NEWSWEEK: BUSH PROMISES SAUDI ARABIA U.S. Will Stay in Iraq Through 2008

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/9/07 at 3:15pm

...and the Republican candidates begin to consider impeachment.

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Cheney And the Saudis
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By David Ignatius
Wednesday, May 9, 2007; A17

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice may make the headlines with her high-profile diplomatic missions to the Middle East. But for a glimpse at the hidden power plays, follow Vice President Cheney's trip this week to Saudi Arabia.

Saudi King Abdullah has emerged over the past nine months as the Bush administration's most important and strong-willed Arab ally. He launched an aggressive campaign last fall to contain Iranian influence in the Arab world and, in the process, buttress American interests in the region despite U.S. setbacks in Iraq. It's Cheney, whose blunt, unsmiling demeanor matches Saudi notions of American gravitas, who manages the Abdullah account.

The Cheney visit is aimed partly at mutual reassurance. Both sides want to reaffirm the alliance, despite disagreements over Iraq policy and the Palestinian issue. The Saudis also want to establish an additional channel for communication so they can avoid misunderstandings that have sometimes arisen when the primary intermediary is Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the freewheeling former Saudi ambassador to Washington who is now national security adviser.

Abdullah had seemed to be distancing himself from Washington in some recent comments. In February, he broke with U.S. efforts to isolate the radical Palestinian group Hamas by sponsoring the Mecca Agreement that created a Palestinian "unity government" fusing Hamas with the more moderate Fatah. In March, he surprised U.S. officials by calling the military occupation of Iraq "illegitimate" in a speech to an Arab League summit in Riyadh. He also nixed plans for a White House dinner in April.

Abdullah's criticism of the "illegitimate" American presence in Iraq reflects the Saudi leader's deep misgivings about U.S. strategy there. Saudi sources say the king has given up on the ability of Iraq's Shiite prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, to overcome sectarian divisions and unite the country. The Saudi leadership is also said to believe that the U.S. troop surge is likely to fail, deepening the danger of all-out civil war in Iraq.

The Saudis appear to favor replacing the Maliki government, which they see as dominated by Iranian-backed Shiite religious parties, and are quietly backing former interim prime minister Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite and ex-Baathist who has support among Iraqi Sunnis. Allawi's advisers say that his strategy is to exploit tensions within the Shiite religious alliance and form a new ruling coalition that would be made up of Sunnis, Kurds and secular Shiites. Allawi's camp believes he is close to having enough votes, thanks in part to Saudi political and financial support.

The Bush administration appears to have little enthusiasm for an Allawi putsch, despite its frustration with Maliki. U.S. officials fear that a change of government in Baghdad would only deepen the political disarray there and encourage new calls for the withdrawal of troops.

The ferment in the region is driven partly by the perception that U.S. troops are on the way out, no matter what the Bush administration says. To dampen such speculation, Bush is said to have told the Saudis that America will not withdraw from Iraq during his presidency. "That gives us 18 months to plan," said one Saudi source.

[more at link]
Cheney And the Saudis

Updated On: 5/9/07 at 03:15 PM

[mejusthavingfun]

Posted: 5/9/07 at 5:25pm

Where's Papa when all this is going down?

They want us out!!! The Iraqi's know it's about oil and they said so!

[WindyCityActor]

Posted: 5/10/07 at 7:46am

Bush's hubris will not allow him to admit failure while he remains president. He'll leave this mess for the next president to clean up.

His actions will most likely give the democrats a overhwhelming majority in congress.

They gambled their party's reputation, and now they'll be paying the price for giving him free reign.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/10/07 at 8:08am

When Bush's agenda no longer corresponds to the agenda of the Republican Party as a whole--when his actions are threateneing their elections and re-elections--that's when you have the Republican support needed for impeachment.

They will stand behind their Nixon until he SERIOUSLY threatens them at the polling booths--then they will turn on him.

[WindyCityActor]

Posted: 5/10/07 at 10:57am

Oh, I'm sure they will be some token attempt at impeachment....so near the end of his term as to be a moot point. But giving the Republicans the appearance of disassociating themselves from him.

[mejusthavingfun]

Posted: 5/10/07 at 11:01am

like duh.

The MAJORITY of Democrats AND Republicans are still very much for this war. They also have no intention of leaving Iraq anytime soon. The Democratic timeline is the same timeline as the Bush timeline.

If you hear these top level people even suggesting we should leave Iraq, you should question it.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 5/10/07 at 6:02pm

He cannot promise beyond 2008 for obvious reasons

The question is how to avoid the inevitable bloodbath that will follow

[pab]

Posted: 5/10/07 at 6:15pm

Maybe one should also be concerned about the bloodbath that is happening now.

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 5/10/07 at 6:25pm

You hear that thumping sound?
That's the sound of me slamming my head against the wall.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/10/07 at 9:11pm

Why did Bush not think of the bloodbath BEFORE?

Huh, Roxy?

WHY?