Saudi Arabia Frees 1,500 al Qaeda Members After "Counseling"

BPSCG · 28th November 2007, 07:57 AM

Our friends, the Saudis, continue to wage the good fight against terrorists:

Quote:

On the eve of the Annapolis summit on the Middle East conflict, the Saudi royal family released 1,500 members of Al Qaeda from prison, requiring them only to promise to refrain from jihad within the Arabian Peninsula.

The story first broke over the weekend in the Saudi newspaper Al Watan. In an interview with the newspaper, a member of a special committee to reform jihadists in the kingdom, Muhammad al-Nujaimi, said the newly released prisoners had been reformed.

"The committee has met around 5,000 times to offer counseling to 3,200 people, who were accused of embracing the takfir ideology. The committee has successfully completed reforming 1,500 people," he said.

That's a really good program they have there. An average of 1.5 meetings per terrorist gets a 47% success rate in getting them to renounce terrorism.

On the Arabian Peninsula, at least. No word on whether or not they've renounced terrorism anywhere else.

Link

ImaginalDisc · 28th November 2007, 07:59 AM

OIL

OIL

OIL

Why are these people OIL our OIL allies again? OIL

BPSCG · 28th November 2007, 08:05 AM

Originally Posted by ImaginalDisc

OIL

OIL

OIL

Why are these people OIL our OIL allies again? OIL

And your point is...?

ImaginalDisc · 28th November 2007, 08:08 AM

Originally Posted by BPSCG

And your point is...?

That the government of Saudi Arabia is our ally solely because they have the black stuff, and that the whole country is doing more to foment Islamic extremism than anyone else.

Oil makes an ally out of a country that would otherwise be an enemy.

BPSCG · 28th November 2007, 08:15 AM

Originally Posted by ImaginalDisc

That the government of Saudi Arabia is our ally solely because they have the black stuff, and that the whole country is doing more to foment Islamic extremism than anyone else.

Oil makes an ally out of a country that would otherwise be an enemy.

In what way are they our ally? They sell us stuff we need, but by that measure, China is our biggest ally.

So in what way are they our ally?

ImaginalDisc · 28th November 2007, 09:05 AM

Originally Posted by BPSCG

In what way are they our ally? They sell us stuff we need, but by that measure, China is our biggest ally.

So in what way are they our ally?

Beyond our oil entanglement with them, we sold them nearly 40 billion dollars with of arms, and gave tham a few hundred million dollars worth more gratis in the previous decade alone.

Our relationship with Saudi Arabia is by no means as diplomatically close as with, say, the UK. However, we use them as a military ally in the "War Against Terrorism," and we have an ongoing ecomonic partnership. Does that not constitues a relationship as "allies?"

ravdin · 28th November 2007, 09:14 AM

Originally Posted by BPSCG

In what way are they our ally? They sell us stuff we need, but by that measure, China is our biggest ally.

So in what way are they our ally?

The President says they are an ally. On the other hand, he also says that "waterboarding isn't torture" and "Islam is a religion of peace". So you may have a point.

Darth Rotor · 28th November 2007, 09:22 AM

Originally Posted by ImaginalDisc

OIL

OIL

OIL

Why are these people OIL our OIL allies again? OIL

ID, I suggested in another thread that the Saudis are our "oillies."

I strongly encourage use of that the neologism, partly because one can take it two ways: as a joke on "allies" and "oil," and the fusing of "oil" and "lies. It can fit nearly any take on the current state of play.

Given some of their peculiar ways of showing support for stability in their own region, it's a pithy descriptive of the relationship between the medieval kingdom, and much of the modern, industrialized world.

DR

BPSCG · 28th November 2007, 12:04 PM

Originally Posted by ImaginalDisc

Beyond our oil entanglement with them, we sold them nearly 40 billion dollars with of arms, and gave tham a few hundred million dollars worth more gratis in the previous decade alone.

That makes them our allies? We sell and give stuff to all kinds of people all over the world, a lot of whom hate our living guts. Are they our allies, too?

I always thought an ally was someone who shared most, if not all, of your vital strategic interests and goals, and worked with you to advance those interests and goals.

What common strategic interests and goals do our friends the Saudis share with us, beyond trade?

geni · 28th November 2007, 12:08 PM

Originally Posted by BPSCG

What common strategic interests and goals do our friends the Saudis share with us, beyond trade?

