Iraq Study Group Report Highlights Saudi Inaction
Dr. Ali Alyami
Center’s Comment: The Iraq Study group released its report in Dec. 2006, detailing its recommendations to the Bush administration on how best to proceed with the war in Iraq. A key aspect of these recommendations was the Group’s determination that regional diplomacy will be paramount if a stable and permanent solution is to be found to the ongoing sectarian strife. The role Saudi Arabia is to play in any such solution was given much thought in the report, and the findings about the Saudi role in the Iraq conflict were revealing in several respects.
The report begins its suggestions on how the Saudis can aid the Iraqis on the subject of finances. Currently the Saudi royal family holds a significant amount of Iraqi debt, and has yet to ease the burden of the new Iraqi government by forgiving that debt, which was given to Saddam Hussein to keep him busy fighting the Shiites in Iran and away from the Saudi ruling family, whom he despised and wanted to destroy. US policymakers cannot ignore the possibility that the reason for this financial inaction on the part of the Saudis is in part due to the fact that the Saudi royal family has no interest in seeing a democratic, government in Iraq function effectively. There are few developments that would be less desirable to the Saudi dynasty than a democratic Iraq, but one of them may be the success of an Iranian-influenced, Shiite-controlled government.
On a much more dangerous note, the report goes on to say that, “Funding for the Sunni insurgency comes from private individuals within Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States, even as those governments help facilitate U.S. military operations in Iraq by providing basing and overflight rights and by cooperating on intelligence issues.” This is a critical aspect of Iraq’s gut-wrenching conflict. Publicly, the Saudi government calls for unity among all Iraqis and respect for their territorial sovereignty, and at the same time, the Saudi government looks the other way while its citizens provide money and suicide bombers to inflect death and destruction in Iraq.
In addition, Vice President Cheney was told by the Saudi authorities during his November 26th visit that Saudi Arabia would intensify its support for its Sunni proxy in Iraq if the United States chooses to withdraw its forces. This stated position by the Saudi government is directly at odds with a conclusion reached by the Iraq Study Group that states: “Saudi Arabia’s agreement not to intervene with assistance to Sunni Arab Iraqis could be an essential quid pro quo for similar forbearance on the part of other neighbors, especially Iran.” Indeed, the Saudis have already made it highly improbable that such a situation would occur, and in doing so have made interference by Iran that much more likely.
Like other Iraqi non-democratic neighbors, the Saudi autocratic royal family does not want to see the US succeed in Iraq, because that would inevitably lead to future demand by their people for democracy and respect for the universal rule of law. The United States and her allies know this, but seem to be caving due to Saudi money, oil and religious influence in Arab and Muslim societies. This is a shortsighted move, because if anti-democratic regimes are allowed to successfully wield influence, instability, an increase in prolonged tensions and religious extremism will continue to plague the world.