Keep Your Enemies Closer

The hottest article of today is probably Paul Sperry’s New York Post article outlining Saudi involvement with the attacks on 9/11:

In its report on the still-censored “28 pages” implicating the Saudi government in 9/11, “60 Minutes” last weekend said the Saudi role in the attacks has been “soft-pedaled” to protect America’s delicate alliance with the oil-rich kingdom.

That’s quite an understatement.

Actually, the kingdom’s involvement was deliberately covered up at the highest levels of our government. And the coverup goes beyond locking up 28 pages of the Saudi report in a vault in the US Capitol basement. Investigations were throttled. Co-conspirators were let off the hook.

Read it and gnash your teeth. I suspect it’s a surprise to almost no one.

I think there are two factors that underpin our government’s stance. The first is a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of aristocracies. In an aristocracy the aristocrats are the government. There is no wall of separation or daylight between the two. Under the Westphalian order when a state is an aristocracy and one or more of the aristocrats engages in what is obviously an act of war against another state, it’s an act of war, not ordinary street crime. Basically, we’ve been at war with Saudi Arabia for some time, we just have refused to acknowledge it.

The second is even more troubling. Okay. So the Saudis participated in act of war against the United States. So what? That is to say, what recourse do we have? We could go to war against Saudi Arabia, running the risk that, since the Sauds are the custodians of the Muslim holy sites, it could foment a war of all Muslims against the United States.

We could try to bring down the Saud family covertly by one means or another. To be replaced by whom or what? There is no good alternative.

My own view is that we should have been fulminating to pry the Muslim holy sites away from the Sauds long since but a) we’re just not that sort of people; and b) the process would require more guile and more time than we have. The Brits could have done it. We can’t.

What does that leave us with? Well, there’s the legal system which is what’s presently being discussed. Hypothetically, allowing the lawsuits to proceed could cause them real pain.

We’ve tried to corral their activities in the world banking system. That isn’t really sufficient.

My own view is that from 9/11 forward we should have arranged it that the only place that was safe for any member of the Saud family of any age, gender, or rank would have been their homeland. There would be just too many accidents elsewhere.

29 comments… add one
  • Modulo Myself Link

    I find it hard to believe that the Saudi government had a plan that involved masterminding a terrorist attack on the United States and then having us cover it up for them.

    I think it’s more likely that everything went wrong before 9/11. Did we know? No. But our ‘allies’ in Saudi intelligence told us something while promising they had the situation under control. Meanwhile our government was busy trying to tie all of this back to Iraq. It was a total disaster and it makes a lot more sense than a plan involving the benovelovence of the United States that sponsored 9/11.

    Neocon idiots have always believed in fifth columns because they have no capacity to imagine the US a comspiratorial country.

  • You’re missing the point about aristocracies. Whenever one Saudi aristocrat does something that is the government. I have no problem believing that some Saudi aristocrats collaborated with Osama bin Laden et al. or that some Saudi aristocrats connived at a cover up.

    Aristocratic and autocratic governments should be forced to play by their own rules. We should stop cutting them slack.

  • TastyBits Link

    The reason to keep your enemies closer is to be able to whack their asses when the time is right.

    The House of Saud is kaput. They are the walking dead. When they thought they could bankrupt the US frackers, they started down the path leading to their destruction.

    It turned out that there was a lot more oil than promised. It turned out that getting that oil to market was a lot cheaper than promised. It turned out that the zero interest rates allowed frackers to stay afloat longer than promised. The oil glut they created is going to be around for a lot longer than anybody is promising.

    The second mistake they made was to actually believe that expensive hardware could transform them into a formidable military force. They were worthless. They are worthless, and they will always be worthless in military matters.

    With no money to buy protection and no military prowess to provide protection, they are like the goats or little boys they like to f*ck, but unlike goats and little boys, the House of Saud and all its retinue are not innocent.

    The easiest solution is to do nothing, and let Allah sort it out. They will kill each other according to Allah’s plan, and the victors will divide the goats and little boys amongst themselves. Any of the defeated still alive will be forced to accept the women. The dead will obtain their 72 virgins – goats and little boys.

    (Did I mention that they are filthy animals? At least, the soldiers are.)

  • Modulo Myself Link

    You’re missing the point about aristocracies. Whenever one Saudi aristocrat does something that is the government.

    I got the point. It has nothing to do with aristocrats or the Treaty of Westphalia. Every entity should be forced to play by its own rules. An eye for an eye. That’s what often drives terrorists to target innocent civilians.

  • Modulo Myself Link

    Also, the Saudis definitely knew where the bodies are buried. They didn’t conspire to get the United States to fund mujihadeen or sell weapons to Iran in order to finance the Contras but they certainly were involved. Honestly, if the Saudis could have videos of Neil Bush strangling a 14-year old prostitute, they could have had anything. They were accomplices whenever America did bad covert things in the mideast.

  • walt moffett Link

    FWIW, before we go plotting how to get the Hashemite dynasty to reclaim their ancestral claim to guardianship of Mecca and Medina, lets wait to see what the censored pages actually say. Though whether the current or next Administration is willing to cope with a Saudi sell off is another problem.

  • walt, considering the threat they just made I don’t think we should wait for anything. The threat alone was enough.

  • michael reynolds Link

    As you may recall, Dave, I have had a long hate-on for the Saudis. They are the focus of evil in the modern world. So much of what cripples the Arab world flows from the ideology promulgated by the Saudis.

    Our natural allies in the region are the Iranian people. Granted their current regime is nearly as heinous as the Saudi regime, but they have far less reach, and the Iranian people are not the fanatics their leaders are.

    We need the whole truth on this. And you are absolutely right that in the face of bullying from these toads we should immediately release the report.

  • And you are absolutely right that in the face of bullying from these toads we should immediately release the report.

    Not to mention that we should call their bluff. I assume they can add. There’s no way they win in an economic pissing contest.

  • PD Shaw Link

    The NY Post article is a mess of speculation and conspiracy-mongering. If the reason the 28 pages are classified is to protect sources, I think that period has long passed and they should be released. I’m not a fan of litigation as a tool of foreign policy.

  • Sadly, conjecture, false alternatives, and guilt by association are what pass for reporting these days.

  • walt moffett Link

    I think the Saudi sell off threat was an appropriate response to the plaintiff’s bar seeking another cash cow (I know their measly 30-40% barely covers the Gulfstream note…). However, before we go to war I would rather have hard evidence not gossip, hear say and innuendo.

    BTW, fwiw, a default judgement has been entered against Iran over 9/11. Details on presstv.ir Needlee to say this annoys the Iranians.

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