Makeing lots of money and in the cause of the ruleing familiy preventing saudi arabia being taken over by serious islamic fundimentalists.

They would also like to see iran's nuclear ambitions kept in check.

Crossbow · 28th November 2007, 12:09 PM

Originally Posted by BPSCG

That makes them our allies? We sell and give stuff to all kinds of people all over the world, a lot of whom hate our living guts. Are they our allies, too?

I always thought an ally was someone who shared most, if not all, of your vital strategic interests and goals, and worked with you to advance those interests and goals.

What common strategic interests and goals do our friends the Saudis share with us, beyond trade?

Pardon me for jumping in here,

But have you failed to notice the tremendous economic linkage between the USA and Saudi Arabia that has been going on for the last few decades?

If so, then I suggest that you study what the US State Department web site has to say about the relationship between the USA and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia .

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3584.htm

Darth Rotor · 29th November 2007, 07:51 AM

Originally Posted by BPSCG

What common strategic interests and goals do our friends the Saudis share with us, beyond trade?

Stopping the spread of the Islamic Revolution, for one. That common goal would date back to about 1980, or so.

Funnily enough, it was a few years after the seminal event of the Islamic Revolution in Iran that the US started selling front line fighters and other equipment to the Saudis. Mind you, this is the same country who had led the oil embargo against US in 1973.

Another common goal was the prevention of the rise of a regional hegemon in the Persian Gulf area, which Iraq represented in 1990 when it took Kuwait down. Again, a common US goal with the Saudis, and one which we worked together on.

Oddly enough, the Saudis seem to be trying to participate in the Pal Isr peace deal, for their own reasons, and I suspect those reasons are tied to Hezbollah and Iran being connected. Might be off on that one. The US is also pursuing the Pal Isr peace deal. The aim is increased stability, reduced tension, in the region.

Politics makes for strange bedfellows.

DR

BPSCG · 29th November 2007, 10:36 AM

Originally Posted by Darth Rotor

Stopping the spread of the Islamic Revolution, for one. That common goal would date back to about 1980, or so.

How does freeing 1500 al Qaeda terrorists (is that a redundant term?) after a few counseling sessions ("Do you understand why blowing up your fellow Muslims is bad?") and on their promise not to blow up anyone on the Arabian peninsula advance that goal?

The Saudis have more money than Satan. Would it wreck their treasury to keep 1500 terrorists in prison? They don't seem to be at all shy about meting out harsh punishment, viz the 200 lashes for a rape victim. Why are they releasing these guys?

Reminds me of what Mark Twain had to say in The Damned Human Race:

Quote:

...in our day in England a man is fined ten shillings for beating his mother nearly to death with a chair, and another man is fined forty shillings for having four pheasant eggs in his possession without being able to satisfactorily explain how he got them.

The Saudis may share some of our strategic goals. What they think of one of our most important ones is a ripe subject for debate.

Darth Rotor · 29th November 2007, 01:31 PM

Originally Posted by BPSCG

How does freeing 1500 al Qaeda terrorists (is that a redundant term?) after a few counseling sessions ("Do you understand why blowing up your fellow Muslims is bad?") and on their promise not to blow up anyone on the Arabian peninsula advance that goal?

It's an image deal, Beeps, for domestic consmuption. He has goals other than goals in common with the US, eh?

Quote:

The Saudis have more money than Satan. Would it wreck their treasury to keep 1500 terrorists in prison? They don't seem to be at all shy about meting out harsh punishment, viz the 200 lashes for a rape victim. Why are they releasing these guys?

No, but they don't feel like spending the money that way. From his point of view, It's Great To Be King.

Quote:

Reminds me of what Mark Twain had to say in The Damned Human Race:

Yeah, Twain tends to get it right.

Quote:

The Saudis may share some of our strategic goals. What they think of one of our most important ones is a ripe subject for debate.

True.

Beeps, our most important goal may not be their most important goal.

Quelle suprise, goals and aims differ among nations.

The Saudi King has certain image issues he has to uphold within his own kingdom, and in the Muslim world at large. Doing this this shows his grace, mercy, and benevolence to a certain crowd, or maybe he thinks it does, and he has to live in that neighborhood. Ya know, the one that he lives in? It also shows he's not an American puppet, or perhaps that is what he hopes it shows.

