From Harry Mason
orbitx@iinet.net.au
8-2-2
Dear Jeff,
Australian ABC TV ran this Saudi Arabia story last night (1-08-02) – see transcript below.
The story was said (in the broadcast introduction – not in the transcript below) to be prompted by recent reports from British Intelligence/British Foreign Office that Saudi Arabia is about to collapse into civil war and consequent warnings to British citizens in Saudi Arabia.
Apparently there are two different Royal Family factions at one anothers throats, and a third dissident organisation, with Al-Queda sympathies (possibly supported by a majority of Saudi citizens ???), who wish to remove the entire Royal Family and kick out the US occupation forces.
Such a war would probably suit those trying to gain control of Saudi and other Mid Eastern Oil supplies ………………… [See plan described below for US Forces to section off Eastern Saudi to protect the oil resources whilst leaving the Saudis free to slaughter one another over desert sand and religeous holy site politics…………………].
About a week prior to 911 our ABC ran a story about the dastardly nature of the Taliban regime – possibly a pre-emptive primer for Australians to explain what followed – ie. 911 and the invasion of Afghanistahn etc. – as we had heard virtually nothing previously about them – in our media. This Saudi story might also be intended to explain some intended near future events ???
It is possible that events in the Middle East are being accelerated with helping hands from covert intel organisations ??? No prizes for guessing who !!!
The buzz here in the Western Australian sheep export trade (to the Persian Gulf) is that the US has booked mid August berthing for an armada of transport ships throughout the Gulf ports – this was done late last year …………….
A bunch of Australian politicians (all parties) have just returned from a fact finding mission to the Middle East where they were convinced by someone that Saddam Hussein holds enough biochemical warfare agents to destroy the entire USA.
I have no info on whom was the source of this intel. All parties have apparently therefore unanimously agreed that Australia must take part in the invasion of Iraq to neutralise this threat. Our Prime Minister stated this morning that Australia would help the USA in said invasion. He would never make such a statement unless he had the belief of all party political support.
However at this time there is very definitely NO majority support for such a war amoungst the Australian public. Similarly in the UK there is a huge opposition to Blairs policy of “All The Way With Dubbya”. Therefore I suspect that some other despicable or threatening event must be created first – to enable the spin doctors to whip the public into a frenzy about the benefits of an Iraqi (or general Midddle Eastern) invasion.
We could expect a massive rise in the oil (and gold price) from any serious internal disintegration of Saudi Arabia – coupled with a huge impact on the Western-World economy because of a real or imagined threat to oil supplies. This might just be the neccessary “justification” event – designed to gain public support for invasion and war. The prize being Middle Eastern Oil reserves and the removal of the enemies of Israel ………
At the same time it could be used (like 911) to explain the collapse of the greenback and the US economy and thus would steer the general population away from looking too closely at the real underlying causes of this rapidly developing economic debacle.
Regards,
Harry Mason
PERTH
Western Australia
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
LATELINE
Late night news & current affairs
TV PROGRAM TRANSCRIPT
LOCATION:<http://www.abc.net.au/default.htm> abc.net.au > <http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/default.htm>Lateline > <http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/archives.htm>Archives
URL: http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/s637989.htm
Broadcast: 1/8/2002
Fears of palace coup in Saudi Arabia
As a Saudi dissident living in London, he heads the Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia. Like Osama bin Laden, Dr Saad al-Fagih went to Afghanistan for the jihad against the Soviets and he shares something else with bin Laden – a hatred of the royal family and its military ties to the United States.
———
Compere: Tony Jones
Reporter: Tony Jones
As a Saudi dissident living in London, he heads the Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia. Like Osama bin Laden, Dr Saad al-Fagih went to Afghanistan for the jihad against the Soviets and he shares something else with bin Laden – a hatred of the royal family and its military ties to the United States.
Dr al-Fagih is in our London studio. Dr Saad al-Fagih, you’ve recently claimed that the Saudi regime is covering up or has covered up a number of attacks against foreigners in recent days. What is happening there?
DR AL-FAGIH: A small correction. I was in Afghanistan as a doctor, by the way.
To answer the question, the Saudi regime is very keen to let the world have the feeling or have the impression that it is stable and it is not facing any danger or any challenge from within the country.
So they want to find any scapegoat to explain any violence going on inside the country and they used the Shiite explanation for the Khobar bombing in 1996 and they were so successful that even the Americans were deceived by it, even the Americans have bought the story of Shiite sponsored by Iran who have been behind the Khobar bombing and they have used the excuse of alcohol war, like mafia war, for the recent multiple incidents, since October 2000, something like eight or nine incidents.
They have blamed in a manufactured way, in a framing way, some foreign elements – English, Belgian and Canadian as being behind those bombings, only to cover up that the real reasons behind those actions are elements inside the country from jihad groups who might not have direct link with bin Laden, but regard him as godfather, and they are so scattered and in a loose connection that it’s impossible to eradicate them.
