Saudi Arabia Warns of Economic Fallout if Congress Passes 9/11 Bill

[Desertfalcon]

Once again, Obama is coming to Saudi Arabia in the upcoming days and I expect nothing more from him except bowing to King Salman as he previously did when he visited King Abdullah. Presidents of the USA are slave to money and authority, they can be controlled as you do with a child.

Mr. Obama was absolutely condemned by all sides in the USA for doing this. He is the only us President to do so and he will be the last. The American people won't tolerate it. We stopped bowing to kings in 1776.

I am very pro-Saudi and on this matter, I agree with the Saudi government that the 28 pages should be declassified and released as they will show no KSA government involvement.

 

[Bilad al-Haramayn]

Mr. Obama was absolutely condemned by all sides in the USA for doing this. He is the only us President to do so and he will be the last. The American people won't tolerate it. We stopped bowing to kings in 1776.

I am very pro-Saudi and on this matter, I agree with the Saudi government that the 28 pages should be declassified and released as they will show no KSA government involvement.

Obama had a similar stunt with the Japanese Emperor. Head of State of a former archenemy and the son of Hirohito.




I don't really know what this fuss is about. Does the Obama administration really believe that KSA was behind 9/11? That's just absurd. I know that there is habit of late to blame KSA for everything (basically) but this possibly tops it.

 

[XenoEnsi-14]

How about we sanction Saudi Arabia.

 

[Bilad al-Haramayn]

How about we sanction Saudi Arabia.

What is stopping you? If you sanction us we will just do trade with other nations. We have either excellent or good relations with all relevant nations of this world except Iran and partially Russia. Neither are of vital use to us if any use at all.

 

[Desertfalcon]

Obama had a similar stunt with the Japanese Emperor.

Yup, he caught hell for that as well. It's official American diplomatic protocol that we do not bow to royalty. We don't disrespect them, but we don't bow to them. Americans were outraged.

I don't really know what this fuss is about. Does the Obama administration really believe that KSA was behind 9/11? That's just absurd. I know that there is habit of late to blame KSA for everything (basically) but this tops it.

Honestly, I think it is just politicians being politicians and going along with what the American people think and they view Saudi Arabia as somehow, complicit given the number of Saudi nationals behind 9/11, starting with Osama bin-Laden. They don't really think about how he was disowned by his family or other Saudi terrorists have had their citizenship stripped or have been charged with crimes in the KSA. It comes from a feeling that our allies in the Islamic world in general, are not really our allies. It's not just the KSA, it's also stems from the view of how Iraq was such a mistake or Libya and how the Middle East can't be "saved" from itself. I wish that weren’t the case, but it's how I think, most Americans feel.

 

[Bilad al-Haramayn]

Yup, he caught hell for that as well. It's official American diplomatic protocol that we do not bow to royalty. We don't disrespect them, but we don't bow to them. Americans were outraged.





Honestly, I think it is just politicians being politicians and going along with what the American people think and they view Saudi Arabia as somehow, complicit given the number of Saudi nationals behind 9/11, starting with Osama bin-Laden. They don't really think about how he was disowned by his family or other Saudi terrorists have had their citizenship stripped or have been charged with crimes in the KSA. It comes from a feeling that our allies in the Islamic world in general, are not really our allies. It's not just the KSA, it's also stems from the view of how Iraq was such a mistake or Libya and how the Middle East can't be "saved" from itself. I wish that weren’t the case, but it's how I think, most Americans feel.

A lot of ordinary Americans seem to have a fascination with royalty though. At least from what I have observed in person and seen in the media. Anyway such "stunts" are just part of courtesy but Obama seems to have overdone it on a number of occasions and made a fool out of himself. His office is after all the most powerful on the planet so he should have acted differently. The criticism is understandable.

Well, people seem awfully uninformed in general. The masses that is worldwide. Regardless of topic discussed. No wonder that most of the world leaders are a reflection of that.

OBL, who was half Yemeni and half Syrian, was stripped off his Saudi Arabian citizenship in 1994. His family disowning him long before that as well. Many of the 15 Saudi Arabian hijackers were of Yemeni background as well and from the Southern regions.

Well, the GCC states have been US allies for almost 70 years and although there have been differences throughout history (a completely normal thing as even the closest allies have differences) ties have overall been stable.

