The moderate Arab states’ fear of Iran and Islamic radicalism continued to pour
forth from documents released by WikiLeaks Tuesday night, with the Saudi foreign
minister proposing an Arab security force two years ago to keep Hizbullah in
check around Beirut, and the Tunisian president predicting that the Muslim
Brotherhood would “sooner or later” take over Egypt.
According to a cable
written on May 14, 2008, by Michael Gfoeller, the US deputy chief of mission in
Riyadh, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal proposed in a meeting with
senior State Department official David Satterfield an Arab “security response”
to Hizbullah’s siege of Beirut that month.
RELATED:WikiLeaks: US warned Syria against giving Hizbullah scudsGulf States discuss Iran following WikiLeaks revelationsSaud, according to the
dispatch, “argued for an ‘Arab force’ to create and maintain order in and around
Beirut, which would be assisted in its efforts and come under the ‘cover’ of a
deployment of UNIFIL troops from south Lebanon.”
Saud said that “the
effort by ‘Hizbullah and Iran’ to take over Beirut was the first step in a
process that would lead to the overthrow of the Siniora government and an
‘Iranian takeover of all Lebanon.’ Such a victory, combined with Iranian actions
in Iraq and on the Palestinian front, would be a disaster for the US and the
entire region.”
The Saudi foreign minister “argued that the present
situation in Beirut was ‘entirely military’ and that the solution must be
military as well. The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) were too fragile to bear more
pressure; they needed urgent backing to secure Beirut from Hizbullah’s assault.
What was needed was an ‘Arab force’ drawn from Arab ‘periphery’ states to deploy
to Beirut under the ‘cover of the UN’ and with a significant presence drawn from
UNIFIL in south Lebanon ‘which is sitting doing nothing.’”
In Tunisia,
meanwhile, President Zine el-Abidine Ben-Ali told US Assistant Secretary of
State David Welch in March 2008 that Syria was a source of concern in the
region, since it was “acting for Iran, and the later is fueling regional
problems.”
Ben-Ali, according to a report of that meeting contained in a
cable sent by US ambassador in Tunisia Robert Godec, said “he ‘does not trust’
the Shia.”
Ben-Ali added that “Tunisia was happy it was part of the
Maghreb, and not part of Levant or Gulf.”
According to the dispatch,
Ben-Ali “opined that the situation in Egypt is ‘explosive,’ adding that sooner
or later the Moslem Brotherhood would take over. He added that Yemen and Saudi
Arabia are also facing real problems.
Overall, the region is
‘explosive.’” The Tunisian president also did not guard his tongue regarding
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, saying he “is not a normal person,” according to
the dispatch.