As regular members of Joshua's Army know, my position on the Shiite-Sunni rift is that it exists, but that the two sides will always unite when it comes to jihad against the west and will pursue their differences after the infidels are defeated.
The Bush Administration has consistently tried to manipulate the Sunni Shiite divide for strategic purposes and mostly failed, as Iran has consistently gained diplomatic ground with the Arabs, especially our `eternal friends' the Saudis.
At Annapolis, the blatant appeasement of the Arabs was done under the rationale that abasing Israel and forcing them into major strategic concessions would appeal to the `moderate' Sunni Arabs and cause them to unite against Iran.
Aside from the Saudis freeing 1500 al-Qaeda terrorists from jail after they `repented' and promised not to attack the Kingdom, another indication of how mistaken this strategy is came at the recent GCC Conference of the six Gulf Cooperation Council leaders in Doha, Qatar...where Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was invited for the first time, and as the guest of honor. He's seen above strolling hand in hand with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and Sultan Qaboos of Oman, another US `ally'.
While he was there, Ahmadinejad proposed a security and economic pact to the Gulf Arab states, free of "foreign influence" and invited the Gulf leaders to come to Tehran to make what he called a "breakthrough decision."
"This will be a huge step toward reinforcing friendly relationship between the states," Ahmadinejad said. "Our cooperation will unite against any foreign influence or injustice. ... We should make every effort to have the region devoid of any tension or crisis."
According to my sources, Ahmadinejad's proposal was enthusiastically received by the attendees, especially by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.
This is not the first time Iran has proposed this. The Iranians originally put this out when they were invited to the Arab league Summit In Riyadh back in April of this year, also a first time event. The guests of honor then were Iranian foreign minister Manoucher Mottaki and Iranian Chief of Staff General Hassan Fayrouz Abadi , who were there to follow up and solidify the various understandings and proposals between King Abdullah and Ahmadinejad at an earlier meeting.
Part of the carrot the Iranians are holding out to the Arabs is a united front against Israel and the west, a better consensus on oil, and freedom from any threat by Iran's developing nuclear weapons or missiles.
This new development may very well be part of what was behind the Bush Administration's sudden about face on Iran.
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