Arab countries said to offer to pay for invasion

The following is by a blogger for the Washington Post.   I think it deserves more attention than it got.

Secretary of State John Kerry said at Wednesday’s hearing that Arab counties have offered to pay for the entirety of unseating President Bashar al-Assad if the United States took the lead militarily.

“With respect to Arab countries offering to bear costs and to assess, the answer is profoundly yes,” Kerry said. “They have. That offer is on the table.”

Asked by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) about how much those countries would contribute, Kerry said they have offered to pay for all of a full invasion.

“In fact, some of them have said that if the United States is prepared to go do the whole thing the way we’ve done it previously in other places, they’ll carry that cost,” Kerry said. “That’s how dedicated they are at this. That’s not in the cards, and nobody’s talking about it, but they’re talking in serious ways about getting this done.”

via Washington Post.

Kerry didn’t say which Arab countries he had in mind, but Saudi Arabia and the Gulf oil mini-states are the only ones who would have the money to finance such an operation.  They reportedly have been financing the Syrian rebels, so this might be cost-effective for them to do.

We Americans should ask ourselves how these Arab countries’ interests are served by overthrowing Bashar al-Assad and whether those interests are the same as our interests.   If our interest is in promoting freedom and democracy, my answer is, probably not.

Syria is in the middle of a struggle involving Saudi Arabia, Iran and other countries for power and influence in the region.  I don’t see how the people of the United States, or the people of Syria, or freedom and democracy, are served by the United States taking sides in this struggle.

LINKS

Syria crisis: Arab countries offer to bankroll invasion by David Leonard and Tom Williams of The Daily Mail in London.  This is a good follow-up article to the Washington Post blogger’s post.

We Need to Talk About Prince Bandar by Peter Lee for Counterpunch.

Dogs of war versus the emerging caravan by Pepe Escobar for Asia Times.

The US still wants to be the sole superpower, but it can’t by Tom Englehardt.

Syrian and Middle Eastern Christians Condemn U.S. Strike Plans by Juan Cole for Informed Comment.

Tags: Arab Nations, Bankroll Syria Invasion, John Kerry, Prince Bandar, Saudi Arabia, Syria Intervention