We'll arm Sunni insurgents in Iraq, say Saudis
Pastor Dale Morgan
We'll arm Sunni insurgents in Iraq, say Saudis*
By Toby Harnden in Washington
Last Updated: 4:04am GMT 14/12/2006
Saudi Arabia would respond to an American withdrawal from Iraq by
funding and arming Sunni insurgents to prevent them being massacred by
Shia militias, the kingdom has told the White House.
George W Bush at the Pentagon. Iraq
Mr Bush at the Pentagon yesterday to discuss Iraq
The blunt warning, which diplomatic sources said was delivered by King
Abdullah to Vice President Dick Cheney in Riyadh just over a fortnight
ago, raises the spectre of an Iraqi civil war triggering a conflict
between Sunni and Shia states across the Middle East.
Saudi Arabia fears that the United States might take the side of the
Shia majority in Iraq or abandon the country altogether, leaving Sunnis
at the mercy of Shias intent on vengeance for decades of Sunni
domination and oppression.
Chas Freeman, a former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia, said that King
Abdullah was also concerned that the US invasion of Iraq had
"consolidated an Iranian hegemony in the northern tier of the Arab world".
The Saudi warning greatly complicates President George W Bush's plan for
a fresh Iraq strategy. The White House this week announced that Mr Bush
would not be addressing Americans about a changed Iraq policy until the
New Year after previously indicating he would give a speech before
Christmas.
Any Saudi intervention in Iraq would be fraught with difficulty because
foreign al-Qa'eda fighters loyal to the Saudi-born Osama bin Laden are
dedicated to bringing down the House of Saud.
The abrupt resignation this week of Prince Turki al-Faisal, the Saudi
ambassador to Washington, after just 15 months in the post is believed
to be connected to his opposition to the suggestion that the kingdom
might intervene in Iraq.
The kingdom's hardening position is a reaction to what some Bush
administration officials refer to as the "80 per cent solution" in Iraq
— a US state department proposal to abandon moves to woo Iraq's Sunnis,
who make up 20 per cent of Iraq's population of 26 million.
Mr Bush was at the Pentagon yesterday to discuss Iraq with senior
generals, many of whom favour a "surge" in troop numbers in Iraq,
particularly in Baghdad.
The president responded coolly to proposals by the independent Iraq
Study Group last week to begin a gradual "draw-down" of US forces.
Philip Zelikow, a senior aide to Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of
state, is said to be the author of the "80 per cent" proposal, which
argues that US attempts at reconciliation between Sunnis, who dominated
Iraq under Saddam Hussein, and Shia are too ambitious.
But Miss Rice is understood to oppose the plan and it has met stiff
opposition from Zalmay Khalilzad, the US ambassador to Baghdad, and
military commanders in Iraq.
Miss Rice instead favours the creating of a "Sunni crescent" in the
Middle East based on Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt and the Gulf states
while building links between moderate Sunni tribal and provincial
leaders in Iraq and Nouri al-Maliki's Shia-led government.
This would isolate Shia-dominated Iran and Sunni-dominated Syria.
Saudi Arabia is particularly concerned about the growth of Iran and its
client Hizbollah, which is also supported by Syria, in Lebanon.