Blowback
US Saudi embassy to American nationals: Leave now
The US embassy on Saturday reiterated its call on US citizens to leave Saudi Arabia following a series of attacks by suspected Islamist gunmen in the oil city of Al-Khobar in which an American was killed.
The embassy originally issued the call on May 15. Think about that. The embassy told US citizens to leave Saudi Arabia ASAP because of the ever-increasing danger and instability. Sounds like they, um, aren’t real optimistic about what is coming down the pike.
As Saudi security officials surveyed the horror, energy experts warned of the potential for a global fuel crisis triggered by instability in the country with the world’s largest reserves.
BBC Middle East correspondent Paul Wood says that with oil at more than $40 a barrel, the attack is bad news for the world’s economy.
He adds that by terrifying foreign workers in the oil industry, the militants are also undermining the ruling Saudi royal family – one of their stated aims.
Watergate was an internal issue, it ripped the country apart, but had little international impact. The idiocies of Bush however – his pointlessly agressive wars, founded in lies and deception, and now lurching towards ignominious defeat – have made the world vastly more dangerous. He wanted unchallenged empire and unfettered access to Mideast oil. Instead the empire is becoming unsustainable and the oil slips out of reach.
Not only will the neocons not grab Iraqi oil, the US and the rest of the world now faces an unstable Saudi Arabia. And, among many other things, this probably mean sharply higher oil prices.
None of this had to happen. There was no need to invade Iraq, no WMDs, no threats lurked there for the US. But the neocons wanted oil and empire, and in their arrogance and stupidity, they destroyed the balance of power. A destabilized Saudi Arabia is now one of the results. There will be many more.