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The Sunday Business Post<br>
<font color="#0000FF"><u><a href="http://www.sbpost.ie/story.jsp?story=WCContent;id-53303" eudora="autourl">http://www.sbpost.ie/story.jsp?story=WCContent;id-53303</a><br>
<br>
</u></font><b>Sands shift under House of Saud<br>
</b> By Tina-Marie O'Neill<br>
Dublin, Ireland, 11 August, 2002<br>
<br>
The Saudi Royal family<br>
<br>
Age: King Fahd: 80; Crown Prince Abdullah: 78<br>
<br>
Appearance: Similar bearded appearance. Always dressed in
traditional<br>
Islamic garb. Like ageing Saudi rockstars, they're rarely seen
without<br>
heavy dark sunglasses <br>
<br>
Newsworthiness: <br>
<br>
Crucial in any US-led attack on Iraq, the unstable monarchy is
clinging<br>
to power <br>
<br>
The United States is facing the potential nightmare that Saudi
Arabia,<br>
its pivotal long-time ally in the Middle East, may not support an
attack<br>
on Saddam Hussein. Last Wednesday Saudi foreign minister Prince
Saud<br>
al-Faisal went further and told the United States its forces would
not<br>
be allowed to use its territory as a base in the event of such a<br>
military campaign.<br>
<br>
Meanwhile, the US had distanced itself from a leaked think-tank<br>
recommendation that the United States `target' Saudi oilfields and<br>
financial assets if the Arab kingdom doesn't do more to fight terrorism.
<br>
<br>
The suggestion was made in a briefing to the Defense Policy Board,
a<br>
group of intellectuals and former senior officials which advises
the<br>
Pentagon<br>
<br>
"Saudi Arabia supports our enemies and attacks our allies," the
briefing<br>
said, describing Saudi as "the kernel of evil, the prime mover, the
most<br>
dangerous opponent" in the Middle East. <br>
<br>
Not only has all of this focused international attention on the
Kingdom<br>
of Saudi Arabia and the ruling Saudi elite, but it has also
highlighted<br>
the previously unanticipated scale and severity of domestic unrest,
and<br>
the fragility of the royal House of Saud. <br>
<br>
Americans are all too aware that 15 of the 19 September 11
hijackers<br>
were Saudi nationals. A recent report presented to the Pentagon<br>
depicting Saudi Arabia as an enemy of the US has forced President
George<br>
W Bush and his administration to re-evaluate its fair-weather friend
and<br>
question US dependence on the faltering regime. <br>
<br>
continued<br>
<a href="http://www.sbpost.ie/story.jsp?story=WCContent;id-53303" eudora="autourl">http://www.sbpost.ie/story.jsp?story=WCContent;id-53303</a><br>
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