JEDDAH, 3 December 2006 — Saudi Arabia has strongly rejected the contents of an article carried by The Washington Post which alleged that the Kingdom would arm Sunnis in Iraq in the event of a wider sectarian conflict in the US-occupied country.
“The article is utterly baseless,” an official source told the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) referring to the Op-Ed piece written by Nawaf Obaid in the US daily on Wednesday.
“The writer does not represent any official agency in Saudi Arabia. What he published is his own personal opinion and does not in any way represent the policy or positions of the Kingdom,” SPA quoted the official source as saying. “Riyadh has always reiterated its support for Iraq’s security, unity and stability with all of its sectarian groups,” the source added.
At the end of The Post article, Obaid was described as an adviser to the Saudi government. Yesterday’s denial, however, made it amply clear that he represents no official agency in Saudi Arabia.
In the article, Obaid said Saudi Arabia would intervene with funding and weaponry to prevent Shiite militias from attacking Iraq’s Sunnis once the United States begins pulling out of Iraq.
“If the US pulls out leaving a security vacuum in Iraq... remaining on the sidelines would be unacceptable to Saudi Arabia,” wrote Obaid. “To turn a blind eye to the massacre of Iraqi Sunnis would be to abandon the principles upon which Saudi Arabia was founded. It would undermine the Kingdom’s credibility in the Sunni world and would be a capitulation to Iran’s militarist actions in the region.”
The article was widely discussed on blogs and Internet forums and almost everybody questioned Obaid’s assertions. “The Kingdom has always insisted on the unity of Iraq and has consistently worked to bring the two sects together,” wrote one blogger on a popular website. He recalled the Kingdom’s efforts in trying to quell the sectarian war in Iraq by recently bringing senior Shiite and Sunni scholars to Makkah in order to agree to a reconciliation declaration.
Saudi academics and analysts were taken aback by Obaid’s comments and said the official rejection and denial should make things clear.
“King Abdullah is a sagacious leader. He would certainly not do anything that would plunge the region into endless turmoil,” said one Riyadh-based academic. “King Abdullah is respected by everybody in the region and abroad. By virtue of being the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, he represents all Muslims, not just Shiite and Sunni,” he said.
“I know this article doesn’t represent Saudi policies,” said Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki on Thursday. “I am in contact with the Saudi government and they realize the necessity of protecting the democratic process.”
