RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Mar. 30, 2007
Saudi King Blasts U.S. "Occupiers" In Iraq
Remarks Provoke Rare Public Discord With U.S., But Could Build Credibility Of Saud Leadership Among Arabs
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King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud of Saudi Arabia, seen while Arab leaders pose together ahead of the opening session of the annual summit of the Arab League at the King Abdul Aziz Conventional Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, March 28, 2007. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
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White House spokeswoman Dana Perino disputed Saudi King Abdullah's statement that U.S.-led troops in Iraq were an illegal foreign occupying force. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
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The kingdom has taken an aggressive leadership role to quiet Mideast troubles, and wanted to show other Arabs it was willing to put their interests above its close ties to the United States.
The White House, in a rare public retort Thursday, rejected the king's characterization of U.S. troops in Iraq as an "illegitimate foreign occupation," saying the United States was not in Iraq illegally.
"The United States and Saudi Arabia have a close and cooperative relationship on a wide range of issues," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said. "And when it comes to the coalition forces being in Iraq, we are there under the U.N. Security Council resolutions and at the invitation of the Iraqi people."
"We disagree with them," U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns told senators. "We were a little surprised to see those remarks."
The king made his remarks Wednesday at the opening session of the two-day Arab summit his country hosted in Riyadh. It was believed to be the first time the king publicly expressed that opinion.
"In beloved Iraq, blood is flowing between brothers, in the shadow of an illegitimate foreign occupation, and abhorrent sectarianism threatens a civil war," said Abdullah, whose country is a U.S. ally that quietly aided the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
A Saudi official said the king was speaking as the president of the summit and his remarks reflected general frustration with the "patchwork" job the Americans were doing to end violence in Iraq.
The king also wanted to send a message that Iraq is an issue that Arabs cannot turn their back on, the official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
It was not clear what kind of diplomatic fallout could result — but the comments did nothing to help bring Arab nations closer to the government of Iraq's Shiite prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki.
The summit has taken a tough line on Iraq, demanding it change its constitution and military to include more Sunnis and end a program of uprooting former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party.
The Sunni-led governments of the Arab world have long been suspicious of Iraq's Shiite leadership, blaming it for fueling violence by discriminating against Sunni Arabs and accusing it of helping mainly Shiite Iran extend its influence in the region.
Abdullah's remarks came at a time when the kingdom is taking a more public role in efforts to defuse crises threatening to engulf the Middle East.
Saudi Arabia sponsored a reconciliation accord between Palestinian factions, has engaged Iran about its nuclear program, and has tried to settle simmering tensions in Lebanon. The kingdom also has been talking to various factions in Iraq.
Writers in some Arab media suggested before the summit that Saudi Arabia would seek solutions that would cater to U.S. interests.
"The king's remarks are the biggest proof that those accusations were false," said Dawood al-Shirian, a Saudi analyst. "In the issue of Iraq, Saudi Arabia went far beyond most other Arab countries. It went beyond the details and right to the cause."
Al-Shirian said he expected other Arab countries to take Saudi Arabia's lead in considering the presence of U.S. troops an illegal occupation.
"If Saudi Arabia didn't blame the occupation, the blame would fall on the Iraqis, who are victims. How can you blame the victim?" he asked.
The U.S. called its presence in Iraq an occupation until the June 2004 handover of sovereignty to the Iraqis. U.S. troops remained in Iraq with permission from the Iraqi government and a mandate from the United Nations.
Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal stood by the king's remarks Thursday — and his defense had hints of the Arab nation's attitude that the Shiite-led government doesn't have the legitimacy to approve the U.S. presence.
"If that country had chosen to have those troops, then it's something else. But any military action that is not requested by a specific country — that is the definition of occupation," al-Faisal told reporters.
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Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 55 CommentsWhat are the prerequisites for an invaded nation to go to war to defend its highest interests?
What ARE the highest interests of a Nation? Who defines the highest interests of a Nation? How can they be detrimental to the other Nation? What do they imply in term of invading another nation and monopolizing its resources? What an invading Nation%u2019s obligations toward the invaded Nation are?
It%u2019s all written in the law books of the United Nations. Walking-Liar has not read them. (Does he know how to read;?) Hence the resistance of the Iraqis.
Saudi Arabia with its known strong relationship with US, strangely questioning the legality of the our presence in Iraq?
Does the Saudi King feel the heat coming to his derriere?
-Imagine this;
Walking-Liar: Would you mind if we stayed here Nouri?
Nouri: well let me think of it.... (3 seconds later) yes George, yecanstay. But don't sneak into mabackyard. And don't cuss at me if our neighbours didn't like ya!
The real problem is corrupt political power not the social institutions it uses. Advocating the suppression of those institutions only feeds the beast.
Other related Issues are confused political power and inadvertent results of well-intentioned political power.
It seems there are a lot of non-religion based alliances out there in the world. I'm supposed to believe that just Saddam and Bin Laden couldn't work together, and somehow magically now Baathists and Jihadists work together everyday.