If you ask me much of the trouble in the region (MENA/Arab world) began with the "Islamic" revolution in Iran in 1979 and later the fatal and catastrophic invasion of Iraq in 2003. Then came the Arab Spring which overall was a failure outside of Tunisia and a few other states. However the current events in the region must be seen in the wider picture and there is no doubt that changes are coming within the region. The transition has somewhat already started.

This might interest you:

 

[Desertfalcon]

A lot of ordinary Americans seem to have a fascination with royalty though. At least from what I have observed in person and seen in the media. Anyway such "stunts" are just part of courtesy but Obama seems to have overdone it on a number of occasions and made a fool out of himself. His office is after all the most powerful on the planet so he should have acted differently. The criticism is understandable.

Well, people seem awfully uninformed in general. The masses that is worldwide. Regardless of topic discussed. No wonder that most of the world leaders are a reflection of that.

OBL, who was half Yemeni and half Syrian, was stripped off his Saudi Arabian citizenship in 1994. His family disowning him long before that as well. Many of the 15 Saudi Arabian hijackers were of Yemeni background as well and from the Southern regions.

Well, the GCC states have been US allies for almost 70 years and although there have been differences throughout history (a completely normal thing as even the closest allies have differences) ties have overall been stable.

If you ask me much of the trouble in the region (MENA/Arab world) began with the "Islamic" revolution in Iran in 1979 and later the fatal and catastrophic invasion of Iraq in 2003. Then came the Arab Spring which overall was a failure outside of Tunisia and a few other states. However the current events in the region must be seen in the wider picture and there is no doubt that changes are coming within the region. The transition has somewhat already started.

This might interest you:

I agree with you on pretty much, all points.

 

[Bilad al-Haramayn]

I agree with you on pretty much, all points.

I forgot the Soviet-Afghan war. At least from the point of KSA, we should never have involved ourselves in that conflict as it did not concern us. That conflict did nothing but poison the minds of a whole generation (of course not all of them but even if only 5 or 10% it is far too many) and it gave the conservative Najdi-dominated clergy inside KSA more power than ever before at a time where KSA was moving in the right direction. It is exactly from this time period (1979 onwards) that most of our moronic laws originate from. Laws that thankfully appear to be disagreeing one by one. I have great hopes for the young Muhammad bin Salman who understand the youth (2/3 of all people in KSA are below 30) and their wishes.

In fact I would go a step further back in history:

1) King Faisal welcoming exiled Egyptian MB members who were thrown away or persecuted in Nasser-ruled Egypt as a counter to the Arab nationalism that Nasser was propagandizing. King Faisal on the other hand emphasized Islamic solidarity. In hindsight I would have preferred a combination of those two values without going into extremes.

2) The "Islamic" Iranian revolution in 1979.

3) The Grand Mosque Seizure that same year.

4) Involvement in the Afghan-Soviet war in the 1980's.

After those events Al-Qaeda followed, 9/11, another Afghanistan war, Iraq war, Arab Spring, Al-Qaeda in Iraq dwarfing into ISIS etc.

Parralel to that you have other conflicts in the world and region and the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Some mess yet nothing compared to WW1 and WW2 which killed 100 million people and which is only 2-3 generations away.

I believe that the US and the West committed a mistake by involving themselves in Afghanistan as well. The Soviet Union would have collapsed sooner rather than later anyway. In a sense we were all responsible for 9/11 and what followed afterwards by our naive policies. Such blunders are committed again and again by states though in their quest for influence. It is sad that we do not seem to learn much from our past.

 

[Hack-Hook]

What is stopping you? If you sanction us we will just do trade with other nations. We have either excellent or good relations with all relevant nations of this world except Iran and partially Russia. Neither are of vital use to us if any use at all.

Do you knew what will happen to your army ,specially your air-force if USA sanction you. just imagine no spare for those F-15

 

[Bilad al-Haramayn]

Do you knew what will happen to your army ,specially your air-force if USA sanction you. just imagine no spare for those F-15

First of all the US is never going to sanction KSA as it is not in the interests of the US nor are their reasons for such a drastic move. Secondly we are talking about a hypothetical situation that is not realistic hence it is pointless to discuss. Thirdly, I am sure that should it come to KSA's knowledge that the US was about to sanction us, we would make the necessary precautions in order for it to hurt as little as possible.

This is why KSA is cooperating with numerous world powers on most fronts and have excellent ties with it. Although the US is a long-time ally (almost 70 years) and a close one at that, we have not limited ourselves to that sole ally.

KSA's leadership is very pragmatic and that has always been the case. That's why it has survived for this long. In a region that has underwent so much change in the past 70 years (since WW2) there have been one constant, and that is a stable KSA. That's remarkable.

