Informed Comment Homepage

Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion

Header Right

  • Featured
  • US politics
  • Middle East
  • Environment
  • US Foreign Policy
  • Energy
  • Economy
  • Politics
  • About
  • Archives
  • Submissions

© 2025 Informed Comment

  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Uncategorized

Saudi Based Reporter John R

Juan Cole 03/15/2003

Tweet
Share
Reddit
Email

*Saudi-based reporter John R. Bradley says in the Sidney Morning Herald that the Saudi Defense Minister, Sultan b. Abdul Aziz, has confirmed that “that United States troops have arrived in the northern garrison town of Tabuk.” He says other credible reports indicate a US presence there and at Arar airport not far from the Saudi-Iraqi border. He adds, “From Arar the Americans could pour into Iraq’s western desert or go directly by road towards Baghdad, forcing the Iraqis to face an attack from the west as well as the expected southern assault from Kuwait and a second front in the north.” He points out that this is strong evidence that the Saudi princes have thrown in with the US attack on Iraq, despite public opposition to the war.

*A secret State Department report throws cold water over the idea that a democratic Iraq will help spread democracy in the Middle East in the aftermath of a US attack and occupation. In typical State Department fashion, the report also wonders whether “procedural democracy”, i.e. elections without a strong liberal democratic culture, would even be a good idea in the region. Proto-fascist “Islamists” might well come to power that way. While I agree that the Iraqi experiment is highly unlikely to result in democratization of the region, I am not sure that continued dictatorships are all that much better for US interests, much less local people, than would be democratic governments with substantial participation by Islamists. It is a tough call.

*The Israeli military chief of staff says that getting rid of Arafat is an urgent priority for him; an extreme rightwing member of the Israeli Knesset urges that Abu Mazen, the new prime minister praised by President Bush, be arrested if he comes to Israel; the Labor Party continues to collapse and split; Israeli policies of shooting first and asking questions later in the West Bank and Gaza finally backfired on them when soldiers shot two Israeli military men in plain clothes by accident. The policy has resulted in large numbers of innocent Palestinian civilians, including children, being killed or wounded.

*In Egypt 5,000 demonstrators protested the looming Iraq war and the treatment of Palestinians by Israeli forces at the al-Azhar seminary, calling for jihad against US soldiers if they attack Iraq. This event follows the recent call for jihad against a US Iraq war issued by the usually staid and sober al-Azhar a couple of days ago. It seems to me a little unlikely that any volunteers who go to Iraq will pose much of a challenge to US AC-130s, who made short work of similar volunteers who went to Afghanistan from Pakistan last winter. But the increased threat of terrorism and asymmetrical attacks should be obvious.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page

Primary Sidebar

Support Independent Journalism

Click here to donate via PayPal.

Personal checks should be made out to Juan Cole and sent to me at:

Juan Cole
P. O. Box 4218,
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2548
USA
(Remember, make the checks out to “Juan Cole” or they can’t be cashed)

STAY INFORMED

Join our newsletter to have sharp analysis delivered to your inbox every day.
Warning! Social media will not reliably deliver Informed Comment to you. They are shadowbanning news sites, especially if "controversial."
To see new IC posts, please sign up for our email Newsletter.

Social Media

Bluesky | Instagram

Popular

  • Top Things You Still Think You Know About Iran that are Not True
  • Why Trump Bombed Iran: Preserving US and Israeli Nuclear Supremacy in the Middle East
  • Colonial Logic, not Jewish Wisdom Guides Israel's Wars
  • The Current Iran War will Likely end Soon, but the Arms Race will Heat Up
  • Trump's contravention of the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal Led to Israel-Iran Escalation

Gaza Yet Stands


Juan Cole's New Ebook at Amazon. Click Here to Buy
__________________________

Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires



Click here to Buy Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires.

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam


Click here to Buy The Rubaiyat.
Sign up for our newsletter

Informed Comment © 2025 All Rights Reserved