Me, I think what was done is rather screwed up. Maybe someone ought to remind him that American presidents have the power to help along a regime change.

Maybe not. Simple answers don't always answer the exam question fully.

DR

geni · 29th November 2007, 02:35 PM

Originally Posted by BPSCG

How does freeing 1500 al Qaeda terrorists (is that a redundant term?) after a few counseling sessions ("Do you understand why blowing up your fellow Muslims is bad?") and on their promise not to blow up anyone on the Arabian peninsula advance that goal?

1500 people the saudi courts say are al Qaeda terrorists which given the dominat relgious idiology in that area could translate as "relgious lad who doesn't support Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud".

Quote:

The Saudis have more money than Satan. Would it wreck their treasury to keep 1500 terrorists in prison? They don't seem to be at all shy about meting out harsh punishment, viz the 200 lashes for a rape victim. Why are they releasing these guys?

Because they don't think they are a significant threat. Keeping them in prision risks makeing them into rallying points.

Quote:

The Saudis may share some of our strategic goals. What they think of one of our most important ones is a ripe subject for debate.

One of al Qaeda's original aims was to overthrow the house of Saud.

Puppycow · 29th November 2007, 08:48 PM

Originally Posted by BPSCG

That makes them our allies? We sell and give stuff to all kinds of people all over the world, a lot of whom hate our living guts. Are they our allies, too?

I always thought an ally was someone who shared most, if not all, of your vital strategic interests and goals, and worked with you to advance those interests and goals.

What common strategic interests and goals do our friends the Saudis share with us, beyond trade?

Operation Desert Shield?

Was the USSR not our ally in WW2?

My definition is simply someone with whom you cooperate toward a common goal. There are temporary allies and allies of convenience. But if we are stationing troops in Saudi and selling them weapons, I think that qualifies.

28th November 2007, 07:57 AM	#1
BPSCG Cannibal Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Looting Fafner's Cave Posts: 17,556	Saudi Arabia Frees 1,500 al Qaeda Members After "Counseling" Our friends, the Saudis, continue to wage the good fight against terrorists: Quote: On the eve of the Annapolis summit on the Middle East conflict, the Saudi royal family released 1,500 members of Al Qaeda from prison, requiring them only to promise to refrain from jihad within the Arabian Peninsula. The story first broke over the weekend in the Saudi newspaper Al Watan. In an interview with the newspaper, a member of a special committee to reform jihadists in the kingdom, Muhammad al-Nujaimi, said the newly released prisoners had been reformed. "The committee has met around 5,000 times to offer counseling to 3,200 people, who were accused of embracing the takfir ideology. The committee has successfully completed reforming 1,500 people," he said. That's a really good program they have there. An average of 1.5 meetings per terrorist gets a 47% success rate in getting them to renounce terrorism. On the Arabian Peninsula, at least. No word on whether or not they've renounced terrorism anywhere else. Link
	__________________ Philanthropist (n.) - Someone who spends his own money to advance his version of Utopia. Socialist (n.) - Someone who spends your money to advance his version of Utopia.

28th November 2007, 07:59 AM	#2
ImaginalDisc Proactive Untwister of Octagonal Hippopotamus Pants Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Miami, Fl Posts: 10,225	OIL OIL OIL Why are these people OIL our OIL allies again? OIL
	__________________ Definition: 'Love' is making a shot to the knees of a target 120 kilometers away using an Aratech sniper rifle with a tri-light scope. Statement: This definition, I am told, is subject to interpretation. Obviously, love is a matter of odds. Not many meatbags could make such a shot, and fewer would derive love from it. Yet for me, love is knowing your target, putting them in your targeting reticle, and together, achieving a singular purpose, against statistically long odds. *-HK-47* Last edited by ImaginalDisc; 28th November 2007 at 08:00 AM.

28th November 2007, 08:05 AM	#3
BPSCG Cannibal Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Looting Fafner's Cave Posts: 17,556	Originally Posted by ImaginalDisc OIL OIL OIL Why are these people OIL our OIL allies again? OIL And your point is...?
	__________________ Philanthropist (n.) - Someone who spends his own money to advance his version of Utopia. Socialist (n.) - Someone who spends your money to advance his version of Utopia.

