The waverers are Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan and Oman, and US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is embarking on an urgent mission today to strengthen nerves in these countries.

Question:

Do we really, absolutely need these people? How much effort has gone into coming up with a plan B? After all, it's foolish to rely upon the unreliable.


In my opinion, we could do without Saudi Arabia except for one thing, they control the price of oil. Pissing them off could hurt us in a big way. Of course we could also threaten to feed them to Saddam. But they'd only counter with, if you do that, you won't be getting any oil. So I guess we're stuck with 'em...but I don't have any love for the regime.

Oman we rather need, they have been an ally for a long time and more or less keep the entrance to the Gulf accessible to us. To not have them means it is effectively blocked by Iran and Oman. From the south, the closest we'll get with a real base is probably Oman.

Uzbekistan has some really good assets to use since we not want to destablize Pakistan. To get El Beardo, we'll need to have men on the ground and the best country to do that seems to be Uzbekistan. They already have fought their own Islamic terrorists that are funded bin Laden. No doubt they are expecting we'll give them a hand with their own. But the government is run by fellow whose own mother probably doesn't love him.