’t clamor for conquest and war as much. They had the chance five times in the past to send massive troops against Israel and didn’t do so, that alone should tell you where the Kingdom lies.
Lastly, no one wants a war in the Persian Gulf, except the nuts in Tehran. I want to separate “nuts” from the legitimate and tolerable government that rules Iran. Those that clamor for the destruction of Israel, America, and American allies (like the Saudis and other Gulf States) are the only ones who want to test the waters of war. However, they know that they won’t get very far. The Saudis, like all other arms sales we’ve given them, will take their toys, enjoy them, fly them, brag about them, but rarely train them for war. We gave the Saudis new M1 tanks (minus some critical systems) shortly before the Gulf War and they just sat in them. Saudi culture isn’t one that encourages war… Not to say they aren’t good at repressing their citizenry, but going on the offensive over the Persian Gulf? Not a smart move, they know who could do damage to their oilfields quickly and not suffer equal damage.
The reason they are arming Iran is all about containment of Iran. Meaning they are not going to attack Iran, Israel is not going to Iran and tehy are going to work at containing Iran.
The human empire is what is getting ready to fall if we do not learn how to live within the means of our planet without the population growth ponzi economic scheme and the ready resort to wars of no returns and of false profits…