28th November 2007, 08:08 AM	#4
ImaginalDisc Proactive Untwister of Octagonal Hippopotamus Pants Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Miami, Fl Posts: 10,225	Originally Posted by BPSCG And your point is...? That the government of Saudi Arabia is our ally solely because they have the black stuff, and that the whole country is doing more to foment Islamic extremism than anyone else. Oil makes an ally out of a country that would otherwise be an enemy.
	__________________ Definition: 'Love' is making a shot to the knees of a target 120 kilometers away using an Aratech sniper rifle with a tri-light scope. Statement: This definition, I am told, is subject to interpretation. Obviously, love is a matter of odds. Not many meatbags could make such a shot, and fewer would derive love from it. Yet for me, love is knowing your target, putting them in your targeting reticle, and together, achieving a singular purpose, against statistically long odds. *-HK-47*

28th November 2007, 08:15 AM	#5
BPSCG Cannibal Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Looting Fafner's Cave Posts: 17,556	Originally Posted by ImaginalDisc That the government of Saudi Arabia is our ally solely because they have the black stuff, and that the whole country is doing more to foment Islamic extremism than anyone else. Oil makes an ally out of a country that would otherwise be an enemy. In what way are they our ally? They sell us stuff we need, but by that measure, China is our biggest ally. So in what way are they our ally?
	__________________ Philanthropist (n.) - Someone who spends his own money to advance his version of Utopia. Socialist (n.) - Someone who spends your money to advance his version of Utopia. Last edited by BPSCG; 28th November 2007 at 08:17 AM.

28th November 2007, 09:05 AM	#6
ImaginalDisc Proactive Untwister of Octagonal Hippopotamus Pants Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Miami, Fl Posts: 10,225	Originally Posted by BPSCG In what way are they our ally? They sell us stuff we need, but by that measure, China is our biggest ally. So in what way are they our ally? Beyond our oil entanglement with them, we sold them nearly 40 billion dollars with of arms, and gave tham a few hundred million dollars worth more gratis in the previous decade alone. Our relationship with Saudi Arabia is by no means as diplomatically close as with, say, the UK. However, we use them as a military ally in the "War Against Terrorism," and we have an ongoing ecomonic partnership. Does that not constitues a relationship as "allies?"
	__________________ Definition: 'Love' is making a shot to the knees of a target 120 kilometers away using an Aratech sniper rifle with a tri-light scope. Statement: This definition, I am told, is subject to interpretation. Obviously, love is a matter of odds. Not many meatbags could make such a shot, and fewer would derive love from it. Yet for me, love is knowing your target, putting them in your targeting reticle, and together, achieving a singular purpose, against statistically long odds. *-HK-47* Last edited by ImaginalDisc; 28th November 2007 at 09:14 AM.

28th November 2007, 09:14 AM	#7
ravdin Illuminator Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: San Francisco, CA Posts: 3,568	Originally Posted by BPSCG In what way are they our ally? They sell us stuff we need, but by that measure, China is our biggest ally. So in what way are they our ally? The President says they are an ally. On the other hand, he also says that "waterboarding isn't torture" and "Islam is a religion of peace". So you may have a point.
	Last edited by ravdin; 28th November 2007 at 09:15 AM.

28th November 2007, 09:22 AM	#8
Darth Rotor Salted Sith Cynic Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Rat cheer Posts: 34,265	Originally Posted by ImaginalDisc OIL OIL OIL Why are these people OIL our OIL allies again? OIL ID, I suggested in another thread that the Saudis are our "oillies." I strongly encourage use of that the neologism, partly because one can take it two ways: as a joke on "allies" and "oil," and the fusing of "oil" and "lies. It can fit nearly any take on the current state of play. Given some of their peculiar ways of showing support for stability in their own region, it's a pithy descriptive of the relationship between the medieval kingdom, and much of the modern, industrialized world. DR
	__________________ Helicopters don't so much fly as beat the air into submission. "Jesus wept, but did He laugh?"--F.H. Buckley____"There is one thing that was too great for God to show us when He walked upon our earth ... His mirth." --Chesterton__"If the barbarian in us is excised, so is our humanity."--D'rok__ "I only use my gun whenever kindness fails."-- Robert Earl Keen__"Sturgeon spares none.". -- The Marquis

