Bush to Saudis: No Exit Plan

Where do Junior's loyalties lie?

We asked this question after 9/11, when it was revealed that the Bush administration allowed Saudi nationals to fly out of American air-space, with only cursory questioning by the FBI, even after it was known that a Saudi national was behind the 9/11 attacks.

We were called traitors for daring to ask such a question.

Does anyone still believe that the people who questioned this oddity are the traitors?

President Bush is said to have assured the government of Saudi Arabia that the US will not withdraw from Iraq in his presidency, according to a little-noticed remark in a column in Wednesday's Washington Post.

The assurance was reportedly made to quash the perception in the Arab world that the administration has lost control of the war and troops are on their way out no matter what, according to a column by David Ignatius.

“That gives us 18 months to plan,” one Saudi source told Ignatius.

Vice President Dick Cheney's tour of the Middle East this week includes a meeting with Saudi King Abdullah, where the two are expected to reaffirm the alliance between their two countries.
Saudi Arabia has helped the US by containing Iranian influence in the Middle East, but Abdullah has seemed to be distancing himself recently, as in his recent criticism of America’s “illegitimate” presence in Iraq, Ignatius says.

Abdullah is reportedly frustrated with the performance of Iraq’s government under Primer Minister Nouri al-Maliki and is quietly backing former interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, who is close to building a large enough coalition of Sunnis, Kurds and Secular Shiites to take over. The Bush administration fears the upheaval that would come with another change in leadership and is unenthusiastic about Allawi.

FULL COLUMN CAN BE READ HERE

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. The Lantern has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is The Lantern endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)

....And The Truth Shall Set Us Free