 

[Desertfalcon]

I have great hopes for the young Muhammad bin Salman who understand the youth (2/3 of all people in KSA are below 30) and their wishes.

I definitely agree on that score. The future of the KSA and I have great hopes that leaders like him will reform old institutions and avoid the pitfalls of the so-called "Arab Spring". As to your other comments, I think it's actually a good thing that Saudi Arabia chart her own course even when it differs form American interests. It would actually be good for KSA-USA relations in the long run.

 

[SQ8]

First of all the US is never going to sanction KSA as it is not in the interests of the US nor are their reasons for such a drastic move. Secondly we are talking about a hypothetical situation that is not realistic hence it is pointless to discuss. Thirdly, I am sure that should it come to KSA's knowledge that the US was about to sanction us, we would make the necessary precautions in order for it to hurt as little as possible.

This is why KSA is cooperating with numerous world powers on most fronts and have excellent ties with it. Although the US is a long-time ally (almost 70 years) and a close one at that, we have not limited ourselves to that sole ally.

KSA's leadership is very pragmatic and that has always been the case. That's why it has survived for this long. In a region that has underwent so much change in the past 70 years (since WW2) there have been one constant, and that is a stable KSA. That's remarkable.

That being said ARAMCO are buying spares as if they were stockpiling for ten years. So something is rattling the Saudis.
It is unfair to say that there was tacit support by KSA since KSA supports ANY Saudi Citizen coming to the US with full facilitiation.

They told the KSA authority that manages its students regarding their desire for aviation and the institution did exactly that. It had no idea nor reason to suspect the intentions of the Hijackers.

 

[Spectre]

That being said ARAMCO are buying spares as if they were stockpiling for ten years. So something is rattling the Saudis.
It is unfair to say that there was tacit support by KSA since KSA supports ANY Saudi Citizen coming to the US with full facilitiation.

They told the KSA authority that manages its students regarding their desire for aviation and the institution did exactly that. It had no idea nor reason to suspect the intentions of the Hijackers.

All is well as long as those wells keep pumping. US still remembers the oil embargo. Though nothing wrong in belt tightening as the real threat will come from the increasingly advanced and efficient electric drive trains.

 

[Bilad al-Haramayn]

That being said ARAMCO are buying spares as if they were stockpiling for ten years. So something is rattling the Saudis.
It is unfair to say that there was tacit support by KSA since KSA supports ANY Saudi Citizen coming to the US with full facilitiation.

They told the KSA authority that manages its students regarding their desire for aviation and the institution did exactly that. It had no idea nor reason to suspect the intentions of the Hijackers.

Relations with the Obama administration have been tense at times on certain issues but that has been a general theme with other traditional US allies as well. Turkey and Poland come to mind. In general Obama's foreign policy has been criticized a lot and rightly so.

If the intelligence of the US, the most powerful country by far and even more so back in 2001, could not prevent the 9/11 attack, KSA could certainly neither. Especially as the entire Al-Qaeda leadership (OBL, Al-Zawahiri, Khalid Sheikh Muhammad etc.) was based in Afghanistan which was de facto lawless and Pakistan was probably the most well-informed country in this regard being a neighbor, and not within KSA.

In fact KSA stripped OBL of his citizenship in 1994 and persecuted his supporters within KSA vehemently prior to 9/11. If I recall Saudi Arabian intelligence was warning the Americans of something brewing especially after the Khobar Towers bombing in 1996 which was perpetrated by Hezbollah al-Hijaz. A terrorist attack that I have no doubt that the Iranian regime and OBL had a hand in.

The masterminds behind 9/11 were Khalid Sheikh Muhammad and Muhammad Atta and his Hamburg cell.

In fact when we think about it, despite all the hijackings of planes in the decades prior all across the world, no intelligence could really have prepared themselves for such a sophisticated attack in the center of NYC and the World Trade Centers moreover. Let alone the attack on Pentagon. It was a shock beyond belief that two power centers in the US of all countries could be targeted in such a fashion by 19 people in their late 10's, 20's and early 30's.

Despite the World Trade Centers being attacked in 1993 but if I recall that was not Al-Qaeda. In fact, I forgot that attack which probably changes my opinion in regards to the work of the CIA.

 

[Serpentine]

A former senator who has read the classified 28 pages about 9/11. Watch this 30 seconds:

https://twitter.com/x/status/721459634725330946