In Reply to: Feeling sad posted by Carol on June 19, 2004 at 15:45:14:
perhaps it should have been posted on Genexers instead.
Anyhow...I'd like to offer a couple of observations:
The Saud monarchy of Saudi Arabia has given monetary support to Whabism, from which Al-Quaida and other extremist groups have been born. Saudi Arabia is now reaping the whirlwind for their tolerance of radical Islam.
The Bush administration may not be able to pull off turning Iraq into a democracy, but at least getting rid of Saddam makes it a possibility.
The U.N. doesn't have a very good track record in either peace-keeping or nation building. Any student of history knows what a sorry job they have done. How can anyone look to that bungling bureaucracy for an answer to problems in the Middle East? Good grief, the U.N. put Khadaffi in charge of the U.N. commission on Human Rights, and allowed the Sudan, which has murdered or enslaved millions of Southern Sudaneese.
Al-Quaida is trying to scare off all foreign workers in Saudi Arabia, in the hopes of undermining the economy of this oil giant. Most oil production and many other services are done by foreign workers, and if they all left, the country would implode. Saudi Arabia provides the U.S. with 25% of its oil. Just imagine what would happen to gas prices if production were halted because of a civil war!