CIA awards Saudi Crown Prince for efforts against Terrorism

[Bargey]

What a great country Saudi Arabia is. So many positive contributions to humanity!

 

[MadSquabbles500]

Like I said there are a lot of factions within the royal family and in many cases its private donors connected to big businesses that are funding terrorists.

Yeh but come on, what are the chances he aint on top of that, or knows about it, and turns blind eye?

 

[blackhat]

I heard a rumor the Saudis helped to identify members of the muslim brotherhood who infiltrated congress. They were IT guys with access to very sensitive information. Was barely reported in the news. I think that's why they got the award - I could be wrong though.

 

[Islam Imamate]

Yeh but come on, what are the chances he aint on top of that, or knows about it, and turns blind eye?

Not as high as you think. Like I said, there are different factions which jockey against one another and have different beliefs. I'm sure he knows its happening but that doesn't mean he knows exactly how its happening, who is doing it, or can do something about it.

 

[Anung Un Rama]

Why? The Gulf royal families are not a monolith. They're different from one another and within the families there are many different factions, some very hardline and some mild reformers. You have the Qataris who are said to still support ISIS, or were at least the ones to drop them, and Oman which even has friendly relations with Iran and whose Sultan is rumored to be a homosexual. The Saudi royal family in particular is yuge and has many different factions within it. Its entirely possible some see the obvious problems with supporting terrorists and use connections with the US to advance their goals while others do the opposite.

Then there's the fact that a lot of funding from these countries comes from private donors. To be fair that is a fuzzy line as a lot of these wealthy families get wealthy through connections to the royal family but they're not always on the same page. Osama bin Laden is the most well known example but there are many, many more who don't have the guts to go to some cave in Afghanistan or Yemen but still bankroll terrorists. In fact IIRC in one of the Wikileaks cables Clinton says that the Saudis cooperate a lot more in cracking down on private.donors than the Qataris, who are in general the least cooperative with the US and Saudis.

So its a lot more complicated than "teh Saudis are teh bad guise"

C'mon, even the name of the medal is ironic; The George Tenet Medal of Honor?? I can't find a record of anybody else to have received this award.
And lol for supporting the War on Terror against AQ. Meanwhile in Yemen...

 

[Islam Imamate]

C'mon, even the name of the medal is ironic; The George Tenet Medal of Honor?? I can't find a record of anybody else to have received this award.
And lol for supporting the War on Terror against AQ. Meanwhile in Yemen...

We're talking about the one prince here, not all of the royal family. How much sway does this prince have over the station in Yemen? I don't know so I can't hold it against him as of yet. But he does seem to do his work on cracking down on Al Qaeda, at least within his country.

 

[Anung Un Rama]

We're talking about the one prince here, not all of the royal family. How much sway does this prince have over the station in Yemen? I don't know so I can't hold it against him as of yet. But he does seem to do his work on cracking down on Al Qaeda, at least within his country.

Because terrorism within SA is a thing?

List of Terrorist Incidents in SA

You know this is a farce.

 

[Islam Imamate]

Because terrorism within SA is a thing?

List of Terrorist Incidents in SA

Even a despotic regime like the Saudi one can't stop all terrorists attacks. Did you really think I was implying otherwise?

You know this is a farce.

No, I don't know that. Like I said, the Saudi royal family is not a monolith. This guy took his counter-terrorism job seriously enough that Al Qaeda thought it a worthy enough investment to try to assassinate him, apparently multiple times.

 

[Anung Un Rama]

We're talking about the one prince here, not all of the royal family. How much sway does this prince have over the station in Yemen? I don't know so I can't hold it against him as of yet. But he does seem to do his work on cracking down on Al Qaeda, at least within his country.

He's also the next in line to the throne. He's not just one of a bunch of Princes.

The medal was awarded in recognition of Prince bin Nayef’s “excellent intelligence performance, in the domain of counter-terrorism and his unbound contribution to realise world security and peace“.

 

[Islam Imamate]

He's also the next in line to the throne. He's not just one of a bunch of Princes.

The medal was awarded in recognition of Prince bin Nayef’s “excellent intelligence performance, in the domain of counter-terrorism and his unbound contribution to realise world security and peace“.

I'm still not seeing your issue here. How do you know this guy hasn't done good counter-terrorism work? If he was such a friend to Al Qaeda why would they try to assassinate him?

 

[Anung Un Rama]

Even a despotic regime like the Saudi one can't stop all terrorists attacks. Did you really think I was implying otherwise?

