A little good news in an otherwise dismal part of the world. It is hard to know who to root against more, the Iranian shiites or the Wahabi sunnis.

To paraphrase Henry Kissinger: too bad they can't both lose.

I for one doubt that the Wahabi's hate Iran more than the US. While there is no love lost between the Sunni's and Shiite's, it just doesn't suit the Sunni nations timetable, nor is it their strategy to seek direct confrontation with the US.

Iran is ruled by the mullah's. Saudi Arabia's Whabbi's do not directly control the government.

The Iranian mullah's have always been 'true believers' and pure hate is a severe impediment to clear thinking.

From the Sunni nations perspective, premature Iranian actions precipitating the US entering into a war with Iran and even broadening into a regional conflict is the very last thing Sunni nations want.

This is not about Whabbi's loathing Iran over the US.

"Saudi Arabia's Whabbi's do not directly control the government."


I believe the United States has a hand in this one- it's not like they're the only nation that will gladly do a proxy war in the Middle East for the already stretched US military.

oh please. the saudis are wahabis. They are in on this bogus coalition for two reasons

1. they hate shias (see iraq)
2. they get billions from the US, same with Jordan and egypt.

Your basically talking abou extending the shia-sunni civil war in Iraq to the entire region. Yeah , i'm sure they'll be very careful not to hurt israel.

Posted by: lester at July 21, 2006 12:33 PM

Other than revenue from wildly inflated oil prices, Saudi Arabia doesn't get ANY $ from the US.

Just recently, a $25,000.00, (yes, $25 thousand dollars) grant was dropped in a foreign aid bill in Congress. Reportedly, Senators stood up and cheered. So THAT cannot be a factor.

Neither the Sunni's NOR the Shiite's want a regional 'Iraq' style conflict.

But thank you for your informed commentary.

but the whole point of this article is that the we are pitting sunni against shia. Your right about the saudis, but we do give billions to egypt and jordan mainly for the purpose of them agreeing to recognize israel.

You actually think the saudis are putting out this bogus fatwa because they are concerned about Israel and against dictatorships?

[Do]" You actually think the saudis are putting out this bogus fatwa because they are concerned about Israel and against dictatorships?"lester

No, I do not. They are dictatorships. The Saudi's want the Israeli's dead just as much as the Iranians. The 'fatwa' is an attempt to 'rein in' the Iranians by putting up a minor 'roadblock' to the Iranians pursuit of Alpha-male status in Islam.

Yes, Egypt and Jordan do get $$$ but your statement was about the Saudi's and you were using that claim to buttress your assertions.

The fatwa is NOT about Saudi 'hate' for the Iranians. It's about maintaining the balance of power.