And this future bathroom attendant for Amadinejad (picture above) after the future Iranian takeover of his Kingdom joins the blame-America-for-everything crowd.
No one was having any problems until America came along- I hardly think so.
KIM JONG IL (atheist lunatic))
AHMADINEJAD (religious lunatic)
CHAVEZ (socialist lunatic)
They never met nor had meetings or discussed a unified anti-American policy, right?
Main trait in common LUNATIC, not religion!
For those of you who don't read english those three lunatics have met, and they're not even of the same religion or from the same region.
Maybe the left can convince us that they were just playing a nice game of GO FISH.
Posted by tbweb at 12:52 PM : Mar 31, 2007
I totally agree with you.Religion is always used as a tool to fool the people.Any unjustified action can be justified on the name of Religion because when people talk about religion,they refer to God and God can not come in front of the people and tell them that this guy is a liar,These are not my statement this guy is using for his personal interests.
I think what we need to do are
1) To find an alternative energy resource.
2) To keep religion out of politics.
3) To keep America and American interest on the top priority.
4) To stop sending US tax dollars to the Eruopean invaders in Palestine,Palestine,Egypt,Jordan and the democratically elected religious Radical in Iraq named "MALIKI" who is taking our Tax money on the name of Rebuilding Iraq and our Weapons on the name of Arming Iraqi Security forces to kill our troops deployed there.
I agree that the Arabs can charge any price they want for their oil, its their oil. But with that said it was obvious to me the prices were set based on politics, namely U.S. support for Israel. Whenever the Arabs became angry and didn't like U.S. decisions that favored Israel the price of oil jumped. The Arabs abused there power and I hope the U.S. develops alternatives to oil so that the U.S. can regain control over its economic future.
Like I said I'm not a religious expert but that may be an advantage because I can express a fair and innocent opinion. The issue between Israel and the Palestinians from what I do know seems to center around where the calendar starts as to who was there first! What is the cut off date, Israel claims it was there first based on the calendar the Israelis use and the Palestinians claim they were there first based on the calendar they use! I wonder if time was not an issue would the Israelis be right and they were there first, I really don't know but if the Israelis were there first based on their calendar then the Palestinians are wrong! Who decides which calendar to use?
America is a work in progress, America is not a finished product and as long as I see continued progress I really do believe America the finished product will be fine. If you look at the plight of the African-Americans from slavery to now, the progress is obvious but there is much more that needs to be done. The recent Gold-Medal Award to the all African-American Tuskegee Airmen was 60 years late but its proof that while America is slow America gets there eventually!
I'm not a religious expert but I do have my thoughts and opinions about religion in government. Just because there are so many religions and so many people living in nations of different cultures and nationalities I think its only fair for a govenment to be religion free and religion neutral in order to ensure fairness for all the people who live in that nation, no matter which nation it is.
Posted by tbweb at 12:09 PM : Mar 31, 2007
Who is helping them in this economic war against us?The neocons in our country and those Oil companies who don't care about American people at all.Some dictators in the Middle East care about their people more then our democratically elected leaders.
If a citizen of UAE comesto United States for Medical treatment,not only all the hospital bill is payed in cash from his govt but he recieves $7000 a month form his govt to stay in United States.Don't tell me they have too much money.After the first Gulf war,when Saudi Arabia gave so much Oil to United States for free,major Oil companies owners were not satisfied with the profit they were making.
Iraq war has benifited nobody more then Islamic Radicals and the Arab Oil businessmen and has hurt nobody more then United States and her people.
According to Shia Islamic belief,for the second coming of their final Imam Mehdi,it's essential to kill al the NON-MUSLIMS in the Middle east.Onlyproblem in achieving their goal was an ANTI-ISLAMIC DICTATOR named SADDAM.If United States pull her troops out of Iraq now,the whole area will go into the hands of those AYATOLLAHS who call us the greatest satan.Once they get the control of Oil,we'll be thrown back in stone age
It's their oil.It's their right to sell in the price they want to.It's just like if Armani outlet store sells a shirt in $200,we can't tell them to sell the shirt in $10 because Wal-mart shirts cost $10.We need to buy their oil for our survival,they don't need to sell us especially after China and India are much better customers.Why should they care about us at all period when we don't care about them when it comes to supporting the European invaders in Palestine.How does taking Oil in cheaper prices from Arabs and supporting their those enemies who were brought into Palestine after WWII to occupy the land of Palestinians by force,help and benifit United States.
This is the result of involvement of religion into politics.United States,her interests and her survival have no value in the eyes of those enemies of United States who want US policies to be based on Bible.Involvement of religion into politics and US interest can't get along.We need to choose one of them.
We can convince a Christian African American man dying in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina that he deserves to die because of not getting support on time since he is born in a GOD-NEGLECTED BLACK RACE not CHOSEN by GOD so he doesn't deserve anything from US tax payers' money while the same money goes to NON-AMERICANS which result in HATRED,TERRORISM and 9/11 against us,but we can't fool the whole world on the name of GOD,JESUS,BIBLE and CHRISTIANITY.
