Have we reached a point of desperation where we don't care who we get to help us or are we just that blind to the overreaching impact our "allies" have in the region?
The action on Capitol Hill came as the Bush administration launched a diplomatic offensive intended to rally Sunni Muslim governments in the Middle East to come to Iraq's aid if only to maintain a buffer zone against Iran. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates will travel to the region together next month to push Egypt and Saudi Arabia to do more to help the foundering Iraqi government.
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But the diplomatic effort may face the same roadblocks as in the past, particularly from Saudi Arabia. King Abdullah remains opposed to working with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and does not trust any of Iraq's Shiite parties, according to Arab envoys and U.S. analysts.
Posted by kerry at July 16, 2007 02:55 AMBAGHDAD, IRAQ — Although Bush administration officials frequently have lashed out at Syria and Iran for helping the insurgents and militias who attack U.S. troops and civilians here, the largest number of foreign fighters and suicide bombers in Iraq come from a third next-door neighbor, Saudi Arabia, according to a senior U.S. military officer and Iraqi lawmakers.
The U.S. military believes 45 percent of all foreign militants are Saudi, another 15 percent are from Syria and Lebanon and 10 percent from North Africa, according to official U.S. military figures released to the Los Angeles Times by the officer.
Nearly half the 135 foreigners held in U.S. detention facilities in Iraq are Saudi.
Saudi fighters are thought to have carried out more suicide bombings than any other nationality, said the senior American military officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the subject's sensitivity for the U.S. government.
He added that 50 percent of all Saudi fighters here are suicide bombers. In the last six months, such bombings have killed or injured 4,000 Iraqis.