US/Saudis to Clash

[Manu]

The Bush administration is bracing for a meeting full of fireworks Thursday when President George W. Bush meets with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah in Crawford, Texas.

"We're gonna get hammered on Israel," one State Department official told CNN.

"They're gonna want us to sit on Sharon," he went on to say, referring to Saudi insistence that the United States do more to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to de-escalate tensions with Palestinians.

The Saudi message, predicted U.S. officials, will be to tell the Israelis to "back off on Ramallah" and at the "Church of the Nativity," alluding to the ongoing Israeli military operations in Bethlehem and around Yasser Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah.

Saudi peace proposal
Israel would complete a "full withdrawal from all occupied Arab territories."
Israel would recognize "an independent Palestinian state with al-Quds al-Shareef (East Jerusalem) as its capital."
Israel would allow "the return of refugees."
Arab nations would establish "normal relations" and security for Israel.


The Bush administration is still reviewing its overall strategy for the region, and State Department officials say Secretary of State Colin Powell believes the Tenet and Mitchell plans "could go poof" if "substantial political progress" is not made soon in crafting a solution to the last 19 months of nonstop Mideast violence.

One of the ideas the United States is considering, a senior administration official tells CNN, is to get the Israelis to commit to stop expanding Jewish settlements.

On the U.S. side, officials say Bush will be calling upon the Saudis to be a "constructive" part of the solution. For example, the United States wants the Saudi kingdom to stop sending money to support "Hamas terrorists."

Hamas, a Palestinian Islamic fundamentalist organization, has been labeled by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist organization. The group's military wing, Izzedine al Qassam, has admitted responsibility for terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and well as attacks against the Israeli military.

In addition, the United States is also bracing for a tough critique of Powell's recent 10-day Middle East mission. Officials say Bush plans to emphasize that "the situation on the ground is better" than before Powell began his peace-making trip.

Bush will tell the crown prince to "trust the results," explained one U.S. official.
www.cnn.com

[Cosmo]

I think the Saudis will tell us to go kiss it.

Good thing RR the great won the cold war, we can still get oil from the Russkis.

[jwreck]

I don't get it. We should be on the defensive from the Saudis? They are the ones funding terrorist.They are the ones who begged us to not let the Iraquis get them in the Gulf War. And now they want to tell us what for? I don't think so.

[ResidentRice]

Originally posted by Cosmo
I think the Saudis will tell us to go kiss it.

Good thing RR the great won the cold war, we can still get oil from the Russkis.

I won the cold war? Cool. Another resume builder.


"I don't get it. We should be on the defensive from the Saudis? They are the ones funding terrorist.They are the ones who begged us to not let the Iraquis get them in the Gulf War. And now they want to tell us what for? I don't think so."

And let me ask you this. Can you count how many barrels of oil the Saudies give us, directly and indirectly? I'll bet you have to do a lot more than raise both hands and just take off both your shoes.

Money talks.

[The Frog]

The thing that strikes me is the arab proposal breaks down to:

Give us this, this and this and we'll talk about being nice to you.


Whatever we say about it, Israel's response is liable to be a big fat, 'Oh yeah Arabs? MAKE ME.'


The whole situation is pretty hopeless.

[jwreck]

Originally posted by TheFrog
The thing that strikes me is the arab proposal breaks down to:

Give us this, this and this and we'll talk about being nice to you.


Whatever we say about it, Israel's response is liable to be a big fat, 'Oh yeah Arabs? MAKE ME.'


The whole situation is pretty hopeless.

That about sums it up.

[Powerboss]

Originally posted by Cosmo
I think the Saudis will tell us to go kiss it.

Good thing RR the great won the cold war, we can still get oil from the Russkis.

And conversly, we're not going to be "yes Men" to the Saudis and we'll tell them how it is, and how its going to be, and if they dont like it, go peddle your oil elsewhere. They need us, as much as we need them.

It is a good thing RR won the cold war and the Russians are now our friends so we can get our oil from them since Kerry, Lieberman adn the rest of the Democrats against ARWR and FORCE us to depend on more foreign sources.

[86Dude]

All I can say to them and their 17 century monarchy and inferior 11th century culture is BRING IT! As a matter of fact, cut us off from your damn oil supply if it makes you feel better. Go all out, give us an excuse to get midevil. I have 2 legs, a bike, and a horse. None of those require insurance, and I will survive as long as I need to.

OK, theres my illogical emotional rant for the day.

[QtrHrsmn]

We need another state....it doesn't have to be in the same hemisphere, and it would give us centrally located military bases that could more easily police the area.... OF course.... I'm dreaming... some left wing weenie will shoot me down...