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SAUDI ARABIA
Strategic significance:
Key regional power player, host to large U.S. military bases
In the 1991 Gulf War they:
Served as the key staging ground for Operation Desert Storm
Now they:
Oppose a war, but will support a U.N.-authorized attack
Their interest in Iraq:
Maintaining a Sunni-dominated stability, avoiding a long-term U.S. occupation and any outcome that significantly cuts world oil prices
Domestic concerns:
Anti-American sentiments on the streets and in the mosques, the prospect of Iraqi Shiite militancy spreading to their own Shiite minority
Price for backing the U.S.:
UN-authorization, a quick and decisive war and early U.S. departure leaving behind a predominantly Sunni regime capable of maintaining order
A Saudi viewpoint: www.ain-al-yaqeen.com/
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