It's their oil.It's their right to sell in the price they want to.It's just like if Armani outlet store sells a shirt in $200,we can't tell them to sell the shirt in $10 because Wal-mart shirts cost $10.We need to buy their oil for our survival,they don't need to sell us especially after China and India are much better customers.Why should they care about us at all period when we don't care about them when it comes to supporting the European invaders in Palestine.How does taking Oil in cheaper prices from Arabs and supporting their those enemies who were brought into Palestine after WWII to occupy the land of Palestinians by force,help and benifit United States.
This is the result of involvement of religion into politics.United States,her interests and her survival have no value in the eyes of those enemies of United States who want US policies to be based on Bible.Involvement of religion into politics and US interest can't get along.We need to choose one of them.
We can convince a Christian African American man dying in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina that he deserves to die because of not getting support on time since he is born in a GOD-NEGLECTED BLACK RACE not CHOSEN by GOD so he doesn't deserve anything from US tax payers' money while the same money goes to NON-AMERICANS which result in HATRED,TERRORISM and 9/11 against us,but we can't fool the whole world on the name of GOD,JESUS,BIBLE and CHRISTIANITY.
The Arabs have been waging war against the U.S. for years and just because they don't wage war with guns and bombs the secret war goes unnoticed to the untrained and uninformed. I'm speaking of the secret economic war the Arabs wage against the U.S.! While market forces set and drive prices for oil, long before there were other major oil consumers the Arabs would get angry, usually over U.S. support for Israel and raise the price for a barrel of oil for revenge and the Arabs raised their prices frequent and often with their version of the Mafia (OPEC). The price of a barrel of oil is worth $20.00(US) at best and that's too high. The Arabs are killing the U.S. economy with inflated oil prices and they don't use guns and bombs to do it!
Iraq war has destroyed US credibility as a SUPER POWER that we no longer can scare people of our weapons and military.Our Military which is no doubt the best Military in the world has been defeated by those who don't have Army,Navy,Air force and Marine.
When it comes to Politics and Business,people either need to forget their religious belief or face CATOSTROPHY and ADVERSE FINANCIAL CONSEQUENCES.
Nobody has been fooled in the history of mankind like Americans on the name of GOD,CHRISTIANITY and BIBLE.Americans have been made SLAVES,SERVANTS,PROTECTORS and DEFENDERS of NON-AMERICAN EUROPEAN INVADERS in PALESTINE on the basis of AMERICANS being GOD-NEGLECTED and NON-AMERICAN being GOD-CHOSEN.
Posted by sero5 at 04:19 AM : Mar 31, 2007
Do you think,United States should continue taking Oil in cheaper prices from Arabs and in return support,protect and defend their those enemies who were brought into Palestine from different European countries,after WWII to cooupy the land of those Palestinians by force who had nothing to do with the actions of Hitler?
Do you think USA should continue supporting the ILLIGITIMATE and UNJUSTIFIED EXISTANCE of ISRAEL on the world map on the cost of American money,American lives and USA herself since Americans are GOD-NEGLECTED and NON-AMERICAN EUROPEAN INVADERS in PALESTINE are GOD-CHOSEN,America is an UNHOLY LAND whereas a NON-AMERICAN LAND is a HOLY LAND,our constitution which separates CHURCH from STATE is UNHOLY whereas ANTI-AMERICAN BIBLE which racially discriminates against Americans by not promising them a single penny while promising NON-AMERICAN a land in the MIDDLE EAST, is HOLY.
There's TONS more proof, If anyone decides to actually look for it.
Posted by henry6543 at 06:30 AM : Mar 31, 2007
All these intelligence reports you referred to are just like pictures of Mobile Chemical Factories on trucks shown by Collin Powel in UN Security Council.
Bush administration should have learned Middle Eastern cultures and religions before invading Iraq.
Saddam Huassain was not a muslim according to strict Islamic Sharia Law but was considered as an apostate in the eyes of Radical Muslims.
Saddam was nice with only one religious group in Iraq namely Iraqi Catholics(CHALDEANS) since he had no fear of power from them.He knew that in a Muslim country,nobody would like to see a CHRSITIAN PRESIDENT.His Foreing Minister, Tariq Aziz was one of em.According to Radical islam,whoever appoints a Catholic Foreing Minister becomes apostate and the punishment of apostacy is death according to the verse of Koran
"O People of believe,don't take jews and Christians your friends,they are friends of each other.Whoever among you(meaning muslims),take them as friends is among them".
Nobody has killed Radical muslims more then Saddam.
All the evidences you came up with were intentionally made by Alqaeda to fool Americans so that Islamic Radicals could get rid of their worst enemy by using US Tax dollars and US soldiers' lives.This has been admitted by one of the captured Alqaeda terrorist named 'AL-LIBI".
No one in their right mind could possibly think that everything in that region is not connected in some way or on some level. It's like saying Florida has nothing to do with New York. Can't possibly be so.
Unless you're from China.
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