by David Phinney
Tuesday March 19th 2024

Insider

Archives

World’s Three Largest War Producers at War?

a proxy war taking place that involves three of the biggest oil producers on the planet.
Levin asked McConnell during a committee hearing about the source of support for Sunni insurgents in Iraq.
McConnell replied: “There is some flow to the Sunni side in terms of funding and weapons and recruits.”
Levin continued: “And what countries are those weapons coming from?”
McConnell: “Weapons could come from a variety of countries. Syria probably is one of the major places.”
Much has been made of Iran’s alleged supplying of weapons and bombs to Shi’ite factions in Iraq. Far less has been made of Saudi Arabia’s apparent role in supplying weapons and funding to Sunni insurgents. And yet, as Saudi Arabia threatened to do, and as has been stated by the Iraq Study Group as well as by journalist, Seymour Hersh, this appears to be the case.
Mike McConnell, the new director of national intelligence, said there are funds coming from Saudi Arabia, an ostensible U.S. ally, to help Sunni insurgents in Iraq, while Iran is supporting the Shiite militias there.
McConnell’s testimony undergirds U.S. concerns that the Iraq civil war could turn into a direct Saudi-Iranian confrontation, with American military forces caught between warring combatants for Islam’s two dominant strains.
Separately, Brian Jenkins, a military expert with Rand Corp., a national security and foreign policy research organization, said: “What we already are seeing in Iraq is an emerging proxy war between Saudi-backed Sunnis and Iranian-backed Shia.”
Levin: “What countries other than Syria could either weapons or funding for the Sunni insurgents come from?”
McConnell: The U.S. lacks “clear evidence that it’s definitely coming from any one particular government. But there are indications that it could be a variety of countries around Iraq and also from private donors …”
Levin, interjecting: “What other countries besides Syria? You said that there’s evidence that weapons or money for weapons is coming from a number of countries. The one you singled was Syria, but what other countries?”
McConnell: “What I was attempting to say is donors from countries around the area. One would be inside Saudi Arabia, as an example.”

Share

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.