TONY JONES: So you think something bigger is brewing, because the British foreign office only a few days ago revealed to journalists that they fear the real possibility that the royal family will be over thrown in a sort of Palace coup?
DR AL-FAGIH: Well, the major challenge facing the royal family is within itself. The King has been mentally absent since 1996.
They have not been able to sort the problem of the King not being able to rule, and they have kept the King body as a safety-valve to prevent the dispute in the royal family from erupting.
Prince Abdullah, who is supposed to be the next in charge, the next King, would not accept to appoint Prince Sultan as Crown Prince and Prince Sultan insists that he should be the next in line for King Abdullah to be.
So they have not been able to sort this difference, and they have been able to cover it up by keeping the King as if he is running the country, in a false manner.
Now, when the King literally dies, they have to face this fact and they have to decide.
Now, the chance for them sorting their differences, one of them giving way to the other, is very remote, and that’s why probably the foreign office have expected some major thing happening in the coming few weeks.
TONY JONES: Is there any truth, do you think, to the reports that some members of the royal family are in fact linked to or very sympathetic with Al Qaeda?
DR AL-FAGIH: No. Those rumours – we are not, we do not have information to support them, but we would expect one wing of the royal family in his expected conflict with the other, this conflict which could be even bloody – I mean, Prince Abdullah is in charge of the national guard, and Prince Sultan is in charge of the army, and either one will use his own force to fight the other to fight for power.
Now, they will use all elements of the population, of the society, to be supporting them.
So they might pretend at one time to be more Islamist, more tribal, more interested in the business community, in order to guarantee support of those parts of the society with them.
And they know that bin Laden has big presence in the country, so they might – when the dispute erupts, they might claim that they are anti-American, that they are pro-jihad and pro-Islam, in that manner.
So having said that, others might say, “No, we are pro American and we want American support in order to win this war”. So it’s a very complex issue.
Nobody knows which option they will take, but having all this picture in our mind, we do not believe that Al Qaeda or Islamists or even bin Laden will believe whatever Britain pretends by them.
TONY JONES: There is very little uncensored news coming out of Saudi Arabia. What reports are you getting about the real levels of unrest in the country. There are reports of anti-American demonstrations in many cities that are simply covered up.
DR AL-FAGIH: Well, there has been a few demonstrations. The biggest one was a few weeks ago after the Israeli invasion of the West Bank.
It was all against Israel, not against the regime itself. It was opposite to the American consulate because the American consulate was supposed to be supporting – was a symbol of support to Israel.
Now, the point is the people are full of anger and full of agitation and full of frustration. Everyone for his own reason.
The Islamists for their own reason, the businessmen for their own reason, the tribal men for their own reason, and they all have one thing in common, that is, they are fed up with the royal family.
But there is a strong psychological barrier preventing people from acting in a massive manner, because of the very effective deception by the regime to give the impression that it is in charge and very strong.
It is in charge of every media you can imagine. It’s also in charge – even the Arab and many non-Arab media outside the country.
So it is not letting even a slightest leak of other opinion to the people to give them the real picture of what is going on in the country.
Once this psychological barrier is broken, either by dispute in the royal family or by an act by Al Qaeda on a senior member of the royal family, or by a financial collapse, you would expect a major act by the people against the regime.
TONY JONES: Could that evolve into the same sort of revolution as we saw in Iran, a fundamentalist revolution perhaps led by Wahabi clerics, who by some reports are now out of the control of the royal family?
DR AL-FAGIH: Well, the condition of our country is more complex than Iran. We would need time to have a sort of unified leadership. Now there is – people are not experienced enough in politics.
You have to keep in mind that until a few years ago, the dictionary of politics is not there in the country. Nobody knows anything about politics.
People have learned about politics only after our movement has moved outside the country and starting sending leaflets and statements to the country, after the satellite stations starting acting, after the Internet, so people have only very few years experience with politics.
So there is a chance of organised takeover, but there is also a chance of a great chaos in the country.
We have three regions, which are ready to separate into three separate countries, and we have also very serious and positive reports about America considering plans to jump in and isolate the eastern province as the oil region and let the holy areas be separated from the oil.
That is an old contingency plan considered by the Americans called isolating the oil from the religion. So everything is possible.
We could have a smooth transfer of power and we could have a chaos, or we could have even disintegration of the whole country.
TONY JONES: We know that 15 of the hijackers on September 11 were Saudi nationals. More than one-third of those now detained at Guantanamo Bay are Saudi nationals.
You mentioned the link with Al Qaeda before. How strong is really the sympathy for Al Qaeda and for Osama bin Laden in Saudi Arabia today?
DR AL-FAGIH: Because of the American policies in the region before September 11, and also after September 11, the unlimited support to Israel and continuous embargo on Iraq, what people see as alliance between the Iraqi – between the Saudi royal family and Americans, to loot the country’s resources, because of those reasons, and because of the insistence by Americans to keep their forces inside what they describe as the holy land, the Arabian peninsula, and because America is not ready at all to reduce those reasons for resentment among people in Arabia.