28th November 2007, 12:04 PM	#9
BPSCG Cannibal Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Looting Fafner's Cave Posts: 17,556	Originally Posted by ImaginalDisc Beyond our oil entanglement with them, we sold them nearly 40 billion dollars with of arms, and gave tham a few hundred million dollars worth more gratis in the previous decade alone. That makes them our allies? We sell and give stuff to all kinds of people all over the world, a lot of whom hate our living guts. Are they our allies, too? I always thought an ally was someone who shared most, if not all, of your vital strategic interests and goals, and worked with you to advance those interests and goals. What common strategic interests and goals do our friends the Saudis share with us, beyond trade?
	__________________ Philanthropist (n.) - Someone who spends his own money to advance his version of Utopia. Socialist (n.) - Someone who spends your money to advance his version of Utopia. Last edited by BPSCG; 28th November 2007 at 12:06 PM.

28th November 2007, 12:08 PM	#10
geni Anti-homeopathy illuminati member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: UK Posts: 26,575	Originally Posted by BPSCG What common strategic interests and goals do our friends the Saudis share with us, beyond trade? Makeing lots of money and in the cause of the ruleing familiy preventing saudi arabia being taken over by serious islamic fundimentalists. They would also like to see iran's nuclear ambitions kept in check.

28th November 2007, 12:09 PM	#11
Crossbow Seeking Honesty and Sanity Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 6,294	Originally Posted by BPSCG That makes them our allies? We sell and give stuff to all kinds of people all over the world, a lot of whom hate our living guts. Are they our allies, too? I always thought an ally was someone who shared most, if not all, of your vital strategic interests and goals, and worked with you to advance those interests and goals. What common strategic interests and goals do our friends the Saudis share with us, beyond trade? Pardon me for jumping in here, But have you failed to notice the tremendous economic linkage between the USA and Saudi Arabia that has been going on for the last few decades? If so, then I suggest that you study what the US State Department web site has to say about the relationship between the USA and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia . http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3584.htm
	__________________ A man's best friend is his dogma.

29th November 2007, 07:51 AM	#12
Darth Rotor Salted Sith Cynic Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Rat cheer Posts: 34,265	Originally Posted by BPSCG What common strategic interests and goals do our friends the Saudis share with us, beyond trade? Stopping the spread of the Islamic Revolution, for one. That common goal would date back to about 1980, or so. Funnily enough, it was a few years after the seminal event of the Islamic Revolution in Iran that the US started selling front line fighters and other equipment to the Saudis. Mind you, this is the same country who had led the oil embargo against US in 1973. Another common goal was the prevention of the rise of a regional hegemon in the Persian Gulf area, which Iraq represented in 1990 when it took Kuwait down. Again, a common US goal with the Saudis, and one which we worked together on. Oddly enough, the Saudis seem to be trying to participate in the Pal Isr peace deal, for their own reasons, and I suspect those reasons are tied to Hezbollah and Iran being connected. Might be off on that one. The US is also pursuing the Pal Isr peace deal. The aim is increased stability, reduced tension, in the region. Politics makes for strange bedfellows. DR
	__________________ Helicopters don't so much fly as beat the air into submission. "Jesus wept, but did He laugh?"--F.H. Buckley____"There is one thing that was too great for God to show us when He walked upon our earth ... His mirth." --Chesterton__"If the barbarian in us is excised, so is our humanity."--D'rok__ "I only use my gun whenever kindness fails."-- Robert Earl Keen__"Sturgeon spares none.". -- The Marquis Last edited by Darth Rotor; 29th November 2007 at 07:52 AM.

29th November 2007, 10:36 AM	#13
BPSCG Cannibal Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Looting Fafner's Cave Posts: 17,556	Originally Posted by Darth Rotor Stopping the spread of the Islamic Revolution, for one. That common goal would date back to about 1980, or so. How does freeing 1500 al Qaeda terrorists (is that a redundant term?) after a few counseling sessions ("Do you understand why blowing up your fellow Muslims is bad?") and on their promise not to blow up anyone on the Arabian peninsula advance that goal? The Saudis have more money than Satan. Would it wreck their treasury to keep 1500 terrorists in prison? They don't seem to be at all shy about meting out harsh punishment, viz the 200 lashes for a rape victim. Why are they releasing these guys? Reminds me of what Mark Twain had to say in The Damned Human Race: Quote: ...in our day in England a man is fined ten shillings for beating his mother nearly to death with a chair, and another man is fined forty shillings for having four pheasant eggs in his possession without being able to satisfactorily explain how he got them. The Saudis may share some of our strategic goals. What they think of one of our most important ones is a ripe subject for debate.
	__________________ Philanthropist (n.) - Someone who spends his own money to advance his version of Utopia. Socialist (n.) - Someone who spends your money to advance his version of Utopia. Last edited by BPSCG; 29th November 2007 at 10:37 AM.

