Bahu, do not feel bad, as it is not unusual for one track minds to end up in the class of posted articles marked by reasoning that zigs & zags so far & wide that it simply becomes mechanical dribble. Try doing better. Thank you.

"Saudi Arabia is rapidly becoming a safe haven for Islamic Militants of every variety."

Saudi Arabia has always been a safe haven for Islamic militants but their answer to the problem was to export them to Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation. It has now come back to bite them and the Saudi Royals' delicate control over their country is being threatened by the same terrorsts they actively and financially supported. The Saudis also financially supported the Whabbi version of Islam around the globe which is exactly the form of Islam many terrorists subscribe to. There is a great deal of support both ideologically and financially for islamic militants in Saudi Arabia and some of it reaches the highest levels of their government. That explains why the Saudis have to be very careful how they deal with them and in turn, why the U.S. has to be careful how they deal with Saudi Arabia. We need their oil too much to allow them to fall into the hands of islamic extremists, so we don't push them very much to crack down on them. It's a lose-lose situation really...they have to do something about it but if they do too much, too fast...you get the same bad result. If you think invading Iraq is bad...you don't even want to know what a mess we will create if we have to go into Saudi Arabia.

"If you think invading Iraq is bad...you don't even want to know what a mess we will create if we have to go into Saudi Arabia."

T-Bone, ... we are already there, and to be blunt, the U.S., along with the world (yes, the U.N.) is prepared to protect the worlds' oil reserves at any cost-- even if that means disregarding Saudi sovereignty. Naturally, I hope the elections in Iraq succeed, which is likely to pressure that Saudis to reform their government into more democratic institutions. Finally, if the elections in Iraq do not succeed, any resulting civil war would see a Kurd, Shia alliance, which would crush the insurgency. Americans, for the most part, would watch this from up in the bleachers, while, of course, securing the oil wells, etc.... The realty is taht the world would collapse into chaos, but for the availability of oil.

The particular brand of Wahabi Islam which is now branded as Islamic Terroism was exported to Afghanistan by Bin Laden who at that time was fighting the Soviets and therefore the Reagan Administration rewarded him and the mujahuddin groupswith nearlt 6 billion dollars worth of weapons, including the now infamous rocket launchers and M-16 machine guns. Having allowed thwe genie of Islamic Terrorism escape from its bottle, the USA is now trying to destroy the very creature it created, encouraGED AND PATONISED.

"Having allowed thwe genie of Islamic Terrorism escape from its bottle, the USA is now trying to destroy the very creature it created, encouraGED AND PATONISED."

Or, you could say,

Having turned into oppressors worse than those they were battling, the mujahideen bit the hand that fed it and are now being destroyed by the very people they courted to achieve their twisted goals in the first place.

There's no way to spin this logically, Bahu. The Middle East has defiled itself, declining from the culture that inspired the West in science and mathmatics into a hateful collection of paranoid nations. They deride the US for seeking it's own interests and then hide behind Islam while truly protecting their hoarded their oil wealth and oppressing their people.

Welcome to reality. Your idealism doesn't figure in. In the end if you ask for it, you get it. Who you get it from doesn't have to be paragons of morality, they just have to be more viable. The Middle East, as it stands today, isn't any more viable than the aged Empires of Europe.

Welcome to reality. Your idealism doesn't figure in. In the end if you ask for it, you get it. Who you get it from doesn't have to be paragons of morality, they just have to

In fact idealism does not figure in my analysis at all. I was just drawing attention to the close ties between USA and the brand of Islam that is today being derided.

In fact, I regard this war as an idelogical battle in which oil is only incidental.

"The realty is taht the world would collapse into chaos, but for the availability of oil."

So why do we put our national security into one oil-filled basket? Wouldn't it make more sense to come up with an alternative to oil dependence instead of fighting war after war trying to secure it?

"The particular brand of Wahabi Islam which is now branded as Islamic Terroism was exported to Afghanistan by Bin Laden"

Actually, it was being exported before Bin Laden by the Saudis but they certainly didn't mind exporting him and others like him to Afghanistan...the Saudis continued to fund Islamic jihadists in Afghanistan even after the bombing of the USS Cole...as did Pakistan.

Reply #7 By: T_Bone4Justice - 12/14/2004 9:29:12 PM

"The realty is taht the world would collapse into chaos, but for the availability of oil."

So why do we put our national security into one oil-filled basket? Wouldn't it make more sense to come up with an alternative to oil dependence instead of fighting war after war trying to secure it?"

I agree and ask what in the hell are we witing for? I for one will agree to peddal my bicycle (or Fred Flinestone car) for as long as it takes. Why haven't the dems. paid more than lip service to this urgent situation?