There was a news item carried by the Washington post that broke a story that close to 200 retired generals and admirals had sent a letter to Congress regarding the nuclear deal with Iran. They urged the lawmakers to reject the Iran nuclear agreement, which they felt went against national security.
I have a feeling that these worthies were barking up the wrong tree. The contention that Shiite Iran is the greatest threat to world peace just doesn't hold water. I will say that there are 2 sides to a coin and the Iran nuclear deal has both plus and minus points. But these 200 odd generals missed a major point about Saudi Arabia, which is the "ally" of the US
The worthy generals completely missed the point about Saudi Arabia. The fact is that Saudi Arabia is the greatest "purveyors of radical Islam". This is a fact hard to digest, but then America is notorious for never facing facts.
Iran's involvement in terrorism, is a fact. I have no illusions about it. The1983 suicide bombings of the U.S. Embassy and the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, both were engineered by Iran. More recently Iran carried out a terrorist attack in New Delhi. All these were the handiwork of Iran supported Hezbollah. There is no doubt that Iran is on the global path of dominance and terror is one facet of it.
But Iran is the not the only source of trouble in the Middle East. A look at 9/11, will show that15 of the 19 hijackers came from Saudi Arabia. This nation is a threat to the stability and modernization of the Arab world, and the Muslim world at large. Everybody knows that Saudi Arabia with its billions and billions of dollars is hell bent on wiping out the pluralism of Islam - the Sufi, moderate Sunni and Shiite versions . It wants to replace anything progressive by a puritanical, anti-modern, anti-women, anti-Western, anti-pluralistic Wahhabi Salafist brand of Islam. This is the sole aim of the Saudi regime and promoted by the Saudi religious establishment.
Several thousand Saudis have joined the Islamic State and this fact cannot be hidden. The Saudi Arab Gulf charities have sent the Islamic State donations. It is because all these donations that Sunni jihad groups - Islamic State, al-Qaida, the Nusra Front have become the ideological offspring of the Wahhabism. This is injected by Saudi Arabia into mosques and madrassas from Morocco to Pakistan to Indonesia. Look at Pakistan as it veers towards fundamentalism and minorities are under threat.
America is turning a blind eye because they are addicted to their oil. This is silly, but factually correct and has resulted in the greatest danger not being recognised.
While Iran has been a source of terrorism in supporting groups like Hezbollah, many American allies have been a source of terrorism by supporting Wahhabi ideology. This ideology has destroyed the pluralism that emerged in Islam since the 14th century, ranging from Bektashi Islam in Albania, which believes in living with other religions, to Sufi and Shiite Islam. The fact is that Saudi Arabia is the fountainhead of this, only the Americans can't see it.
The Saudis wish to homogenise Islam by claiming there is only one legitimate path to God. This means as there is only one legitimate path, all others are open to being killed. That has been the single most dangerous idea that has emerged from Saudi Arabia.
On July 16, 2014, story in The Times from Beirut reported that for decades, Saudi Arabia has poured billions of its oil dollars into sympathetic Islamic organisations around the world. Hundreds of thousands of Saudi documents recently released by Wiki leaks reveals how the government's goal in recent years has been to spread its strict version of Sunni Islam as well as undermine its primary adversary: Shiite Iran.
Or Dec 5, 2010, report on BBC.com quoted U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a leaked classified memo that donors in Saudi Arabia were the 'most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide.' The groups funded include al-Qaida, the Taliban and Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Iran's nuclear ambition is a real threat; no doubt about it, but the real threat is from Saudi Arabia and failure to recognise it can have disastrous consequences. The US will remain the great Satan digging its own grave.
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