The hatred to America is immense, and the hatred now has included the royal family itself together with America because the royal family has supported America in an unlimited manner, including in the Palestinian issue.
So the support to bin Laden is immense because of that reason, and people see bin Laden as the only credible figure who can prove that he stands face to face with America and causes enough pain and enough suffering in America to compensate what they are having in the Arab and Islamic region.
And because they see failure after failure, treason after treason, as they describe it, among the Arab leaders, especially the Saudi leaders, they are dying for an example who will become almost like a Messiah, who will save them from humiliation and continuous repeated loss.
TONY JONES: I’m afraid on that rather bleak note we’ll have to leave it. Dr Saad Al-Fagih, thank you very much for joining us tonight on Lateline.
Saudi Arabia Cheers the Coup in Egypt
By: Bruce Riedel\Brookings July 7, 2013
While most of the world is ambivalent about the overthrow of a democratically elected President in Egypt by the army this week, the Saudi royal family is enthusiastically endorsing the generals’ move. The Kingdom hopes the coup marks the beginning of the end of the Arab Awakening and a return to stability and autocracy across the Arab world.
Saudi King Abdallah issued a public endorsement of the coup just two hours after General Abd al Fattah al Sisi announced President Mohammad Morsi had been deposed and the constitution suspended. The King’s congratulatory message was addressed to the new president appointed by the army, Adly Mahmud Mansour. The Saudis were the first foreign government to back the takeover publicly. The King followed the message up with a phone call to General Sisi which the Kingdom also made public.
General Sisi is well known in Riyadh where he served as military attaché before being promoted to be chief of Egyptian military intelligence. There are widespread rumors in the Middle East that Saudi intelligence provided funding and support for the downfall of Morsi’s government and encouraged the growing popular opposition to his government. They are also reported to have promised Sisi that they would replace any military or economic aid cut off by Washington in the aftermath of the regime change (as they did in Pakistan in 1998 when that country tested nuclear weapons and Washington cut aid). The Kingdom has a long history of covertly funding regime change around the world and the head of Saudi intelligence, Prince Bandar, is a master of intrigue. It is difficult to evaluate how much is real in these rumors, as is usually the case, but the Kingdom’s unhappiness with developments in Egypt since 2011 is very clear.
The Saudis were appalled at the downfall of Hosni Mubarak in 2011; Mubarak had been a longtime friend of the Saudis, who sent two divisions of troops to defend the Kingdom in 1990 from Saddam Hussein. The royals were even more dismayed when President Obama called for Mubarak to step down, which they saw as a betrayal of an American ally with ominous implications for themselves. They were shocked that the Egyptian revolution set in motion revolutions across the Arab world calling for democracy. Abdallah responded in part with over a $100 billion in payoffs to the Saudi people to ensure stability at home.
In Bahrain the Saudis intervened with force to put down a revolution against a fellow monarchy with the active military assistance of the United Arab Emirates, which is also rumored to have worked with Saudi intelligence in Egypt. The Kingdom and the UAE are both vocal opponents of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and elsewhere in part for its backing of Iraq back in the 1990s. Today Riyadh and Abu Dhabi see the Brotherhood as a dangerously subversive and popular enemy. The Saudis have also moved to back up other endangered monarchies like Jordan. In Yemen they have tried to guide the revolution away from dangerous waters and towards keeping a pro-Saudi government in office.
In Syria, of course, the Saudis have backed the revolution against Bashar Assad but they are not eager for Assad to be replaced by a democratic reformist regime. They would prefer a new strongman in Damascus, but one who is a Sunni Arab who will tilt the country toward Saudi Arabia and away from Iran. In the Syrian case Bandar and Saudi intelligence are deeply involved in providing arms and money to the Sunni opposition.
Riyadh’s backing for the coup in Cairo puts it somewhat at odds with it’s rich little neighbor Qatar which has been Morsi’s biggest backer, providing some $8 billion in aid since the 2011 revolution. The Saudis always see the Qataris as meddlesome interlopers playing a role over their appropriate place in Arab politics, so a little humiliation for Doha is an added benefit of the coup. But even the Qataris are reported to have become more and more fed up with Morsi. The two Wahhabi states do work together albeit with some friction in Syria.
The Saudis and their gulf allies now have the opportunity of course to actually help the Egyptian people with generous aid and subsidized energy to help the country get back on its feet and, even better, to prosper. General Sisi will need to demonstrate quickly that he can address Egypt’s enormous economic challenges better than Morsi. The general undoubtedly has already made his needs known. Now we will discover if the royals are ready to put the big bucks behind helping Egypt. They will certainly not condition any aid on a rapid return to democracy and free and fair elections. They would prefer General Sisi have a long run as Egypt’s next pharaoh.