29th November 2007, 01:31 PM	#14
Darth Rotor Salted Sith Cynic Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Rat cheer Posts: 34,265	Originally Posted by BPSCG How does freeing 1500 al Qaeda terrorists (is that a redundant term?) after a few counseling sessions ("Do you understand why blowing up your fellow Muslims is bad?") and on their promise not to blow up anyone on the Arabian peninsula advance that goal? It's an image deal, Beeps, for domestic consmuption. He has goals other than goals in common with the US, eh? Quote: The Saudis have more money than Satan. Would it wreck their treasury to keep 1500 terrorists in prison? They don't seem to be at all shy about meting out harsh punishment, viz the 200 lashes for a rape victim. Why are they releasing these guys? No, but they don't feel like spending the money that way. From his point of view, It's Great To Be King. Quote: Reminds me of what Mark Twain had to say in The Damned Human Race: Yeah, Twain tends to get it right. Quote: The Saudis may share some of our strategic goals. What they think of one of our most important ones is a ripe subject for debate. True. Beeps, our most important goal may not be their most important goal. Quelle suprise, goals and aims differ among nations. The Saudi King has certain image issues he has to uphold within his own kingdom, and in the Muslim world at large. Doing this this shows his grace, mercy, and benevolence to a certain crowd, or maybe he thinks it does, and he has to live in that neighborhood. Ya know, the one that he lives in? It also shows he's not an American puppet, or perhaps that is what he hopes it shows. Me, I think what was done is rather screwed up. Maybe someone ought to remind him that American presidents have the power to help along a regime change. Maybe not. Simple answers don't always answer the exam question fully. DR
	__________________ Helicopters don't so much fly as beat the air into submission. "Jesus wept, but did He laugh?"--F.H. Buckley____"There is one thing that was too great for God to show us when He walked upon our earth ... His mirth." --Chesterton__"If the barbarian in us is excised, so is our humanity."--D'rok__ "I only use my gun whenever kindness fails."-- Robert Earl Keen__"Sturgeon spares none.". -- The Marquis

29th November 2007, 02:35 PM	#15
geni Anti-homeopathy illuminati member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: UK Posts: 26,575	Originally Posted by BPSCG How does freeing 1500 al Qaeda terrorists (is that a redundant term?) after a few counseling sessions ("Do you understand why blowing up your fellow Muslims is bad?") and on their promise not to blow up anyone on the Arabian peninsula advance that goal? 1500 people the saudi courts say are al Qaeda terrorists which given the dominat relgious idiology in that area could translate as "relgious lad who doesn't support Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud". Quote: The Saudis have more money than Satan. Would it wreck their treasury to keep 1500 terrorists in prison? They don't seem to be at all shy about meting out harsh punishment, viz the 200 lashes for a rape victim. Why are they releasing these guys? Because they don't think they are a significant threat. Keeping them in prision risks makeing them into rallying points. Quote: The Saudis may share some of our strategic goals. What they think of one of our most important ones is a ripe subject for debate. One of al Qaeda's original aims was to overthrow the house of Saud.

29th November 2007, 08:48 PM	#16
Puppycow Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Japan Posts: 15,784	Originally Posted by BPSCG That makes them our allies? We sell and give stuff to all kinds of people all over the world, a lot of whom hate our living guts. Are they our allies, too? I always thought an ally was someone who shared most, if not all, of your vital strategic interests and goals, and worked with you to advance those interests and goals. What common strategic interests and goals do our friends the Saudis share with us, beyond trade? Operation Desert Shield? Was the USSR not our ally in WW2? My definition is simply someone with whom you cooperate toward a common goal. There are temporary allies and allies of convenience. But if we are stationing troops in Saudi and selling them weapons, I think that qualifies.
	__________________ “Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them. With Major Major it had been all three.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22