| http://www.americanfreepress.net/01_27_01/U_S_-_Saudi_Ties/u_s_-_saudi_ties.html
Powerful Israeli Lobbyists Want U.S.- Saudi Ties Cloven The ongoing effort to split the longstanding friendship between the United States and Saudi Arabia—which has existed despite the power of the Israeli lobby—has taken an ugly new turn. Exclusive To American Free Press By Michael Collins Piper In league with the major media, the Israeli lobby is trying to drive a wedge between the United States and its traditional ally, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Washington Post has now emerged as a major player in the effort, lending its considerable clout to the public relations campaign. On Jan. 18 the Post published a front-page story claiming that the Saudis may be on the verge of asking the United States to abandon its military presence in the kingdom. Perhaps not by coincidence, the Post announcement came on the heels of a proclamation, touted several days earlier by the Post, that Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) had concluded that the time had come for the United States to withdraw from Saudi Arabia. Long a top voice for the Israeli lobby on Capitol Hill, Levin is also chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and his words mean a great deal in official Washington. However, despite the prodding against the Saudis by Levin and the Post, Secretary of State Colin Powell announced that he has had “no discussion” with Saudi officials about the possibility of U.S. withdrawal. Responding to the Post, Powell said that “there is nothing in that story that warrants my attention at the moment, or Secretary [of Defense Donald] Rums feld’s.” A spokesman for President George Bush has said that he has no knowledge of any such plan for withdrawal. As if to counter Powell’s forthright reaction, the Post followed up with a lead editorial on Jan. 20 asserting that “the administration must now recognize that Saudi political policies have become not just an unpleasant sideshow but a genuine menace to the United States. . . . The United States now must fashion a more complex policy toward Saudi Arabia and other Islamic countries, balancing the need for some engagement with the necessity of countering that hostile ideology. In the end, the departure of U.S. forces might just make that balance easier to strike.” Some have suggested that perhaps the Post and the Israeli lobby are laying the groundwork for the use of Israel as a major military outpost for the United States—replacing Saudi Arabia. This would give the Israeli lobby new grounds for claiming that Israel is a “vital ally.” The recent fusillade by the Post is not the first time that Bush and Powell have been ambushed by the media, particularly since the tragedy of Sept. 11 which launched a fervent push by Israel and its allies in the major media to spark a massive U.S. military attack against the Arab and Muslim worlds. Informed observers perceive the Post story as simply another effort by the media to push President Bush and Powell away from their close working relationship with Saudi Arabia and other nations in the Arab and Muslim world and further into the Israeli camp. While it is true that the Saudis have concerns about the U.S. military presence on their soil, the Post and other media have attempted to build upon the idea that the Saudi concerns are somehow a “sell-out to Osama bin Laden,” part of the ongoing Israeli-promoted theme that Saudi Arabia is less than a reliable ally. On Jan. 21 American Free Press revealed that the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) of B’nai B’rith has been aggressively distributing to opinion-molders in the major media across the country a “white paper” on Saudi Arabia entitled The U.S.-Saudi Relationship which is nothing more than a propaganda screed designed to disrupt that relationship. |
