Late Changes in Iraq? Whip of Arabia, Moslem-Jewish HIV Cure

A New Strategery for Iraq?
One option under consideration is to increase the number of troops to a level sufficient to crush the insurgency and weaken the militias in Baghdad. But they are talking about 20,000 to 30,000 troops, and that is a far cry from the Powell Doctrine, and perhaps it is too little too late. Massive overwhelming force should have been used in 2003.

Saudis Crack the Whip:
U.S media reports (e.g. NY Times Dec 12, CNN) indicate that Saudi King Abdullah reprimanded Vice President Dick Cheney during his visit about a possible shift in U.S policy in Iraq. The newspapers also seemed to hint that Mr. Cheney was called to Riyadh.

So, let us get this straight: the most influential vice president in the history of the most powerful nation on earth was summoned to a dressing down by the aging absolute monarch of a kingdom with one foot in the 20th century and other foot in the 9th century.

The same media also report that the Saudis warned Cheney that they would intervene in Iraq if the U.S withdrew- something the Saudis denied earlier having threatened. They are also reported to have warned against a U.S rapprochement with Iran. A security advisor to the embassy in Washington and to the government, Nawaf Obaid, was even recently sacrificed because he foolishly said as much in an Op-Ed piece in the Washington Post last week (if he was fired because of the poor quality of the piece in the Post, then it was punishment well deserved). Now the Saudi Ambassador Prince Turki has resigned suddenly and left for, or going, home. Some reports claim that he has not been as effective as Bandar in gaining influnece in Washington, others claim that he might become the next foreign minister.

P.S: are the rumors (swirling in my head) true: that Prince Bandar will be brought back to Washington, not as a Saudi ambassador but as a part-time American National Security Adviser, a role Bob Woodward claimed he was performing anyway?

Iraqi media report that the White House had to intervene to control escalating tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iraq. This was in the aftermath of the reported Saudi intervention threats, and especially after declarations issued by 38 Saudi religious leaders that contained derogatory and inflammatory language against Shi’as and accused them of cooperating with the 'crusaders' in Iraq to put down Sunnis. And I thought these 'crusaders' launched their invasion of Iraq from Saudi Arabia (logistics, communications, and air), Kuwait (land and air), Qatar (planning, air and communications) and UAE, Bahrain, and Oman! Yesterday a Saudi offshore station reported that Abdulaziz Al-Shaikh, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia condemned the declarations of those religious leaders.

Saudis have promised that they will not support the insurgency/terrorism in Iraq as long as the United States forces remain in that country. On this matter: Iraq’s Finance Minister Jawad Bulani has complained at a conference in Bahrain last week that money flows to the terrorist Jihadists from ‘rich sources’ in the Gulf region, and that could not be , say Yemen, Sudan or Jordan. The Associated Press reports that many influential Saudis, including some princes, are funnelling millions of dollars to the insurgents in Iraq.

An Iraqi newspaper Al-Nahrain (Two Rivers) quotes from The Times of London that a meeting was arranged and held in Ayad Allawi's palace in Amman between terrorist/insurgent leaders and U.S officials, including ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad. It claims that the meeting failed because the insurgents demanded thay they gain control of the military and security forces....just like in the good old Ba'athist days.
One thing about the Baker-Hamilton ISG report on Iraq: it has something for eveybody to hate- which probably means that it is not a bad report.

Iran Elections:
Reformists are trying for a comeback in the next municipal and regional elections in Tehran on Friday. The results will be a test of the strength of moderates who largely boycotted the last two elections. It will also be a test of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was elected on a platform of improving the economy, but got sidetracked by regional and international crises, some of it of his own making. Ahmadinejad’s sister is a candidate.

In Iran, the final say in most policy matters rests with the Supreme Leader- he can at least make life difficult for a president he disagrees with, as the last reformist president Mr. Khatami found out quickly.

Note to Tony Snow: If Iran was part of the Axis of Evil under the mild and moderate Khatami (circa 2002, just after it was reported to have helped with the Afghan incursion), then what is it now under the current definitely-no-so-mild and un-moderate president?

You Figure It out (Miscellaneous):
A study by the National Institute of Health (NIH) seems to confirm results reached earlier in South Africa: that male circumcision reduces the danger of contracting AIDS (HIV) by 50% in cases of heterosexual intercourse. I believe it is likely that Jews and Moslems have much less risk of HIV than other infidels, and not just because they (we) are too uptight about sex (Philip Roth's early novels notwithstanding).
Cheers
Mohammed