<div>Terrifying, that reality-based contingents of the imperial machine in the middle east are already starting to maneuver with respect to a potential Arab Rwanda.  Hell its terrifying to me that I find myself referring to a shitball operation like the saudi regime as part of the 'reality-based' camp in the empire; but sanity has turned out to be much more of a relative thing among rulers these past few years. </div> <div> </div> <div>On Juan Cole's blog a week or two ago, there was an anecdotal observation I wished he'd probed into more in-depth.  After reporting rumors that the Sunni insurgency was confident they could take out the green zone in a frontal assault, and was merely biding its time, Juan went on to say that among acquaintances in Iraq there was consensus agreement that the Sunni ex-Baath insurgency could handily militarily defeat the Shia militias in a straight up war (if openly funded and armed by the Saudis on the greater level threatened, I would imagine their chances get even better).  I was surprised that such hypothetical speculation would produce unanimous agreement among any group of folks in the know over there, and a little dubious.  After all the Sunni are such a small minority.  Even with superior arms and training, what would they do with Sadr City?  Is this why the Sunni insurgency broke off talks with the US Ambasssador?  Do they have some horrific endgame in mind for the day the US cuts its losses? </div> <div><br> </div> <div> <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid"><br>The White House would rather listen to King Abdullah, who is telling<br>it what it is already thinking, than the Iraq Study Group or a <br>majority of the American people who desire rapid withdrawal from Iraq.<br>The defense of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states has been the<br>linchpin of US Middle East policy since FDR. -- Yoshie<br><br><<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/world/middleeast/13saudi.html"> http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/world/middleeast/13saudi.html</a>><br>December 13, 2006<br>Saudis Say They Might Back Sunnis if U.S. Leaves Iraq<br>By HELENE COOPER<br></blockquote></div>