Could this be the start of the build up to the inevitable Iran/Saudi conflict in Iraq?

Many Sunni regimes in the region have felt vulnerable since last years election of the Iranian-backed Shiite government in Iraq. Saudi Arabia in particular has said that it would not allow Iran to build a puppet government in Iraq.

"There's a sense here and in the region of the need to build up defenses against Iranian encroachment," said a U.S. official familiar with the deals.

US 'plans huge Saudi arms deal'

The United States is reported to be preparing a major arms deal with Saudi Arabia worth $20bn (£9.8bn) over the next decade.

It is said to be part of a strategy for countering Iran's growing strength.

Defence officials quoted by US media and the AFP news agency said it would include missile guidance systems, upgraded fighter jets and naval ships.

To counter objections from Israel, they said, the Jewish state would be offered significantly increased military aid.

But the New York Times says Bush administration officials are concerned that the size of the package and broader concerns about Saudi Arabia's influence in Iraq could prompt critics in Congress to oppose the package.

Defence Secretary Robert Gates is said to be planning to discuss the proposals in a visit to Saudi Arabia next week with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

The officials said discussions with Congress on the arms package had just begun, and that no announcements were expected during the visit.

Other US allies in the region - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates - could receive equipment and weaponry as part of the deal, the officials said.

The writing's on the wall, or is it just graffiti?

We all know Iranian fighters are slowly occupying northern and southern Iraq preparing for the U.S. cut and run that appears to be inevitable, and the Iraqi government is now saying that nearly half of the foreigners in Iraqi prisons are from Saudi Arabia.

It has become painfully obvious that our "friends the Saudis," have been slowly and quietly keeping the insurgency in Iraq alive, despite it's claims to be cracking down on terrorism.

LGF has this to say about "Our friends the Saudis": Nearly Half of Arrested Jihadis Are Saudi Citizens

Our allies in Saudi Arabia have been running a scam on us ever since September 11, 2001, claiming that they’ve cracked down on the jihad preachers who spread “deviant” ideas. What they’ve cracked down on is the reporting of those hate sermons; there used to be sources on the web where you could find translations, but all of the ones I formerly used have now dried up. (If you think that means the sermons have stopped, I have some prime swampland in Florida you might be interested in.)

Here we have an Iraqi national security adviser who says that Saudis comprise nearly half of all foreign fighters captured in Iraq, and the kingdom needs to ... crack down on jihad preachers: Many detainees in Iraq are Saudi.

Is it possible that the Iraqi government doesn't see the writing on the wall? Do they really believe that Saudi Arabia is going to stop supporting the Sunni insurgency, or stop issuing fatwas to justify the killing of innocent Iraqis?

As I see it, this should not come as a surprise to many, since the Saudi government has already warned us, under no uncertain terms, that they would arm and support all Sunni militias as soon as we leave Iraq. They can't allow Iran to take complete control of that entire region.

The civil war in Iraq will be between the Saudi-backed Sunnis and the Iranian-backed Shiites, and I suspect after a major blood-bath leaving tens, if not hundreds of thousands dead, Iran will come out the winner.

... and the Dems can't wait.

"Is Al-Qaeda the number one problem in Iraq?

It appears no matter what we do or how long we remain in Iraq, the real winner here is going to be Iran. It's simply a matter of time. The Sunni population is the minority, so the inevitable civil war will put the Iranian-backed Shiites running the country and the region.

Yesterday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shiite, said Iraqi forces are capable of securing the country and American troops can leave "anytime they want."

The American president insisting on fighting al-Qaeda, or saying that al-Qaeda is the problem in Iraq, is just like someone who is insisting on taking diabetes medicine while he has a cardiac problem." (Abu Sarhan)

Sunni Insurgent Leader Paints Iran as 'Real Enemy'

Over the course of a 90-minute interview, a leader of an armed Sunni group in western Baghdad described his hatred for Iran and the current Iraqi government, while outlining the dimensions of an armed insurgency that extends well beyond al-Qaeda in Iraq, the organization that U.S. officials routinely identify as their central enemy.

Abu Sarhan, as the 37-year-old insurgent wished to be known, said Iraq's Sunnis are deep into an entrenched and irresolvable civil war against Iranian-backed Shiites. He said the premise of the U.S. military's counterinsurgency strategy -- deploying thousands of soldiers in small outposts in violent neighborhoods -- only inflames the insurgency and prompts attacks against the Americans.

If U.S. forces release Sunni detainees, remove the concrete blast barriers that now cordon off several neighborhoods and improve services in areas neglected by the Shiite-led government, "the attacks will be reduced 95 percent within days," he said. He added that the Americans' insistence on striking Sunni areas "is generating an increasing resistance."...

Abu Sarhan's views illustrate the deep animosity toward Shiites that fuels so much of the sectarian violence in Iraq. His comments also suggested a more restrained view of the United States, which he considers an occupier but one that should not leave immediately.

"I personally don't have a hatred of the American people, and I respect American civilization," he said. "They have participated in the progress of all the nations of the world. They invented computers. Such people should be respected. But people who are crying over someone who died 1,400 years ago" -- referring to Shiites and their veneration of a leader killed in the 7th century -- "these should be eliminated, to clear the society of them, because they are simply trash."

"The real enemy for the resistance is Iran and those working for Iran," he went on. "Because Iran has a feud which goes back thousands of years with the people of Iraq and the government of Iraq."

Abu Sarhan said that the leading Shiite parties in the government, including the Dawa party of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, along with the Supreme Council and prominent Shiite militias, are beholden to Iran. The Iranians appeared to be of such grave concern to him not just because of the bloody history of war between the two countries, but also because of Iran's perceived intolerance toward Sunnis in general. He said his long-term political goal was to recapture the prominence that Sunnis had enjoyed under Hussein's government.

"The problem is that the Americans have a relationship with the slaves: Dawa, Badr Organization, the Mahdi Army are slaves to Iran," he said.

Abu Sarhan described al-Qaeda in Iraq as an organized, predominantly Iraqi-run network with a strict hierarchy.

... The top U.S. military commander in Iraq, Gen. David H. Petraeus, recently described al-Qaeda in Iraq as "public enemy number one." And President Bush, during a speech July 4, cited the organization as the one group that attempts to "cause enough chaos and confusion so America would leave."

"We must defeat al-Qaeda in Iraq," Bush said.

But Abu Sarhan described al-Qaeda in Iraq as one of "hundreds" of insurgent groups, some aligned and others in some degree of conflict, ranging from cells of about 10 people to groups with scores or hundreds of members.

"The American president insisting on fighting al-Qaeda, or saying that al-Qaeda is the problem in Iraq, is just like someone who is insisting on taking diabetes medicine while he has a cardiac problem," he said, describing it as an "intentional" misdiagnosis. "Any person in the position of the American president, who has drawn himself a certain path, would be very embarrassed to change that track and confess that he has been wrong. Unless he loves his people more than he loves himself. Only then could he confess his wrongdoing for the sake of his people."

Abu Sarhan estimated that about half the attacks against American forces come as reprisals for U.S. raids or arrests. He cited the U.S. offensive in Diyala province, Operation Arrowhead Ripper, as the type of effort that engenders more enemies than friends. "You can imagine how many families were hurt because of this military campaign," he said.

Read Full Article here

Are we helping our arch enemy, Iran, get the control they need to dominate the region? Maybe!