For how many years has the US played footsie with Saudi Arabia?

[Raven]

For how many years have we winked at the Saudi regime as long as the oil kept flowing? For how many years have the Saudis winked at the extremists and condoned their funding and the education of little extremists as long as the regime was allowed to exist in opulence?

Come on folks! George W. Bush is not the first president who winked and there have been at least one or two Dem presidents who looked the other way. We have inherited the wind. We, who have not had the political will to insist on alternate energy development, we who drive the SUV's and squander our own resourses have brought this upon ourselves.

The sad hard fact is that those of us who have lived 50 years or more know that this country is hostage to the oil interests here and there and that we have never had the guts to confront the problem. Countless Presidents have kept a lid on this...until now. The lid is off.

I deeply disagree with my son's post that GWB is somehow responsible for the Johnson murder today. Give me a break Will, you know your history...better that I do...GWB may have brought it on today but it has been brewing for years and through the terms of some of our most beloved Democratic presidents. And finally, we are all to blame for this...at least those of this who never took our dependence on Arab enegy resources as a serious problem. Show me that I'm wrong! Tell me what Bill Clinton did to deal with this problem...

[immune2irony]

1. It started with FDR

He and Churchill visited Saudi Arabia to strike the first alliance with King Abdul Aziz, the founder of modern Saudi Arabia.

[Raven]

3. Yup, it began long ago and blaming Bush just doesn't work

to solve our problem. I don't know what does.

[Lars39]

2. The doomed to repeat it clause...

Goes back to Roosevelt, I believe. He pulled it off right under Churchill's nose.

[THUNDER HANDS]

4. it's not going to stop anytime soon

America is the starving baby and Saudi Arabia is a Double-D cup breast.

Plus they have about $600 billion in U.S. banks and investment firms.

[WilliamPitt]

5. Some background

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+sa0021)

[Raven]

7. I could not connect...do me a favor...

give me the thumbnail sketch yourself.

[bpilgrim]

6. as you noted we are ALL somewhat responsible

i am in my 30's and i know the deal about our dependence on ME oil and other resources from around the globe.

i strongly disagree with our policies on how to secure these vital resources and RECOGNIZE the FACT that our behavior contributes to the turmoil in the world and yes even to todays brutal execution.

i am surprised that you don't see that point many here are trying to make but that doesn't matter i still love ya :loveya:

peace

[Raven]

11. What point are people here trying to make?

What did I miss? And...I love 'ya too!

[bpilgrim]

12. we are ALL somewhat responsible - n/t

:hi:

peace

[Raven]

14. Many of you are not responsible for this awful mess but

those of us who are should be thinking of more than just bashing Bush (although I love doing that!). So, what do we do about this?

[bpilgrim]

15. the only thing i can think to do

while trying to 'raise' a family and get by day to day is to educate myself and speak out and up more.

it's always worked in the past... and we have come a looooong way from our brutal past.

if this was 30 years ago we would have taken out falluja.

i don't know but i am certainly thankful for DU and so many beautiful minds :toast:

thank GORE he 'invented' the internet ;->

:hi:

peace

[bleedingheart]

8. We are all responsible because it brought us cheap gas

but those in the Oil industry I would dare say have more blood on their hands as they have paid lobbyists to steer the Congress and the Presidents to look the other way.

I blame Bush for pushing us into an unnecessary war with Iraq which I think more directly puts him to blame for the current safety of US citizens abroad.

[gratuitous]

9. The Daily Show had a timeline

History of U.S.-Saudi relations:

Time Immemorial to 1936: No relationship.
1937: Oil discovered in Saudi Arabia.
1937 - Present: U.S./Saudi Arabia best friends.

That about spell it out?

[King Of Paperboys]

13. Yep

Our friendship developed as soon as we found out they had OUR oil under THEIR sand.

[jayavarman]

10. I think since 1945

Aziz & FDR had a meeting on a US warship in the suez canal . . . beginning of our 'special relationship'