No, I don't know that. Like I said, the Saudi royal family is not a monolith. This guy took his counter-terrorism job seriously enough that Al Qaeda thought it a worthy enough investment to try to assassinate him, apparently multiple times.

Looks at the ME.
Looks at the terrorism all over the place.
Looks at who supports the terrorism.
Looks at the terrorism in the state that supports terrorism.
Looks who got a medal

 

[Islam Imamate]

Looks at the ME.
Looks at the terrorism all over the place.
Looks at who supports the terrorism.
Looks at the terrorism in the state that supports terrorism.
Looks who got a medal

Now you're just willingly avoiding the nuance of the situation. I've said ITT that the Saudi's influence is easily argued as a net loss for the region but that this doesn't necessarily speak to the contributions of this one crown prince.

 

[Anung Un Rama]

I'm still not seeing your issue here. How do you know this guy hasn't done good counter-terrorism work? If he was such a friend to Al Qaeda why would they try to assassinate him?

AQ and Sunni Jihadists aren't rational players, getting attacked by them doesn't mean anything.

 

[Islam Imamate]

AQ and Sunni Jihadists aren't rational players, getting attacked by them doesn't mean anything.

Says who? They might accept certain ideas that lead them to act in ways you think are irrational but that doesn't mean they are irrational and it doesn't mean they are incapable of rational strategy.

 

[Anung Un Rama]

Now you're just willingly avoiding the nuance of the situation. I've said ITT that the Saudi's influence is easily argued as a net loss for the region but that this doesn't necessarily speak to the contributions of this one crown prince.

What nuance? They haven't detailed anything this guy has done in the War on Terror, other than to offer a platitude about his devotion to peace.
Again, this guy is the next in line to the crown. He's not some nobody. Right now the Kingdom is bombing Houthis in Yemen. Who benefits from that? AQAP.

 

[Islam Imamate]

What nuance? They haven't detailed anything this guy has done in the War on Terror, other than to offer a platitude about his devotion to peace.

Gee, I wonder if that info might be classified or something

Again, this guy is the next in line to the crown. He's not some nobody. Right now the Kingdom is bombing Houthis in Yemen. Who benefits from that? AQAP.

Of course he's not a nobody, or else he wouldn't be a significant figure in counter-terrorism and would get some Mickey Mouse post like Minster of Women's Fashion or something.

As far as bombing the Houthis, you do realize those guys deposed their puppet and are drawing on the same ideology of the Iranian Revolution? Its not exactly crazy for the Saudis to see them as a threat. As far as their actions in handling the issue, could be better. but again, is that entirely this guy's fault? Does that negate his contributions to counter-terrorism? No offense but you don't seem equipped to know. No one here is.

 

[Anung Un Rama]

Gee, I wonder if that info might be classified or something

So lets give Saudi Arabian Princes the benefit of the doubt...
Im sure SA has done some top secret humanitarian deeds that earned them their position as the Head of Human Rights Panel at the UN, too.

Of course he's not a nobody, or else he wouldn't be a significant figure in counter-terrorism and would get some Mickey Mouse post like Minster of Women's Fashion or something.

So now that we've established that this guy isn't a nobody, its tough to single him out as a rare snowflake who deserves recognition in spite of SA dirty dealings with Sunni extremists.

As far as bombing the Houthis, you do realize those guys deposed their puppet and are drawing on the same ideology of the Iranian Revolution? Its not exactly crazy for the Saudis to see them as a threat. As far as their actions in handling the issue, could be better. but again, is that entirely this guy's fault? Does that negate his contributions to counter-terrorism? No offense but you don't seem equipped to know. No one here is.

yeah, they see them as a threat, but did nothing while AQAP was just chillin on the other side of the country for the past 8 years.

 

[Islam Imamate]

So lets give Saudi Arabian Princes the benefit of the doubt...
Im sure SA has done some top secret humanitarian deeds that earned them their position as the Head of Human Rights Panel at the UN, too.

Well, we can agree on that. I sort of understand the logic, that all countries should get an equal shake at such positions or the system might privilege some countries over others, but that was just a mockery of the position.

So now that we've established that this guy isn't a nobody, its tough to single him out as a rare snowflake who deserves recognition in spite of SA dirty dealings with Sunni extremists.

Hmm, nah I don't think that's the case at all. He's still only one guy, not even the most powerful one, and he only recently became the crown prince but has been combating terrorism for a while

yeah, they see them as a threat, but did nothing while AQAP was just chillin on the other side of the country for the past 8 years.

Probably for two reasons

1. Houthis took control of Sana which is in the north and right at the Saudi border
2. The Houthis, as Shia, were feared as a proxy of Iran