Response to SandMonkey

I have placed a response on my own blog, as I am unable to post a long comment on yours:
Sandmonkey article here.

Glad you are well.  This is “afghanmoon” from Twitter, an American who has served in Afghanistan.
I support you brave patriots completely in your quest to free yourself of a government which is no longer acceptable to you.  This is Freedom at its core.  Governments often have a different take, extending from narrow self-interest and love of power on one end, down to an enfeebling paternal “benevolent” dictatorship on the other.  But not as far as allowing the people themselves to actually select their own form and fill of government.

I believe that the involvement of Saudi Arabia is a turn for the worse, not the better.  The Saud family has long held their empire together through easy money, custodianship of the holy sites of Islam, captive religious opinions designed to serve the Saud family’s rule, and raw force when required.

That regime is not without enemies, and most of them are also Arabs or other Muslims who believe for one reason or another that Saudi possession of the land, the sites, and the people themselves is illegitimate.  I know of no other country named for the current ruling family.

The Saud family enjoys well-lubricated relations with the rest of the world, and with the exception of Iran, its threats are either internal or a combination of internal and expatriate, focused not on destroying the country, but on changing the government.

Sound familiar?

King Abdullah is willing to devote massive amounts of money to keep Hosni Mubarak in power not because he likes Mubarak, but because you in the streets must be stopped for the sake of his own government.  He would much rather prevent an uprising in Saudi Arabia by crushing Egyptians in Cairo than by crushing his own subjects in Riyadh.

You are now engaged in an uprising against not only the government of Egypt, but of Saudi Arabia as well. This is a race:   Saudi Arabia: Political Party Formed

By REUTERS

Published: February 10, 2011

The US Government was too stupid and slow-footed to grasp the issues and make a correct decision.  This is especially unfortunate as the US Declaration of Independence clearly spells out what our answer should have been and exactly why.  It is infuriating.  But I beg you to keep this in mind:  For all of our stupidity and fumble-footed failings, to us the threat was not you in the streets, but extremists who we feel will attempt to exploit a period of turmoil.  

For King Abdullah, however, the threat is not extremists–the threat is from you yourselves. If you succeed, his government will be forced to confront or prevent a similar confrontation.  Unless I am very much mistaken (and it could be), he will do almost anything to prevent that situation.  This is why you must be crushed to save the Saud family.

Please be careful, and I wish you all success.  I am not a religious man, but if I were, I would pray for you and Nevine, Raafa and the rest, all millions and millions of you.

Well, perhaps I can try, just in case