Saudi Arabia has warned Washington it might provide financial aid to Iraqi Sunnis in any fighting against Shiites if the United States pulls its troops out of Iraq, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
Saudi Arabia, a majority Sunni country, has promised U.S. officials that it would not intervene to assist Iraq’s Sunni insurgency, according to the report, which cited anonymous American and Arab diplomatic sources.
But that promise might not hold if U.S. troops leave Iraq, the newspaper said. The Bush administration has repeatedly said there are no plans for the immediate pullout of U.S. troops.
The Times reported that Saudi King Abdullah sent the warning to Vice President Dick Cheney two weeks ago during the vice president’s visit to Riyadh. The message also emphasized the kingdom’s displeasure with proposed talks between the U.S. government and Iran.
Iran — a majority Shiite country — is believed to be providing military and financial support to Shiite elements. The recently released Iraq Study Group report suggested the Bush administration engage Iran and neighboring Syria in talks aimed at applying pressure on Iraqi Shiites to keep what some analysts are calling a civil war from spiraling into a regional conflict.
Saudi Arabia has expressed concern that once U.S. troops leave Iraq that the controlling Shiite majority could massacre the Sunni minority, believed to comprise a large faction of the deadly insurgency that has claimed thousands of Iraqi civilian and U.S. military lives.
Saudi Arabia’s fears seemed to have been exacerbated by growing discussions in Washington aimed at accelerating the timeframe for bringing troops home.
