U.S. cables say Saudi king urged U.S. strike on Iran

[News_Editor]

U.S. cables say Saudi king urged U.S. strike on Iran

2010-11-29 04:45:01 GMT+7 (ICT)

WASHINGTON, D.C. (BNO NEWS) -- King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia urged the United States to attack Iran to destroy its controversial nuclear program, according to U.S. diplomatic cables revealed by WikiLeaks and published by the Guardian and the New York Times on Sunday.

According to the newspapers King Abdullah repeatedly implored Washington to "cut off the head of the snake" while there was still time, the Saudi ambassador to Washington, Adel al-Jubeir said.

That request, according to the cable quoted by the newspaper, took place in a conversation in 2008 with the U.S. ambassador in Iraq, Ryan Crocker, and Gen. David Petraeus, who was in charge of the U.S. troops in Iraq and currently commander of allied troops in Afghanistan.

Another cable states that King Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain, and officials in Jordan also urged Washington to stop Tehran's nuclear ambitions "by any means, including military."

Other cables say American intelligence assessments have concluded that Iran has obtained a cache of advanced missiles, based on a Russian design, that are much more powerful than other weapons in its arsenal.

Iran bought 19 advanced missiles from North Korea, according to a cable dated Feb. 24 of this year, giving Tehran the capacity "to strike at capitals in Western Europe or at Moscow."

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2010-11-29

[koheesti]

The Saudis seem more worried about Iran's nuclear program than they are of Israel's.

[cdnvic]

The Saudis seem more worried about Iran's nuclear program than they are of Israel's.

Israeli jets managed to go "undetected" across Saudi airspace before to take out Iraqi nuclear facilities too.

[geriatrickid]

The Saudis seem more worried about Iran's nuclear program than they are of Israel's.

Israeli jets managed to go "undetected" across Saudi airspace before to take out Iraqi nuclear facilities too.

I am of the belief that the the Gulf States and Saudi Arabia pass on information to Isreal via the USA. I actually see this as reassuring, in that some of the countries in the region do see the big picture. Mind you, Jordan would end up with the nuclear fallout if Iran ever nukes Israel.

[Lancelot]

I never understood why we the (US) considered Iraq to be more of a threat than Iran. You could add North Korea to that list too but if I had to guess, I'd wager that Iran would launch a nuclear strike before the North Koreans. The NKs act out because they figure they will get a few presents form the international community to appease them. The Iranians are a bit more ideological and that is worriesome...

Publicly, the Saudis will continue to view Israel as the enemy; however, in private I think they view them as the lesser of two evils.

[LaoPo]

I'm surprised by the absence of the WIKILEAKS uproar, now all around the world, on Thaivisa?

Wikileaks cables leave Europe angry and irritated

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11861964

LaoPo

[LaoPo]

Iran dismisses Wikileaks release

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11860435

LaoPo

[LaoPo]

U.S. TRIES TO CONTAIN WIKILEAKS DAMAGE

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

LaoPo

[LaoPo]

Cables Obtained by WikiLeaks Shine Light Into Secret Diplomatic Channels

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/29/world/29cables.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

LaoPo

[pampal]

The Saudis are afraid of Iran's popularity in the Arab world and the erosion of their own position vis-a-vis Iran.

It's no wonder they asked the US to intervene.

[elcent]

The bombshells are about to explode. Hillary Clinton gave order to spy on Diplomats, Presidents and more ... don't hold your breath when you read that. This is ridiculous ... even asking to spy for email accounts, passwords, credit cards accounts, security keys and ... read it here

How US Diplomats Were Told to Spy on UN and Ban Ki-Moon

The end of Hillary ... lol .... Palin is at least more hilarious ...

[elcent]

after all, kudos to the people who provided the documents.

There is a great chance to give democracy a second leg now so it could walk alone and without opportunists and manipulators.

Diplomacy in the current style lags behind for decades, it's outdated. In fact govts learning more when they keep a critical eye on the web. IT technology is the key when rightly used and filtered for specific info.

Wonder what the Chinese, Brits and others are doing, I guess even worse ...

[LaoPo]

The bombshells are about to explode. Hillary Clinton gave order to spy on Diplomats, Presidents and more ... don't hold your breath when you read that. This is ridiculous ... even asking to spy for email accounts, passwords, credit cards accounts, security keys and ... read it here

How US Diplomats Were Told to Spy on UN and Ban Ki-Moon

The end of Hillary ... lol .... Palin is at least more hilarious ...

To blame one person - Mrs. Hillary Clinton - is hilarious....it's the structural system that needs to be exposed, not one individual in the Obama Administration just because she signed a directive.

Let's wait and see until all 250.000 documents have been read into detail by all the newspaper agencies and ther readers since it's impossible to read them all for just one person.

There are newspapers who've asked their readers to help them, finding details, interesting enough to pubish.

A lot more to come...

LaoPo

[Gers1873]

The Saudis seem more worried about Iran's nuclear program than they are of Israel's.

Israeli jets managed to go "undetected" across Saudi airspace before to take out Iraqi nuclear facilities too.

Actually the Israeli jets flew tight formation and identified themselves as a Royal Jordanian airliner........ Did the Saudis turn a blind eye - of course they did.

Which country did the Israelis fly over en-route to Entebe???

Which government spent billions of dollars funding Iraq during the war with Iran?

The animosity between KSA and Iran goes back many years but was especially bad in the 1980's.

None of this is new