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| Iraq | ||
| Saudis consider sending troops to Iraq | ||
| 2007-01-17 | ||
Saudi Arabia believes the Iraqi government is not up to the challenge and has told the United States that it is prepared to move its own forces into Iraq should the violence there degenerate into chaos, a senior U.S. official told NBC News on Tuesday.
In fact, Saudi leaders are privately “deeply skeptical” that the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki could implement the U.S. plan, the senior U.S. official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell, who is traveling with Rice. The Saudi government has signaled in the past that it would oppose an early withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, fearing it would leave minority Sunni Muslims at the mercy of Shiite Muslim militias. The Saudis’ primary concern is the Sunni population of Anbar province, the senior U.S. official. The official said the Saudis had informed Washington that they were considering a plan to send troops into the province if Bush’s plan failed.
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| Posted by:Steve White |
| #14 Wotta great story, Mike. Thanks for taking the time to tell it. I don't know if the ineffectiveness of the Saudi pilots is due to sympathy for their co-religionists or simply lack of motivation. I do know our military is always being dumped on for either being mindless order-following robots or endlessly fighting the last war. In truth, they live and die by their adaptability and problem solving skills. Here we have an out of the box solution that not only solves the problem permanently, but manages to diplomaticly preserve the dignity of our 'allies'. And it's hellaciously funny besides. My compliments to y'all. I'm glad you're on our side. And I suppose some commendation is due to the RSAF guy for not wetting himself. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2007-01-17 21:55 |
| #13 A Saudi general acting like a kid trying to get away with not doing his chores. |
| Posted by: Mike N. 2007-01-17 20:57 |
| #12 Steve- Okay, grab yer popcorn. When the air war started, our AWACS guys noticed some Saudi Tornado flights either going off course, heading out to the Gulf and then returning or more-or-less heading for their targets, then turning around short of said targets. Draw your own conclusions as to why, but the important thing is that the Tornado crews were reporting that they'd hit their targets, but 'malfunctions' were preventing any strike camera footage. (These were all in the same unit, BTW.) Our guys realized something was up, and notified BGen Buster Glosson's ops staff at Riyadh. He in turn notified LTGen Chuck Horner, the Coalition air commander. He told our guys to quietly talk to the Saudis with maximum discretion and respect for their sensibilities. Our guys expressed their deep concern over the situation, and the Saudi AF general attached to the Coalition air staff assured our people that there would be no more 'malfunctions'. There were no 'malfunctions' for a couple days, then it happened again. This time, the staff went straight to Horner, who was faced with a dilemma: if the Saudi pilots could get away with this, it could spread to the other Islamic contingents. On the other hand, flatly accusing or even suggesting the Saudi pilots - in public or in private - of cowardice or dereliction of duty could have had serious diplomatic repercussions. It was one of the USAF staff officers who came up with a brilliant solution. Every morning, the Coalition air commanders had a briefing detailing what was going on in the air war. Each one was given a printed strike summary that detailed every sortie flown in the previous 24 hours. The RSAF commander sat down, opened his summary, and a few pages in saw in black and white a statement (with the facts to back it up) that over the last few days it was becoming apparent that some Saudi pilots were refusing to attack Iraqi targets, and this matter was being referred to the highest authorities. The Saudi general apparently turned white as a ghost and broke into a cold sweat - but no one else seemed to have noticed. What the RSAF general didn't know was that his summary was the ONLY one that had that page in it - no one else had even known about the incidents, much less seen that briefing page. The RSAF general somehow made it through the rest of the briefing without having a coronary, and bolted out of the room when they were done. Whatever he did when he left, it must have worked - for the rest of the war, there were no reports or indications of ANY kind that Saudi pilots were doing anything other than flying their missions as ordered. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2007-01-17 19:02 |
| #11 Saudis consider sending troops to Iraq Ok, and which side are they fighting for? |
| Posted by: BigEd 2007-01-17 14:42 |
| #10 The Saudis already *have* forces in Iraq. Oh, you mean, fighting *with* us, not *against* us ? |
| Posted by: Carl in N.H. 2007-01-17 14:28 |
| #9 Hell No! |
| Posted by: Spomort Greling4204 2007-01-17 13:48 |
| #8 I know a couple of Marines who worked with the Saudis in Desert Storm. Not too impressed... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-01-17 13:19 |
| #7 I dont know why the americans trust the saudis as they spread anti USA propaganda worldwide!!!! |
| Posted by: Ebbolump Glomotle9608 2007-01-17 12:12 |
| #6 ...but it got to the point where LTG Horner's staff had to pull an amusingly wicked little stunt to get the attention of the Saudi air commander and get it to stop Tell us more, Uncle Mike! /me suspects an amusing story which will not increase my respect for the Saudis. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2007-01-17 11:43 |
| #5 And just what does Saudi Arabia get from the US in exchange for this "gift"? Smells putrid to me. |
| Posted by: Jules 2007-01-17 11:12 |
| #4 Oh, please, please, please! Bush must the greatest Machiavelli in the last 500 years. |
| Posted by: ed 2007-01-17 09:07 |
| #3 I think we might get around the problem by suggesting that the Saudis send some military and police intelligence units to Anbar province, to aid in identification of al-Qaeda and Iranian infiltrators to the coalition forces, not directly to the Iraqi government they don't trust. They would not be strong enough to challenge the Iraqi army, but could give direct reports to Riyadh, to act as rumor control, and could be allowed limited access to the Shiite south to help our now ongoing program to identify and bust up Iranian espionage networks. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-01-17 09:06 |
| #2 I think this was more of a threat to the Maliki and them on just who thier daddy is? They understand full well if they don't produce and we tell the Saudi's to come play it will be flip the script all over again. |
| Posted by: C-Low 2007-01-17 09:01 |
| #1 ...Oh dear Lord, NO. During Operation Desert Storm, on at LEAST two occasions that we know of, Saudi aircraft sent on strike missions into Iraq and Kuwait instead flew out to sea, jettisoned their bombs and came back. They apparently either forgot AWACS was out there or figured that Allan would hide them or something, but it got to the point where LTG Horner's staff had to pull an amusingly wicked little stunt to get the attention of the Saudi air commander and get it to stop. My point here is that if Saudi officers under almost certain electronic surveillance would pull something like this to avoid hitting their Muslim brothers, what do you think Saudi soldiers would do if they don't think anyone can see them? Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2007-01-17 08:25 |