Defense Secretary Gates has spent much of his term wheedling, cajoling and begging our NATO allies to send more troops to Afghanistan.
I've got an idea: Why not get the Saudis to pony up, say, 20-30,000 troops for Afghanistan, about the same number that Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, said Sunday might be added to the 30,000 we already have there?
After all, we saved the Saudis' bacon in the first Gulf War. And they seemed to have figured out that arresting al Qaeda operatives in the Kingdom is a better alternative to sheltering them. (Arresting terrorist financiers, of course, is another matter.)
And while we're at it, why not demand that all those royal princes who've made a private flying club out of their shiny American F-15s peel off to Afghanistan, where they might be put to the use they were intended for?
They've got maybe hundreds of F-15s parked on the runways, and 75,000 troops in their standing army.
Oh, sure, they won't do it. They'd be killing fellow Sunni fanatics, yada-yada.
But why not put the Saudis on the spot, at least make them explain their reluctance to fight in their own interests? After all, they've got as much at stake in Afghanistan -- maybe more -- as we do.
Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has sworn to destroy the Saudi royal family for allowing American bases to despoil the "land of the two Holy Mosques," Mecca and Medina, Islam's holiest shrines.
In a 1998 interview with John Miller of ABC News, bin Laden said of the royals, "They sin and do not value God's gift. We predict their destruction and dispersal."
So why don't the Saudi take the fight to al Qaeda, which has carried out a score of attacks inside the Kingdom and wants to topple the royal family? Why should we do it for them?
To paraphrase President John F. Kennedy's remarks about Vietnam, why should we send American boys to do what the Saudis boys should be doing for themselves?
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Comments
Newsflash: Saudi Arabia is, in fact, sending quite a few troops to Afghanistan... on Al-Qaeda's side. Saudi Arabia is the main financier and source of recruits for that organization; Al-Qaeda is, in fact, nothing but an offshoot of a significant faction within the Saudi government itself. The other primary benefactor of Al-Qaeda is, obviously, Pakistan.
Posted by: DR
| December 22, 2008 9:33 PM
The Saudi military is a paper tiger, that's why they needed us to protect them from Saddam. The royal family is so paranoid about a military coup like a repeat of the Ikhwan movements they intentionally keep their defense forces weak, except for the National Guard, which is equivalent to Iraq's former Republican Guard. Gates know's this, but also knows the US Saudi relationship is one of if not the most important bilateral relationships we have right now. He's smart enough not to damage it by asking the King to commit military resources.
Posted by: rmh
| December 24, 2008 8:55 PM
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